Hardware ReviewsIntel AnyPoint Home Network Kit Leave it to Intel to produce and market a home networking kit that is very good and very expensive. From the minute you open this phoneline networking kit, you know it is a quality product. We love the booklet on top entitled "Read this First." It's a customer-friendly tactic we recall from our first Mac over 10 years ago, but few if any home networking kits employ it today. It's a nice touch. The Intel AnyPoint kit also is setting a new high mark in marketing for home PC networking. We've seen ads all over the net (even on etrade.com) and the in-store displays at CompUSA are impressive. Despite some negative press this kit has been receiving, we had few if any problems installing it (with one caveat we'll go into later) and were quite pleased with the functions of the included software and the overall performance. True, it did not set any speed records, but then we would never advise a phoneline kit for anyone hooked on speed. For that, you should turn to fast Ethernet. Still, the AnyPoint kit provides the easiest hardware setup due to its unique (and uniquely styled) external adapters that connect to your parallel port and software that walks you through every step. If you want that kind of convenience and can handle the price (we had a hard time finding it on-line...but you can buy it from Intel for $189 with free shipping and a 60-day money back guarantee), then this could be the kit for you. By the way, if you want more information on phone wire technology, we suggest reviewing the site set up by industry alliance: http://www.homepna.org/ Overview The Intel AnyPoint Network kit (for two PCs) is unique among the phoneline kits we have reviewed in the past. Like those other kits, the AnyPoint kit uses existing phonelines in your house to carry the networking data between PCs. The difference in this kit, however, is that you don't need to open each PC and install a PCI card in an open slot. Instead, the AnyPoint kit uses 7-inch tall external adapters that connect to each PC via the parallel (printer) port. In case you already have a printer connected there, each adapter has an extra parallel port that accepts the plug from your printer. In addition, each external adapter also comes with an external power adapter (brick) and a length of phone wire to plug into the wall socket. Once again, if you are using a wall socket normally used for a phone, modem or fax, the external adapters include another jack for plugging in that device. Like many of the other kits, the AnyPoint system works with Windows 95/98, but not Windows NT. The external adapters also have two LEDs on the front: one glows green when a positive connection is made to the local PC and one flashes yellow when data is being transferred. The LEDs can also single problems if they flash when they aren't supposed to or if they don't light at all. A nice feature.
The kit also includes a VERY nice 80-page manual and networking guide. It's one of the most complete we've seen with a home networking kit. There's also a couple of quick guides for the hardware and software installation. And, finally, the enclosed CD-ROM provides all of the necessary installation and setup software, and includes internet sharing software called, oddly enough, Internet Sharing Software. The CD-ROM also includes a "guided tour" of home networking, but we didn't find the content that appealing. Interestingly, Intel specifically points out on the box and in the guide that the kit will work with xDSL modems and cable modems. That's been difficult with some phoneline kits based on a quick read of our discussion forums. Of course, as we've pointed out before, because the homePCnetwork office can't get either xDSL or cable modem access, we can't verify Intel's claims. Installation We installed the hardware and software without any problems on both of our test machines. Well, that's not quite true...we had two problems, but in both cases the AnyPoint kit couldn't really be blamed. Nevertheless, I'll mention them just to show you many things can cause you hiccups when installing ANY home networking kit. First, we were installing the software on our basic test machine, when the installation program asked for the Windows CD-ROM (exactly as the installation guide points out). However, before I inserted the CD-ROM, I accidentally hit the mouse button which clicked the OK button even though I wasn't ready for OK since the Windows CD-ROM wasn't inserted yet. What happened next was damn near tragic. The installation routine continued, but when I restarted the machine, Windows couldn't even start without a long series of warning messages that files were missing or that settings were wrong in the system.ini file. What a mess. It was recoverable by uninstalling the program, restarting and then re-installing. Again, it wasn't really the AnyPoint kits problem...but a word to the wise: be VERY careful during the installation. The other problem was nearly as odd. After installing the hardware on our advanced test machine, we started the software installation only for the program to insist that no adapter was connected to the machine. After lots of work, we discovered that the once-working parallel port on that machine was now NOT working. We had to switch out motherboards to get back up and running. Again, clearly not a problem attributable to the AnyPoint kit. A couple of final points on installation: The software setup does a nice job of walking you through every step, including asking you which drivers and/or printers on each machine you want to share across the network. Then, after you decide which to share, when you start up another machine on the network, the software asks whether you want to "map" one of the shared resources from the first computer. Mapping the resource allows you to use it as if it was a local drive on the computer you're working on. A great way to use networked resources. The internet sharing software also worked well. During installation, it asks whether you want to set up the computer as the "server" (that would be any machine on the network with access to the internet) or a "client" that will connect to the internet via the server. The software installs automatically either way and sets up the proper connection to the internet. Even when we installed Netscape Navigator AFTER installing the internet sharing software, the program set up Navigator properly and we were surfing via the other machine that was set up as the server. Very nice. Performance To test performance, we used a 4 megabyte file and copied back and forth from our advanced and basic test machines. We copied the file from the basic to the advanced (Reads) twice and the other way (Writes) twice and averaged the time. All of the other phoneline kits we have reviewed completed the transfer of the file in about 40 seconds. That's in line with the theoretical limit of the technology at 1 megabit per second. You'll note from the chart below, that the AnyPoint kit is about 50% slower than the other kits. Perhaps that's due to some overhead from the external adapters and connection via the parallel port. Still, we don't consider the slowdown that big of an issue since ANY phone wire technology is considerably slower than Ethernet or fast Ethernet technology. If you want speed, go with one of those options. Here's the full chart.
Summary Overall, we were very impressed with the Intel AnyPoint kit. The complete kit "package" was well thought out and clearly targeted at the home PC networker. Installation was simple and easy, although you must be VERY careful to follow the directions. We also suspect that you could have problems installing this kit after uninstalling other network devices, but we didn't specifically test that situation. Performance was significantly behind other phone wire kits, but as we said, we don't think speed should be a major driver for anyone considering a phone wire kit. Clearly, convenience should be the main driver. First, you get to use your existing phone lines to transfer network data. And, more importantly with the AnyPoint kit, you don't even have to open a computer case to install a network card. Instead, you simply connect the cable to the printer port and off you go. The only major negative we see on this home network kit is the price. At $180+, this kit is well above the price of its competitors. On the flip side, of course, we haven't reviewed any other kits with external adapters as convenient as these. Plus, if you want to use a laptop in your phone line network, these external adapters may be the only choice. Still, we think that type of convenience is worth SOME extra cost, but we find it hard to swallow a price that is $100+ over the competition. In fact, the price gap is the only major issue keeping this kit from a homePCnetwork Editor's Choice. We simply think that price point is important for those of us trying to network our home computers. If we were reviewing this kit for business purposes, we might have a different viewpoint. That said, if money isn't an issue for you, give serious consideration to the Intel AnyPoint kit. Installation and setup was easy, and the convenience of not opening a computer case likely is a major advantage for many home PC networkers. Grade = A Details
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