Hardware Reviews
Netgear Phoneline 10x PCI Adapter and USB Adapter Although we don't normally test two pieces of equipment in the same review, we decided to do so for this Netgear phoneline equipment in order to closely match some of our recent wireless reviews. This Netgear equipment includes both a PCI adapter, perfect for a desktop computer, and a USB adapter, perfect for a notebook (although also usable on a desktop) much like the recent wireless equipment we've reviewed (including Netgear's). Both adapters work by carrying your local network data over the existing phonelines in your house. Just like other current phoneline kits, they carry data at the rate of 10Mbps, or 10 megabits per second. That's similar to current home network wireless equipment that is rated at 11Mbps. In theory, both standards are rated at about the same speed as Ethernet, but much slower than Fast Ethernet. That means this phoneline equipment will work for sharing data, printers and Internet access across the network without any concerns from interference that can slow wireless networks and without the hassle of running cables through your house. (Don't forget, if you're willing to run those cables, take a look at our wiring how-to for Ethernet and Fast Ethernet setups.) As we have with other Netgear equipment, we found these phoneline adapters to be solidly constructed, with good drivers and software, excellent performance and a reasonable price. We found the PCI adapter for $22.27 and the USB adapter for $37.12 plus shipping at buy.com. That kind of inexpensive "total package" leads us to bestow Editor's Choice awards on both the PA301 and PA101. For more details, read on. Overview Both Netgear adapters come in similar cigar-box size packages. Outside, you'll see an explanation of home networking benefits, graphical representations of home setups and a full description of the contents.
Photos courtesy of Netgear Inside, you'll find the respective adapter card, a 10-foot phone cable, a CD that includes the necessary drivers and network setup software with nifty wizards for file, printer and Internet sharing (see installation below); and an "Installation Guide" that is rather short but provides all of the necessary instructions. We would have preferred a larger troubleshooting section, but since we didn't have any problems, it wasn't a major issue.. Installation Installation went smoothly on these adapters. For the USB adapter, you simply plug the USB connector into an available USB port on your laptop, even with the laptop turned on. You plug the phone cable from the adapter into an available phone wall outlet. If you have a phone or modem line already in that plug, the USB adapter has another plug into which you plug that phone or modem. Keep in mind that if you have a two-line phone system at home, you need to make sure each computer on the phone network is using the same line. Don't worry, it will not affect your phone calls or on-line modem sessions. Windows should immediately recognize the adapter and open the "Add New Hardware Wizard." We used Windows 98 Second Edition and, as the installation guide suggested, it immediately recognized the adapter as a "Netgear Phoneline 10X USB Adapter." Click Next to start the wizard. As the guide says, we inserted the CD and the install program found the proper drivers. Make sure to have your Windows install CD, which you'll need to insert when the install program asks for it. When finished, you'll need to restart your computer. As the installation guide suggests, you should have the Netgear CD in the CD drive when the computer restarts. It will automatically begin installation of the necessary network software including the proper protocols. (It appears NetBEUI and TCP/IP are both installed by default, which is fine. You may need to add the IPX protocol if you want to play some network games across your network). Again, have your Windows CD ready to insert when required by the install program. Once again, you'll restart the computer and the "Firstgear" software installation automatically will begin, helping you through the steps needed to share your files, printers and, if appropriate, your Internet connection. Very, very nice. This is exactly the type of network setup software that home network novices will appreciate. For the PCI adapter, the process is very similar although don't be surprised that Windows initially recognizes the adapter as a PCI Ethernet Controller. This is exactly as the install guide notes. Again, click through the steps of the install program and be ready to insert the Netgear CD and your Windows install CD as called for. Click restart when suggested. In our tests, unlike with the USB adapter, the install program will not restart, but it's easy enough to find the setup.exe file on the CD and run the program. Once the network protocols are installed automatically, the program will instruct you to restart the computer and then the Firstgear software will automatically start and, again, take you through the process of sharing files, printers and Internet access. Once the installation was completed, we were able to see each computer in Network Neighborhood and read shared files across the network. Internet sharing also worked flawlessly, although we found the Internet sharing installation worked better on the USB adapter software than the software included with the PCI adapter. You might want to check for software updates if you have problems. Performance After installing the USB adapter in our test laptop (a Pentium III 500Mhz machine) and the PCI adapter in our high-performance test machine (see "How we Test" for more information), we copied a 30-megabyte file from one machine to the other. We measured the number of seconds it took to complete the copy process. We did that back and forth twice and averaged the results. The Netgear phoneline gear results are shown in the blue bars below. We also show the Netgear wireless test results in the red bars for comparison. And, finally, for another comparison, we did the same test, between the same two machines, but instead used Ethernet at 10Mbps and half duplex. The laptop and our other test machine were connected to a Allied Telesyn ATFS708, 8-port 10/100 Fast Ethernet switch. We considered this a fair comparison since the phoneline system is rated at 10Mbps and the wireless system is rated at 11Megabits per second. As you can see, the Netgear phoneline system was somewhat faster than the wireless system, but fell well off the pace set by Ethernet. In real life, you most likely would not notice the difference between a phoneline system and a wireless system with few barriers and no interference. (Keep in mind that wireless will slow down with distance, objects that block the signal and interference). On the other hand, you might notice the difference between phoneline and Ethernet, particularly if you spend a lot of time copying large files across your network or play network games.
Bottom line: phoneline equipment at 10Mbps speed is certainly fast enough for file and printer sharing, Internet access sharing and even some network games. If, on the other hand, you want ultimate network speed to go along with fast hard drives and fast video cards, you may want to stick with Fast Ethernet. Support Netgear has a wide range of technical support options including a toll-free phone number 24 hours a day, seven days a week in North America. They also have technical support via e-mail and a web site (www.netgear.com) with updated drivers, FAQs and other options. Summary We really liked this Netgear phoneline equipment. As we said at the start, we found both phoneline adapters to be solidly constructed, with good drivers and software, excellent performance and a reasonable price. Frankly, we're not sure what else you could ask for. Grade = A+ Details
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