Anyone use powerline network adapters?

[ProperModulation]

Best Buy had a good price on some powerline Ethernet adapters so I finally got a few. I'm hoping to use them with two of our Tivos that are currently using wireless USB adapters. They are S2 Tivos so they only support WEP encryption, so once I move them to a wired network I can up the security of my wireless setup. Anyone have any good or bad experience with powerline Ethernet?

These are the adapters I bought:

Actiontec - MegaPlug Powerline Ethernet Adapter (2-Pack) - HLE08500-01

Online reviews seem pretty positive.

 

[ProperModulation]

Update...

The adapters were delivered yesterday and installation was as simple as it should be. I just plugged in each tivo, then plugged one into my router upstairs, and everything hooked up. The Tivos got their DHCP addresses immediately and everything worked nicely. Once everything was running I ran their utility on my desktop and changed the encryption key for all the adapters. Pretty sweet. The only two hitches were:

1. their adapter management utility (only necessary if you want to change the encryption key) needed to be run as administrator in Windows Vista. Without doing that, it wouldn't see any adapters.

2. clearing out a single plug on the outlets that are feeding the entertainment centers in the living room and bedroom turned out to be harder than I thought. some creative wiring got the job done.

The speed is less than what I expected, but it is about the same as a good 54mbps wireless connection. Definitely faster than the 11mbps adapters formerly on my tivos. And now that they are hard wired I was able to get rid of WEP encryption on the router and step up to WPA (the older tivo adapters only support 11mpbs).

Other then the relatively high price, I'd say that these powerline adapters are a good option for anyone who can't get wireless in areas of their house. I'm very happy with them.

 

[memebag]

Do you know if both adapters are on the same breaker? I've read that being on different breakers slams performance, and my computer and TV are on different breakers.

 

[ProperModulation]

Do you know if both adapters are on the same breaker? I've read that being on different breakers slams performance, and my computer and TV are on different breakers.

I've read that too, but I haven't had any issues with my adapters all being on different breakers. On the box it advertises that they work across breakers. The maintenance utility does show signal quality for each adapter, and my quality is around 60-70% for the two Tivos. That is plenty fast for what I use them for, but I'd imagine that things like line quality and breakers can affect your overall performance.

 

[digital100]

I am using the powerline adapters for my Tivo. My Bose Lifestyle was interfering with the Tivo wireless adapter. The powerline adapters work great. I plugged it in, and it just worked!