D-Link DHP-701AV HomePlug AV2 AV2000 MIMO Gigabit

Pros: I have had both Zytel and Belkin 500Mb/s units in my home network and have only been able to stream 720p content (requires 12Mb/s), giving you an idea how hard it is to use 1983 era copper wiring in my 4 unit Condo. We’re talking streaming from source 1 room away, literally 20 feet. Nowhere near the advertised 500Mb/s. This product made the difference in seamlessly streaming 1080p content, which requires 22 Mb/s. Now 11gb blue ray rips run perfect. Highly, highly recommended for the small network. The company claims 16 of these can be connected, so a good sized network is even possible. Of note to upgraders: these are about 50% wider than the Belkin 500s and must be mounted pointed (downward) in the direction of the ground lead, which required I buy an extension for the top plug to run my AV system’s power strip, as it’s plug was directional and ran into the top of this product without the extension cord. Cons: None

Pros: I get really bad wireless reception in my office. These adapters did improve the speed and the latency of my connection. I am getting 90 Mbps speed between the two adapters and about 4 ms latency. I was hoping for better, but it is a good improvement over the wireless bridge I was running. My office is on a different circuit from where the router is located. At least now I can stream high definition from the NAS in my office. I haven’t tested another other Powerline networking devices to compare them to see if the D-Link Powerline AV2 2000 adapter really preforms better than any other AV2 devices. Cons: The biggest con is the size of this device. It is a little large. If you have anything other than a straight plug in the other outlet it will probably interfere with it. I rearrange items in both outlets these were plugged into and put the other item in the outlet on a small extension so it could fit with the powerline adapter.

Pros: Just plug one near your router and plug the other end where you want to extend your network to. That’s about it. They self-configure and will find each other. Cons: Like all HomePlug adapters, they can be susceptible to speed degradation depending on how far apart the units are from each other. If you have noisy wall warts near them they can affect the speed too. This isn’t a limitation of these adapters though. Overall Review: I bought these to replace my aging AV500 series HomePlug adapters from another vendor. I’m extending my internet signal from my router to a secondary access point and since I live in an apartment, I can’t exactly just run CAT6 cable through the walls. Although the older units I had worked, the fastest I could get them to go was about 100mb speeds at full duplex, and that was after doing some fiddling with where they were plugged in. With these units though my connection nearly doubled in speed. I have 150MB download speeds from my internet provider, and with my previous adapters I was lucky if I hit 70MB/sec speed. With these (in the same wall outlets mind you), I’m hitting 130MB/sec!

Pros: – Solid connection between downstairs kitchen and upstairs back bedroom in a house built 2 years ago. – Point-to-point connections between 210 to 300 mbps (old AV+ kit peaked at 60 mbps). – Full duplex. Yes, this is important. – Solid connection and ping times to game servers. – 100% compatible with my old AV+ kit. All the units work together on the same Powerline network with the older units working at their slower speed. Cons: – Slightly larger than my old AV+ units, but they don’t block the 2nd outlet plug so who cares. – AV+ kits (DHP-309AV) at half the cost would probably work just as well for the majority of users. – AV2 kits (DHP-700AV) might work better in an older home (MIMO seems to have more solid connections over farther distance). Overall Review: Benchmarks using LAN Speed test:DHP-700AV – 210 mbps (26.2 Mbps)DHP-309AV – 60 mbps (7.5 Mbps)* The DHP-700AV units occasionally peaked at up to 300 mbps (37.5 Mbps). The score above is a VERY conservative average over several days of testing.