Faster than Wi-Fi, it’s… broadband-by-mains
Sometimes, to go forwards, you need to go backwards. Don’t worry, you haven’t accidentally surfed over to Cod Philosophy Daily: we’re actually referri
Sometimes, to go forwards, you need to go backwards.
Don’t worry, you haven’t accidentally surfed over to Cod Philosophy Daily: we’re actually referring to the way Netgear’s new network kit uses your home’s mains circuit to produce 200Mbps speeds.
Yep, where your Wi-Fi network probably tops out at around 50Mbps – 100Mbps if you have particularly fancy bandwidth-boosting tech that’s all made by one brand – these new adapters zip along at four times the speed.
So, if you fancy streaming hi-def videos from your Media Center PC in the bedroom to, say, an Xbox 360 in the living room, you can. And it should work without the sort of jitter we’ve experienced many times using wireless networking kits.
Networking via your plug sockets isn’t new – companies have been offering similar adaptors for several years – but the fastest we’d seen before this ran at 80Mbps. By comparison, Netgear’s actually looks like it’s zippy enough to warrant running alongside a Wi-Fi network.
A pack of two adaptors – the HDXB101 – will cost you £127 over on Broadbandbuyer, but you can buy them singly (HDX101s) for £66 each.
One thing to note if you’ve got one of Netgear’s previous networking-by-mains kits: this new one won’t talk to them, although it will happily run simultaneously.
Dan Grabham
Editor-in-Chief 
