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| Introduction and Product Specifications | ||||
| When it comes to solid, reliable networking connections, nothing beats copper at the moment. It's not the most convenient, as most people (particularly wives and girlfriends) don't want cables running across the floor, or even jacks in walls throughout the house. That leaves wireless, and although most people have wireless-G at this time, 54 Mbps (when you consider actual throughput) pales in comparison to standard 100 Mbps wired Ethernet. Even when you consider wireless-N, which still hasn't even been fully ratified, and its up to 300 Mbps speed, throughput isn't that fast by any means. Let's not forget the issues with distance and signal drop that exist in both current wireless solutions. The only other option, short of snaking CAT5 cables inside walls and around your home or office, is powerline networking. It's not new, but only recently have products entered the market which have the potential to meet or even exceed 100 Mbps wired Ethernet. One such product is the Actiontec MegaPlug AV 200 Mbps Ethernet Adapter, which we are evaluating here.
The kit comes with two oversized wall adapters and two Ethernet cables. The idea is simple in concept: you plug one adapter into your router with a cable, then into a wall socket. Next you plug the other adapter into another wall socket and from there run the cable to your PC. Sounds simple? In principal it certainly is.
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| Up Close and Setup |
The Actiontec MegaPlug AV comes with everything you need, more or less. There are two wall adapters, two six-foot Ethernet cables, a quick start guide, a "How To Change The Encryption Key" guide, and a configuration CD. The quick start guide is typically short, and for somewhat tech-savvy (but not advanced) users it would amount to no more than common sense. As we described earlier, plug in an Ethernet cable to one wall adapter, plug the cable into the router and find an open socket. Then repeat the process with the second wall adapter (except, of course, that you plug the Ethernet cable into the adapter on the PC) and the units will then auto-configure from there.;) ;) ;) Actiontec MegaPlug AV 200 Unfortunately, as with most devices that use your powerlines for anything, you can't use a powerstrip or surge protector so you are constrained to finding not just an open socket, but an open socket near your router. In many houses, that is not that easy to do, as often there are quite a few other devices plugged into nearby sockets, including the router. We did discover, however, that if you use a plain extension cord, without surge protection of any type, that the setup will work. You'll note 3 LEDs on the adapter above. One is for power, a second indicates Ethernet activity, and the third is "Link" which, when lit means, since the adapters are paired, that there is a second adapter "linked" to this one. |
| Software |
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| HH Testing Platform and SANDRA XII Network Tests | ||||||||||
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How we configured our test systems: When configuring our test systems for this article, we set up a desktop and laptop system on the same network. The desktop was connected via its 100Mbps port whereas the laptop was connected using the Actiontec kit. For the test, the default - out of the box Actiontec encryption was employed and Windows Firewall was disabled on each system as well.
The first half of our evaluation is going to consist of synthetic network bandwidth testing courtesy of SANDRA. In this test, the program requires at least two machines to be on the network, with SANDRA automatically identifying the second system as the host. With Windows reporting that we had a successful 100Mbps connection via the Actiontec kit, the Network Bandwidth testing showed an average bandwidth between 54Mbps 802.11g and 100Mbps, and slightly, very slightly, below 802.11n. Not bad. We should also note that ratings for bandwidth are absolute peak and are not completely representative of real world results. With networking performance, there are a multitude of factors, including latency, that can affect the actual performance. Notice the Actiontec MegaPlug AV unit had latency characteristics that fell somewhere in between 802.11n and 802.11g (the latter providing a lower latency connection) performance but over 2x higher latency than standard 100Mb Ethernet. So, in terms of latency, as an alternative to 100Mb Ethernet, the Megaplug AV 200 held relatively strong. In our next test, we'll try to give you an idea of more real world results. |
| Real World Transfer Tests |
| In our second round of bandwidth testing, we timed the process of copying a large file to and from a server to demonstrate the performance of the Actiontec MegaPlug AV 200 Mbps Ethernet Adapter. In this test, a shared folder was created on a workstation with a 700MB AVI in that folder. Next, we copied the file from our desktop to the laptop, with all commands initiated at the laptop. When this test was complete, we copied the file back to the workstation. Tests were run with the Actiontec adapter as well as with our laptop's integrated 54Mbps Wireless adapter. 
Laptop WiFi to Server Test @ 54Mbps: The improvement in performance with the Actiontec hardware was nearly double that of 802.11g. |
| Performance Analysis and Conclusion | ||||
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Performance Summary: We recorded notable improvements in both range and transfer speeds using the Actiontec MegaPlug AV 200 Mbps Ethernet Adapter versus a standard 802.11g connection. However, the claim of 200Mbps doesn't match test results, as the synthetic tests recorded a maximum theoretical connection speed to the host machine of somewhere between an 802.11g connection and 100Mbps. In our real-world transfer test, however, we did see throughput nearly double that of the 802.11g connection. As the idea of this adapter is to eliminate the need to drape wires all over your house, it certainly works as advertised, and without any drops in connectivity.
Setup was flawless and simple. Basically you can run the MegaPlug AV 200 right of of the box with no issues. Additionally, unlike wireless, there was never an issue with dropped signals or lost connectivity. If you've ever watched your wi-fi connection, particularly on 802.11n, you will see it fluctuate up and down significantly. However, although it's understandable that you cannot use a surge suppressor / power strip with the adapter, this small shortcoming can make it difficult to find a good location to install the adapter. For those who are looking for a bit more mobility without the aggravation the Wi-Fi brings, this is a great option for the Small-Office-Home-Office market. Relatively speaking the kit is not cheap. Retail price is $169.99 though it appears street prices can be found as low as $140, including shipping. So you'll pay for the added stability and performance that the MegePlug AV 200 brings but in our estimation, especially as an alternative to re-wiring with RJ45 cables, it's worth it.
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