ZyXEL Launches SISO and MIMO HPAV2-based Gigabit Powerline Adapters
by Ganesh T S on August 28, 2014 1:45 PM EST
Last year, we saw the introduction of HomePlug AV2 (HPAV2) silicon from both Broadcom and Qualcomm Atheros. In conformance with the usual product development cycle, we saw the announcement of various HPAV2 products at CES in January. TP-LINK and TRENDnet were the players that seemed to be taking the lead in getting them to the market. Even though their products were supposed to ship in Q2 / Q3, we are yet to see them outside tradeshows.
ZyXEL is springing a surprise by launching two powerline adapters based on the HPAV2 standard with confirmed ship dates
-
PLA5206
- Broadcom BCM60333 HPAV2 SISO Chipset
- PLA5206KIT contains a pair of adapters, MSRP of $160
- Available Sept. 1
- Delivers speeds of up to 1Gbps
- Utilizes HomePlug AV2 standard to transmit multiple HD video streams simultaneously
- 128-bit encryption
- Green power saving options
-
PLA5405
- Qualcomm Atheros QCA7500 HPAV2 MIMO Chipset
- Pricing TBD
- Available Oct. 1
- Delivers speeds of up to 1.2Gbps
- Line-Natural / Line-Ground MIMO smart-antenna technology allows data to be sent simultaneously over different wires, delivering faster throughput / extended coverage
- Utilizes HomePlug AV2 standard to transmit multiple HD video streams simultaneously
- 128-bit encryption
- Green power saving options
Things have been relatively quiet on the powerline networking front from a home consumer perspective (with Wi-Fi advancements being the primary networking market driver right now). That said, these solutions will be a welcome addition in buildings where Wi-Fi remains ineffective due to reach issues. Powerline technology remains attractive for service providers and consumers in the EMEA / APAC markets.
Source: ZyXEL
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Gunbuster - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link
FYI: Zyxel makes some good gear for great prices but their support is 100% amateur league. Expect to wait days, weeks, or months for problem resolution.jann5s - Friday, August 29, 2014 - link
How is the lag/ping on these type of home-plug connectors, compared to normal ethernet and wifi? The throughput is not really interesting for me, wifi is good enough, but in terms of lag I sometimes still prefer a normal cable over any wireless solution.returnzer0 - Friday, August 29, 2014 - link
I have one of the older generation HomePlug devices by ZyXEL and was pretty happy with it. Used it primarily to connect my HTPC to the rest of network so it could stream Blu-Ray movies from the storage server. Wasn't the most latency sensitive application, but I was never able to accomplish this over WiFi.erple2 - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link
Has anyone like an and tech ever done a serious review of any of the power line networking products? I remember looking a while ago here and couldn't find anything but product announcements.efficacyman - Friday, September 5, 2014 - link
small net builder has testing with data and rankings for powerlineasmian - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link
Using a Devolo mains adapter here 24/7 for some years without issues, where WiFi was problematic. I think many people forget that these are available and are often better solutions than WiFi for fixed devices - look at the crazy, nonsensical bundling of WiFi on most high-end motherboards these days, which are designed to live in big tower cases, not be portable movable devices. :/ Given that there are undoubtedly people still not securing their WiFi properly or using low-grade encryption, they are also an inherently more secure home networking option.Good to see there is motion on speed and power reduction still in this segment. Just a quick price check shows that prices have dropped amazingly since I bought some years ago, so these are indeed great value now for home networking - they just need better marketing compared to WiFi so people can make more use of them where more appropriate.
PliotronX - Monday, October 20, 2014 - link
Where the heck are the MIMO units? TrendNET was supposed to hit the market in July/August, then pushed back to September/October, ZyXel comes out with a "1Gbps" SISO that is bested by "600Mbps" models (per smallnetbuilder), Sinejoi and Gigafast announce them but none have hit the market. Meeee waaaant. Even though my Tp-Link "600Mbps" is so much more stable packetloss and latency-wise, and 60-80Mbps is better than Wi-Fi in this crowded area, I am jonesing for more and live in a duplex where running GigE would prove too tedius.kainzow_nor - Saturday, November 1, 2014 - link
Finally!ZyXEL PLA5405KIT HomePlug AV2 MIMO 1200 Mbps Powerline Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Kit
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