INTRODUCTION
WiFi is widely considered to be one of the most important technologies people currently use so it's no wonder that you find it pretty much everywhere you go from cafeterias, bars, clubs, fast food joints and restaurants up to airport terminals, shopping malls, hotels, parks and even in hospitals. Well there's no denying that WiFi has opened new horizons in the industry since thanks to that people can have access to the internet (amongst things including personal and public content) without the need of cables but wireless connectivity is far from perfect and due to signal strength limitations it's not really suitable for every possible scenario. Powerline adapters have come a long way since their introduction in the market several years ago and now offer much higher data transfer rates and much further compared to most WiFi enabled modem/routers. The latest Power line model by Netgear is the Powerline 1200 (PLP1200) and that's what we'll be looking at today.
NETGEAR (NASDAQGM: NTGR) is a global networking company that delivers innovative products to consumers, businesses and service providers. For consumers, the company makes high performance, dependable and easy to use home networking, storage and digital media products to connect people with the Internet and their content and devices. For businesses, NETGEAR provides networking, storage and security solutions without the cost and complexity of big IT. The company also supplies top service providers with retail-proven, mobile broadband solutions for their customers on the go. NETGEAR products are built on a variety of proven technologies such as wireless, Ethernet and Powerline, with a focus on reliability and ease-of-use. NETGEAR products are sold in approximately 44,000 retail locations around the globe, and through approximately 37,000 value-added resellers. The company's headquarters are in San Jose, Calif., with additional offices in over 25 countries. NETGEAR is an ENERGY STAR® partner.
The PLP1200 is the very first powerline adapter set by Netgear to feature the brand new 1GbE standard (supports speeds up to 1200Mbps) developed solely for one reason, to make it possible for people to use such devices for lag-free gaming and streaming of 3D and even UHD 4k content to multiple compatible devices. Since the PLP1200 is Homeplug AV2 compliant it also supports MIMO technology (multiple-input and multiple-output) with beamforming, energy saving mode and 128-bit AES encryption. These powerline adapters also feature a noise filtered power outlet so you don't have to worry about them occupying one of your valuable wall outlets in the process.
SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES
PACKAGING AND CONTENTS
The PLP1200 powerline adapter set arrived inside a small box that has a product picture and the main product features placed at the front.
On the right side we see the package contents, system requirements, product specifications and warranty information printed in two languages.
The product features are also listed on the left side with the help of two product pictures.
At the rear we see a topology drawing and the product features written in 9 languages.
Both powerline adapters are placed between two formed pieces of cardboard.
Two Ethernet RJ45 cables, 3 quickstart guides, warranty information paper and a software CD accompany the two powerline adapters.
THE PLP1200
Much like most powerline adapters that feature a built-in power outlet the new Powerline 1200 model by Netgear is not the tiniest one possible (measures 119mm in length, 58mm in width and 42mm in thickness without the plug).
To showcase the size of this adapter we placed it right next to the most compact one we have here in the lab the ETH-500 by Asoka.
As expected the built-in power outlet features safety for kids.
The adapters also have 3 LEDs, one which indicates the power status, one for the link status and one which changes colors (green, yellow and red) according to the quality of the link established between the two adapters (thus you can move the adapter around to other wall outlets to find which offers the best connection).
At the base of the adapters we see the RJ45 LAN port, reset switch and the encryption button.
You can find the electrical specs for the adapters on a sticker placed at the rear.
TESTING METHODOLOGY
As already mentioned plenty of times in the past the performance of Powerline adapters is directly linked to the quality of the buildings electrical grid/wiring so the output speeds from such devices will most probably vary between new and old structures. Still the results recorded when testing Powerline adapters inside the same building should easily point out the best one and so to that end we used the well-known Passmark Performance Test to measure the data transfer rate in wired, wireless and Powerline modes with a fixed (for every test) distance of 15 meters between our Netgear D6300 Gigabit modem/router (we changed from the DGN3500 since after 20 tests we saw no difference in performance with the D6300 between the powerline adapters we have here) and the primary and secondary systems (30m in total between both systems). For Wi-Fi capable powerline adapters we left the secondary adapter at the same spot as with the other tests and used it with an 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac compatible Toshiba Qosmio Laptop placed roughly 5 meters away.
The network data transfer test was set to duration of 40 seconds and was repeated a total of 7 times after which the average numbers were recorded into our charts. As a secondary test we are also using QCheck by Ixia which is considered amongst the top measuring tools of its kind. Tests are performed 7 times at throughput mode with a data size of 1000Kb and in the end the average numbers once again get recorded into our charts. As of February 2015 we also record ATTO results in our charts (256MB total length) after 7 repeats.
TEST RESULTS
CONCLUSION
As many of you are aware there aren’t that many 1GbE (1200Mbps) compatible powerline adapters in the market currently so when Netgear send us the PLP1200 test I was quite confident that it would top our charts especially since we use their D6300 modem/router in the lab. Unfortunately although performance was very good it’s clear from our tests that the PLP1200 set was unable to overtake the FRITZ! Powerline 1000E by AVM. Of course 2nd place in our charts is not something to be taken lightly and ontop of that since Powerline adapters depend a lot on the state of the local electrical wiring there’s a slight chance that the Netgear test would benefit more from a brand new installation (the one here already counts almost 25 years) thus closing the performance gap. The only “real” problem with the PLP1200 adapters is that you can’t access their settings (tweaking various ones could improve performance) something which Netgear recognizes and plans to resolve in the near future by making them compatible with their Genie application (currently they’re not).
Compared to even 3 years ago Powerline adapter prices have dropped considerably so currently even the 1GbE PLP1200 Powerline adapter set retails for just USD79.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 92Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). You can certainly find other cheaper adapter models in the market but not 1GbE ones and certainly not of the same quality as these and since they are the 2nd best in our charts at what they do the PLP1200 adapters by Netgear get our Golden Award.
PROS
- Build Quality
- 2nd Fastest Powerline Adapter To Date (In Our Charts)
- 1200Mbit/s
- Filtered Power Outlet
- Low Power Consumption
- MIMO Technology
- AES 128Bit Encryption
- Price (For Some)
CONS
- Single LAN Port (For Some)
- No Control Over Settings