Tuesday, December 20, 2011

NETGEAR XE104 85 Mbps Powerline 4-Port Ethernet Adapter


Manufacturer : Netgear
Model : XE104NA
ASIN : B000BKY3Q6
Price : 108$
Last Price : 64.99$(Discount 39.8240740740741%
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Product Description

4 x 10/100Base-TX LAN - Ethernet Switch

Amazon.com Product Description

The NETGEAR XE104 85 Mbps Powerline 4-Port Ethernet Adapter offers:
  • An easy way to extend four network ports through your power lines
  • 85 Mbps throughput
  • True plug and play simplicity
The NETGEAR XE104 85 Mbps Powerline 4-Port Ethernet Adapter lets you easily extend a network using just the existing electric lines of your home, eliminating the need to run unsightly Ethernet wires all over your house or apartment. With four ports, you can connect multiple devices to one adapter and at 85 Mbps, you'll have more than enough speed to download music, stream videos, and make internet telephone calls without any hiccups.



You can connect up to four devices into a Powerline network with the XE104. View larger.
True Plug and Play Installation
Extending a network using the electric lines in your home requires an XE104 unit and an additional NETGEAR XE103 Powerline Ethernet Adapter. Simply plug the XE103 into a wall outlet and connect it to your router with an Ethernet cord. Then plug the XE104 into the wall outlet where you need a network connection and connect it to as many as four Ethernet-ready devices. That's it. There's no software to install. You can create as many network connections as you need by connecting more XE104 or XE103 units wherever you need them. The device has easy-to-read icon LEDs for status information at a glance.

Fast Performance
The XE104 is HomePlug compatible and supports speeds up to 85 Mbps which is enough for multiple video streams without interruptions. The XE104 has four 10/100 Ethernet ports with which you can connect a PC, gaming console, Slingbox, DVR, NETGEAR's SC101T Storage Central Turbo or ReadyNAS NV+, or another networkable device. In order to enable encryption, you need a computer with Windows Vista, XP, 2000, 98 or Me.

The NETGEAR XE104 85 Mbps Powerline 4-Port Ethernet Adapter is backed by 1-year warranty.

What's in the Box
XE104 85 Mbps Powerline 4-Port Ethernet Adapter, installation guide, Ethernet cable, resource CD, warranty card, and support and information card.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
Works perfectly but 85 megs is fantasyland.
This review is from: NETGEAR XE104 85 Mbps Powerline 4-Port Ethernet Adapter (Personal Computers)
Bought two. Plugged in one in my home office with a Cat5 coming from my WRT54G router.

Plugged the other one in on the opposite side of my ranch townhome. Got the blue light sync indicator within 5 seconds. Plugged in my laptop and got an IP from the Linksys five seconds after that..

Works perfectly. No drops. Just like an ethernet cable would be. Since it has four ports, plugged in the Tivo via the USB/Ethernet I already had. That also grabbed an IP and worked perfectly.

Consistent speed of copying WinXP SP2 off my PC in my home office to my laptop in the living room using the two 104s is about 15 Mbps or so as measured by Netstat on my laptop. Is it equal to Cat5? Is it ANYWHERE NEAR 85 Mbps as Netgear advertises? NOT A CHANCE. Connecting the laptop to my LAN by directly connecting into the WRT54G resulted in the same file being moved from the same PC at just over 75 Mbps. So, the 15 Mbps speed of the 104s is about 20% of the LAN's speed moving the same file.

The Netgear software says the two are connected at just about 40 Mbps. So, figure less than half that in real speed.

But overall, it does work. It's more than enough speed for me to avoid the hassles and drops of wireless, not to mention having to use WEP since my Tivo can't currently support WPA.

Clearly, this is a YMMV product. Buy it and take the shot. You might get enough speed. Or you may not even have it sync up. That's why I bought it from Amazon so I could return it if I had too. Could have gotten it a bit cheaper elsewhere, but why risk it?

If I was streaming HD files, it wouldn't work. But for not having to deal with cutting through 19 (!) wireless networks that my 802.XX Site Monitor can see, and fighting the inevitable XP wireless drops, it works fine for me. I was going to go for the Slinglink first but figured I might as well try for faster speeds. I'm glad I spent the extra $$$$ over it and the older Netgear 102s.

5 stars for ease of use. 1 star for the laughable real speed versus Netgear's advertising. Thus, an average of 3 stars.

EDIT TO ORIGINAL REVIEW: I have `SBC/ATT/Whatever they are today' DSL. I tweaked my RCP Receive Window (RWIN) from blank (whoopps) to 17,424 (as well as other settings) per DSLReports.com's suggestion in order to accommodate the new 6.0/764 RT based speed profile I recently received. In doing do, the speed of file transfers referenced above via the 104 dropped from about 15 megs to less than 10. When I removed the RWIN setting restoring it to its state before messing with it, the speed returned to the 15 megs.

So, if you've tweaked your registry settings for maximum broadband download speed and are not getting great results with the 104, you might want to do a little tweaking trade off between the two to get the speeds you're seeking on both the 104 and your broadband access. My results of both speeds is still in 'messing around with' mode and I haven't yet found that perfect blend.

EDIT TO ORIGINAL REVIEW #2 - 06/11/2006: Still working fine. Speeds are consistent with what I originally posted. It's never failed once to work the way it's intended. I've never dropped an IP and I've never plugged in the laptop and not had it work within a few seconds. A good product in my specific enviornment. I'll buy another one so I can plug in the laptop anywhere in my place, even the deck outside and not have to fight wireless drops. Now if they'd only release the 1.6 firmware....


57 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
Simple and Easy-to-Use. Works Well. 85 Mbps? I Just Don't See It.
  
This review is from: NETGEAR XE104 85 Mbps Powerline 4-Port Ethernet Adapter (Personal Computers)
PROS:
=====================================
* Works very well!
* Easy to install and to use
* Built-in 4-port router in each module!
* Reliable 30 Mbps connection, but speed will likely depend on your specific location.
* Includes all the required pieces to install one end point (module, Ethernet cable, software, manual). You need a minimum of two such modules.
* Reasonably good documentation on CD-ROM.
* Bright blue HomePlug network LED is extremely bright--a free nightlight!


CONS:
=====================================
* Never saw 85 Mbps but did reliably see 30 Mbps+.
* You need a minimum of two of these units. No manufacturer seems to make this clear on their web site.
* Optional but highly recommended encryption utility isn't obvious or convenient (you need to record the password printed in small print on the back side of the module). Also, it seemed like I was always setting up the module at the opposite end of the connection.



I purchased two of the Netgear XE104 units (one for the cable gateway, one for the remote destination). While the Linksys WCG200 cable gateway has an 802.11G wireless connection, the power isn't sufficient to reliably reach all locations in my old house (what's in those walls anyway?). I was hoping that the XE104s would reliably deliver > 6 Mbps (Comcast HSI speed) to any point in the house, which it does. Using the Netgear-supplied utility, I'm seeing 30 Mpbs+, which is more than sufficient for my needs.

The unit was easy to install and use. The HomePlug connection established itself within seconds. I connected one unit to the router on the cable gateway via a Cat5 Ethernet cable. This unit connected to a nearby wall-plug (no surge protectors allowed).

I then plugged a second unit upstairs to another wall-plug. The HomePlug light lit up almost immediately. I then plugged this unit into my laptop's Ethernet port and had connectivity within about 30 seconds. At this point, the Netgear reporting utility showed about 45 Mbps (again, nowhere near 85 Mbps but then again, I really didn't expect it either).

The default connection isn't encrypted. Netgear highly recommends encrypting the connection, which I image would be requisite if you live an appartment or condo. The encryption utility isn't obvious. You need to write down the password data written in small print on the back-side of each module. The encryption utility asks for this information. In my case, the utility could only "see" the module at the opposite end of the connection, which made the installation a little more confusing. With a little fiddling, it all worked fabulously.

Each of the modules includes a built-in 4-port hub. Consequently, up to four computers or equipment can share an endpoint.

I'm happy enough that I plan to purchase an additional module.


16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
Best Networking Equipment I Ever Bought
  
This review is from: NETGEAR XE104 85 Mbps Powerline 4-Port Ethernet Adapter (Personal Computers)
Works as advertised and easy to set up in minutes. Just make sure you buy two (one for area with PC and one for area you need connection).

I run Xbox LIVE over this and have had no lag or any performance hit. It's great for gaming.

I'd buy this again in a heartbeat. 100% satisfied.

Most Recent Customer Reviews

THE BEST
SIMPLE AND FAST, WORKS LIKE A CHARM.I LOVE THE FACT IT HAS 4 PORTS, IT SERVES ITS PURPOSE WELL AND IT LAST FOR YEARS.
by Adriano German

Inexpensive and good quality
This bridge, which actually uses the household wiring for ethernet transmission purposes, is an excellent device.
by Edward W. Rogosky

Super POS
I don't ever write reviews but this one is worth a few sentences to me. Bought a set, plugged them in rooms that were on top of each other, and at first I got a decent bandwidth...
by Sam Fisher

Compatibility issues
This is not compatible with Homeplug AV devices, read on for the explanation:

I purchased this device to expand my existing PowerLine network.
by Evan Andrew Day

Netgear XE104 Powerline Adapter
Best damn invention ever made!!! Simple to use, faster and far more reliable than trying to run my laptop wireless. No speed issues whatsoever.
by John Paradiso

Great alternative to Wi-Fi
If you have a large or spread-out house, you will have run into problems with poor or no wi-fi connection for computers that are not near the wi-fi router.
by JohnSFromMD

Does what it needs to do
We purchased a brand new Sony bluray player with a wireless adapter in it and the router is upstairs in the computer room.
by rsinj

Quick and Easy
We bought this to expand our current network. It works great and started right out of the package. You will see some drop in speed but not enough for me to care.
by jedsbud

great solution for a budget
i wanted to gain internet access to a few rooms that did not have access and this seemed like a great choice. i use my directTV dvr, and ps3 with this product.
by Nicholas A. Masterson

Works perfectly all over the house
Works perfectly. No drops. Just like an ethernet cable would be. Since it has four ports, I can plug four items in with no problem.
by J. Doyle

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