Gnawing the knuckle that knocks it
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Solwise 1000Mbps Mediaxtream Homeplug AV adapter
Product Solwise Mediaxtream/Homeplug AV adapter (NET-PL-1000M)
Website www.solwise.co.uk/net-powerline-gig-index.htm
Specifications 1 Gbps Ethernet port, 128-bit AES encryption, compatible with Homeplug AV 1.1 standard, 105 x 58 x 42mm, 200g, power consumption 6.5W, 0.12A
Price £44.66
PIGGYBACKING A NETWORK on the electrical mains might have a certain whiff of make-do-and-mend about it, but it's undeniably a convenient way of sending data around a home or office when pulling Ethernet cables is not an option.
Currently the fastest products available use the 200Mbps Homeplug AV standard, as the proposed 1Gbps AV2 standard is unlikely to appear anytime soon.
The Solwise adapter uses a GGL541 chip from Gigle Networks, which is also used in Belkin's Powerline HD product. Mediaxtream is Gigle's name for its proprietary 1Gbps powerline technology, which uses higher frequencies than Homeplug AV - 50-300MHz compared to AV's 2-28MHz - to provide a 1Gbps backplane speed. The chip also has full interoperability with Homeplug AV devices.
Physically, there's little to say. There's a Gigabit Ethernet port at the base, a small pairing button, reset switch and three status lights. Mediaxstream connections get a blue status light, changing to green for Homeplug AV. The only software is a firmware upgrade utility.
We tested TCP throughput using Passmark's Network Test, plus Totusoft's handy LAN Speed Test utility as a sanity check. In Passmark we used the default TCP block size of 16,384 bytes and 60-second test duration, while in LAN Speed Test we set total packets to 100. Connections were handled via an Engenius ESR 9710 Gigabit router.
As with all powerline products, mains wiring quality and interference are the biggest bugbears, and difficult to control in the real world. Our test environment used fairly typical - that is, old - domestic wiring. After a lot of trial and error, plugging both adapters into a single 0.5m extension lead attached to a wall socket and turning off as much equipment as possible gave us the best results.
This is what baseline performance looks like using a wired connection, just under 780 Mbps:
The best we could achieve in Mediaxstream mode was around 92Mbps in Passmark:
And in LAN Test we recorded 120Mbps:
The same tests using a pair of Homeplug AV adapters returned 38Mbps and 52Mbps respectively. Interestingly, when we repeated the tests using a more ‘realistic' selection of grotty surge-protected extensions full of dodgy AC adapters, the Mediaxtream results tanked to about 16Mbps in Passmark:
However, the Homeplug AV units only dropped to about 23Mbps and showed much more consistent throughput:
Mixing a Homeplug AV unit with a pair of Mediaxtream adapters produced interesting results. When we ran LAN Test on the AV client while running Passmark on the Mediaxtream client, overall throughput remained roughly the same, but with 12Mbps on the AV client and 75Mbps on the Mediaxtream connection. With no activity on the AV adapter, Mediaxtream performance improved to just under 90Mbps.
Another trick that the Solwise Mediaxtream adapters can perform is meshing. Called Xtendnet, this is an intelligent switching agent in each adapter that uses any available node to optimise signal routing and extend the range. So the more adapters in a network, the more reliable the performance should be. We tried three adapters with one Gigabit client and one 100Mbps client and recorded a simultaneous overall throughput of 135Mbps. It might have been interesting to mesh more adapters together, but sadly we ran out of shillings for the electricity meter.
In short
An impressive improvement in throughput for powerline networking compared to Homeplug AV, even though we couldn't achieve anything like Gigabit speeds. It's a decent match for those using a 100Mbps switch or router, however, and the price is good. µ
The Good
No brains needed for setup, good performance compared to Homeplug AV, interoperability with Homeplug AV.
The Bad
Tiny pairing button, no monitoring software, less robust than Homeplug AV on poor mains wiring, won't work with Homeplug 1.0 kit.
The Ugly
Doesn't achieve the headline speeds for single connections.
Bartender's Score
7/10
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I had been using three NETGEAR XAVB101 200Mbps Powerline Adapters but I wanted a faster network so I tried upgrading to Solwise 1000Mbps Mediaxtream HomePlug AV Ethernet Adapter.
When using more then two units the Solwise is unstable. The accompanying "utility" software is woefully lacking in any functionality, limited to telling you the MAC address of the units and updating the firmware.
When comparing the Solwise to the Netgear utility, the Netgear offering has much more functionality and will show you the quality of the connection between the Powerline units on your network.
During the short periods of time the three unit network was working the 1000Mbps Mediaxtream gave no speed advantage over the NETGEAR XAVB101 200Mbps the only way to improve this was to redesign the network and go down to just using two, this seems to be more stable and now gives a fraction more speed then the Netgear units but not a huge increase. Certainly not worth the inconvenience of having to power cycle all the units several times a day, something that was not required with the XAVB101.
When contacted about the above this was the response from Solwise...
"If it was me I would only care about how fast I could send data over the homeplug link and not what the utility says.
If you can't tell from using your computer if it is or is not any faster then maybe your rate determining step isn't the homeplug link.
If the netgear units are faster then it seems sensible to use them instead.
Steve
--
Name: Steve Mace
solwise"
OK, so 2 questions for the INQ:
1) How does this compare to the Belkin Gigabit offering? (both use the same chip) Now about £70 for a pair vs £87 for the Solwise.
2) Is there anything in this EMC stuff and power consumption that these radio Hams seem to be harking on about?
Running ethernet cable all over my house would be far preferable, but would be very complex, messy and costly.
Much of the criticism might be true but I'd like to point out to the complaints about lies that you won't get 1Gb on normal wired 1Gb connections either.
The comment of these things running hot from the mains supply doesn't bear thinking about. Imagine if you left them plugged on overnight and also if you left the house for a while, you would come back to a smoking ruin. Er no I do not think I will invest in a pair....
They are junk, pure and simple. Why people are allowed to pollute the radio spectrum rather than running a cable is beyond me.
Then there is Plasma TV. Another source of interference. People think that they have their mobile phones and Internet access and that everything in the world is great! When the twin towers came down, Internet and mobile phones went off-line because the comms infrastructure was part of the towers.
It was radio amateurs who went in and set up comms with our "outdated" kit which happens to work 24/7 point to point with no reliance on a network provider.
We have worldwide communications, but it is blighted by this junk that does not comply with the EMC regs that they claim to. I've personally had Comtrend devices tested and seen the results from Belkin's Gbit (which is a joke) which also do not conform. The CAA have concerns and are looking at legal action.
PLT is very, very bad.
Not a balanced review. No check on the emc impact. No consideration of the legal implications.
Must do better.
If...
You don't want a secure network...
Can't be bothered to run ethernet cables...
Don't worry about the expense of the electricity used...
Don't mind the lower than advertised speed...
Don't care about interfering with the radio, yours and neigbours...
Well go and get one.
Huw
Tried, and failed. The things kept on losing connection in our avetage 3 down, 3 up semi, and yes, the FM radio wipeout is all true. We were told it's just a handful of radio enthusiasts getting interference from these things. Well, I can confirm it affects your radio one listening (or whatever else you listen to) as well. Total wipeout in fact, which wouldn't have been so bad had they woprked properly!
Save your money and buy some cat cable instead. One twentieth the price, and all the speed you can handle.
These, like other powerline adaptors use radio frequencies to communicate. belkins, Comtrends and Devolos have been proved to radiate without both being connected to the mains. one was connected to an independent 230Volt source from a generator. The link was so good it enabled a Skype call to Australia.
OFCOM have maintained these are not 'wireless telegraphy, these tests conducted last week prove they are and I have applied for a licence to use them.
in normal use they will pollute the radio spectrum for potentially thousands of miles
These devices and their ilk should and no doubt will eventually be banned. It is simply disgraceful that big business is allowed to destroy a precious natural resource for profit.
Bought two of the Belkin units, slow, dropped out and did trash FM radio (just realised reading the last comment).
Don’t know about EMC, but claiming Gigabit is 1000% fraud.
Oh, they got very hot, SWMABO had a go about the cost of running them.
So if you want unreliable, overstated speed and a load of grief they are the perfect product.
That's scary - I wouldn't want to get 'done' by having one around the house.
What a horrible mis-application of technology.
These are illegal in the UK - they will wipe out FM and DAB radio reception - along with taxis, marine band, airband and even military airband up to 500m from your house once plugged in.
This puts them in contravention of the EMC regulations, and makes them illegal to sell or use in the UK.
Another word for marketing is fraud(Dilbert)! In your tests you did not get anywhere near Gigabit speed, how then can it be a gigabit adapter? This gigabit statement sounds just like the same words ISP's use when they talk about broadband. "Up to 8Mbps", when it is highly unlikely people will get anywhere near the stated speed. Your tests have proved the same with this piece of kit.
I believe Solwise will ship these anywhere in Europe - simply select the delivery destination at the checkout.
Kelvyn
Do you know if this company plans to seel this system aboard (Rest of Europe) with the appropriate terminals!! Not everybody lives in UK!