Pros: I've been using these for a few weeks and they work very well. I have one installed in the same plug as the main router and cable modem. The other one is installed upstairs on the other side of the house where the wifi tends to be weaker. I have this connected to a switch with 2 computers, the backup server, smart tv, and bluray player. Everything works fine with it and I don't have any problems watching Netflix. Considering the house I live in is over a hundred years old and the two outlets are definitely not on the same circuit I'm more than happy with the speed this offers. I would say I get an average of 32 mbps speeds out of the unit. It's not 500 mbps but more than enough to do what I need to do. I have not tried transferring data between computers over the connection but I assume I would get slightly better results.

I also like the efficiency of the unit. I was using a ZyXEL unit which took up more room at the plug and ran very warm. This unit is smaller and doesn't get much above room temperature.

Cons: No many cons to bring up. Obviously I'd love to see 500 mbps but I have a feeling that would only happen in perfect situations. If I lived in a newer home and the plugs were on the same circuit I would guess this would really be nice.

Other Thoughts: Overall I'm happy with these units and will continue to use them. I would recommend them to anyone who want a quick, easy way to connect a router with a computer in separate parts of the house.

Pros: Affordable
Plug-and-play system
Good when WiFi isn't an option
Uses encryption which is a bonus
Bundled with two white CAT5 Ethernet cables

Cons: Unnecessarily bulky - Blocks 2nd outlet, so passthrough plug is only connection
Netgear's speed ratings are way off, even in lab "best scenario" conditions
Interferes with other powerline devices in the same house

Other Thoughts: I would have really liked to use this, but it kept knocking my TED5000 system offline. TED (The Energy Detective) is an energy monitor that uses powerline networking to "talk" with sensors installed in breaker boxes. Once this system was setup - TED was unable to communicate with the sensors at all, showing that I had 0 power usage. Once I unplugged this system, TED started to function normally again.

In lab testing, the system seems to work just fine. If I wasn't using TED these would make a great addition to my household, but it looks like I'll be sticking with Ethernet wires & WiFi signals.

Pros: was able to get around 60mbps download speeds
easy setup, was able to have my 11 year help.
Encrypts line when using in Apt to help keep your network separate from others.

over all it is an easy device to setup and takes little to no time to get OK speeds for streaming video that, or music to TV. Game consoles fine when streaming on them.

Cons: Not able to fit 3 prong plug in other outlet above unit that is a 3 prong device.
Random drops in network, playing games with the kids and one in the other room that was connected through the powerline would drop off Skype and off the home network for 30 seconds.

Games like Mindcraft was fine. but adding Skype and playing Arc or Diablo 3 we started seeing some lag that we needed to switch back to the network jack.

Other Thoughts: over all the device is nice, if you dont leave the line connected (game / TV that gets turned on for a few hours at a time. worked Great for the apple TV wired connection, got computer gaming after a few days with the computer being on it started dropping until we reset the connection (unpluged both for 5-10 seconds).

We are keeping it connected to the apple to TV for a wired connection. It is not always on and line seem to fine when device sleeps or is powered off.

Pros: Dead simple setup
Easy to extend Ethernet access
Good enough throughput for most people
Secure mode

Cons: Actual throughput nowhere near manufacturer claims
Appliances on same circuit can slow throughput
Device blocks the other outlet on a standard wall plate

Other Thoughts: This powerline network extender from Netgear is an interesting device. It comes with two identical devices and the idea is that you plug one into your router and the other anywhere else in your house to provide a direct Ethernet connection back to the router. In the box are two of the devices, two Ethernet cables, and an instruction manual (which strangely pictured the European version, though the operation is identical).

The setup was dead simple. Plug one of them into power near your router and plug the Ethernet cable into it and an available Ethernet jack on your router. Then plug the other device in wherever you want to extend to. A simple button press will set up “secure mode” which supposedly is there to prevent someone from plugging one of these into another outlet and sniffing your network. Not likely in a single family home but perhaps useful in apartments or dorms where one might share power circuits. Of note is that there’s no indication you’re in secure mode except when you initially set it up.

The manufacturer claims of up to 500 Mbps were way off for my testing. See the full results below, but when plugged in directly to an outlet (as the manual suggests) and into an outlet on a different circuit, the best speeds I could achieve on a large file transfer over the network was about 52 Mbps. To make a worst case scenario, I ran a microwave (not the same outlet, but the same circuit) and saw a slight drop, to about 44 Mbps. To make a best case scenario I plugged the devices literally into each other and got a best speed of about 90 Mbps. While these speeds are far below the manufacturer claims, they’re still good enough for the average user who just wants to stream netflix or play games.

Another thing that majorly misses the mark here is the pass-through outlet. While that was a great idea, the device blocks the ground hole of the outlet above it on a standard wall plate. So even with the pass through you still lose an outlet. Very poor design choice Netgear. Also, the recommendation not to plug this into a power strip is based in fact. When I ran the same tests with one device plugged into a power strip, the speeds dropped from 52 Mbps to 30 Mbps, and the microwave running dropped that further to about 16 Mbps. So while it does work, the throughput starts to drop significantly. I'm curious why this is and if surge protection is the culprit. If so, you may want to reconsider this device if your home has whole home surge protection (mine does not).

Overall this is a decent solution if you need to extend your network and absolutely cannot run actual network cable to the location. I’ve tested lots of wireless extenders and this is a much better option which should be more consistent. I don’t like that throughput is so much off of the manufacturer claims. Netgear would have gotten an extra egg from me for honesty.

Test details:
1.15 GB file, gigabit LAN connection between two PCs running Windows 8.1.
Control transfer (with LAN directly plugged into router): 12 seconds (766 Mbps)
Powerline next to each other: 103 seconds (90 Mbps)
Powerline on different circuit: 176 seconds (52 Mbps)
Powerline on power strip: 314 seconds (30 Mbps)

Pros: It is easy to install, and it might be a good option if your wifi signal isn't strong at all.

Cons: The speed is the biggest con, and that's why I'm returning it. I have an internet speed of 75Mbs, and with WIFI enabled I usually get 40-50Mbs. That's the reason I purchased this item. I regret it. After installing it, I kept getting a orange light. I tried plugging it to different ports, but nothing changed. My max speed was 18Mbs. I tried using another computer in the house that would give me a green light. I used my sister's computer and I finally got a green light. After checking the internet speed, I had a higher speed. 30Mbs! I was considering keeping it since my sister's room has really bad internet reception. Too bad she was getting a 120 Ping. Not worth the money. Waiting for a 100ft Ethernet cable now.

Other Thoughts: I wish it gave me a faster speed at least.

Pros: Pros:
Cheap pass-through adapter
Stable Connection (so far)

Cons: Cons:
Shape of the adapter will block the grounding pin on the outlet above

Other Thoughts: Be aware that the shape of the adapter will block the grounding pin of the outlet above - you'll only be able to fit 2 pronged cables to the top outlet.

Pros: Truly plug-and-play
No dropped connections or address conflicts
Affordable
Outlet pass-through

Cons: Rounded top covers part of the outlet above so only ungrounded power cords can be used, but outlet pass-through makes up for that problem.
Like all powerline adapters they don't work well with power strips and circuit breaker sub panels.

Other Thoughts: I've used several brands of powerline adapters over the past seven years, and none have been as reliable as Netgear's. I was running into addressing conflicts that resulted in connectivity issues when mixing brands, even though they were all using the same standards, so I decided to get a couple of these kits to go with the Netgear 200Mbps adapters I've had for years (I use six adapters in my house). So far the results have been flawless with stable and fast internet connections.

Pros: Easy to setup and required no additional wiring*.

Cons: Finding an outlet for the main unit was a pain, the circuit the units are on can make a large impact on speeds.

Other Thoughts: I did have to find an outlet in another room for the unit attached to my primary router which meant I did wind up making a 25' ethernet cable. This is not a fault in the product but in the wiring of my house, 1930's.

Pros: First of all, I want to say that I haven't found any type of device like this. I have worked for tech companies in the past and nothing like this was ever on the shelf. And you know what? It should have been, heres why:

The purpose of this device is connect a device in your home physically to your network as opposed to wirelessly. If you have an out of the box factory made new PC, most do not come with wireless adapters installed. Which means you will have to find a way to run an ethernet cable all the way to wherever this new PC is being set up. With this device, you won't have to. Simply plug it in by your router as well as by the PC and hook it up to each of the ethernet ports. Everything should be taken care of for you at that point.

Now the reason I gave this review four stars is outlined in the cons section, but it's basically an argument of price points compared to similar products that can solve the problem this device is trying to.

This isn't confined only to a PC however, but can also be used to hook up a new smart tv, apple tv, game system as well as anything else that accepts an ethernet cable.

The plug and play ability of this device makes setup super simple, even for the most tech ignorant out there. Lastly, the hardware itself feels extremely sturdy and probably wont break any time soon.

Cons: The price is too high for what it delivers. As many other reviewers have already mentioned, the speeds which are delivered with this device means only basic internet use like web browsing is truly possible. Things like movie streaming or online gaming could prove to be difficult.

Another reason why the price can be an issue is because I can go out and buy a wireless adapter for a pc that nets me the same speed for half the price. Now that adapter is only good for a pc, while this is good for anything, that's basically what you are paying for: versatility, ease of use, durability and security.

Pros: Overall, at $40 it is a decent deal for anyone needing to fill this specific networking niche, networking through powerlines at slow 100 Mbit speeds. Do not expect to seamlessly stream bluray backups from a media server or transfer files larger than a few hundred megabytes in any reasonably short time. Even browsing Newegg is noticeably laggy. I would not personally use this for online gaming or anything requiring low-latency. By design, the 500 Mb/s link is bottlenecked with 100 Mbps Ethernet.

If these conditions are acceptable then this device works if the price is right. (Alternative solutions mentioned in OTs.)

Setup: Very simple and plug-and-play as many similar products are. The instructions were brief, as expected with how painless setup was. Plug/connect the devices, sync, and everything should work. I did not even have to press sync since my router leased an IP address as soon as both adapters were connected.
- Additionally, I plugged a Trendnet TPL-410APK (Newegg #N82E16833156478) receiver and it connected instantly and as flawlessly to the Netgear.
- Transparent client bridging. The assigned DHCP lease is direct from the router. No NAT chipping the throughput further. Naturally, there is no configuration IP or options to change settings on the adapters. Everything is seamless.
- The two 6.5 foot Ethernet cables were an added bonus in this modern age of 3-foot patch cables companies tend to include.

Speed: In testing, I began copying a 3 GB disk image (.iso) file to a gigabit-connected Seagate NAS and through the SMB (Samba, Windows share) protocol.
- At ~6 MB/s (48 Mb/s) transfer speeds, the rate is definitely a con. Unfortunately this is by design. (Cons #1.)
- The Trendnet adapter gained 400 KB/s of Netgear, transferring consistently at around ~6.4 MB/s via its megabit Ethernet. (The full Trendnet setup was exponentially faster since it interfaced the 500 Mb/s line with a N300 wireless AP instead of the 10/100 LAN port.)

Features:
- The “Pick-a-Plug” LED color tells of the connection speed if there are any problems. However mine shone green despite low speeds. (See Cons #2.)
- Encryption is very important and easily enabled with this setup. Also, speed did not noticeably drop with enabling encryption in my testing, though speed was so low it would be negligible anyhow.
Note: I didn’t attempt to establish an encryption handshake between the Trendnet and Netgear adapters, however.
- Power saving mode! This is one feature in wifi repeaters I've always inexpressively wished for and I am very happy to see it in this powerline adapter.
- In theory, pass-through is important to preserve both outlets for use. Unfortunately, Con #3 outlines the bulky build obstructing the other outlets regardless. As implemented, pass-through is useless.
- Extra noise filtering, I'll give benefit of the doubt this exists because I have no practical way of measuring it without using an oscilloscope, probes and possibly frequency gen

Cons: Firstly, my apartment is older with some two-pronged (non-grounded) outlets. I know this can impede speeds, but that is not the primary speed issue, here.

PROPER SPEED TESTING:
To those measuring transfer speeds via speed test websites: that is not an accurate representation for local network device speeds! A test should record the transfer rate a file (10-100 MB or larger) over the local network! This is arguably the easiest and most realistic mode of measurement.

I transferred a file at 48Mbit/s while speedtest.net reported 60Mbit/s, my actual purchased internet speed. I get the same measurement across 802.11ac and gigabit Ethernet. (Similarly, on an 802.11g wireless network at my college speedtest.net reports speeds of 70 Mbps, while actual download speeds are limited to under 3 Mbps. This is why online speed tests are not appropriate for measuring actual local transfer rates.)

Con 1. Speed and design:
Unless I am missing something, with lacking a gigabit port this adapter is designed to be or have a bottleneck.
The theoretical 500Mb/s powerline link is interfaced via a 100Mbps connection to a client.
- 500 megabits (62.5 megabytes) per second, interfaced through a 100 megabits (12.5 megabytes) per second 10/100 “Fast Ethernet” port.
- Curiously, there is hardly any mention of 10/100 or megabit on the item’s box other than listing “One (1) Fast Ethernet port each,” under specifications.
- While I personally understand Fast Ethernet is 100Mbps, I find it suspect that Netgear boasts the 500Mbps powerline speed so vehemently while quietly ignoring how the LAN is 100Mbps. (To be fair, the Trendnet adapters similarly obfuscate Ethernet port speeds.)

Con 2. Connection quality status/Pick-A-Plug LED:
My connection registered a green light, signaling a >80 Mb/s connection. However, real speeds were barely ~48 Mb/s. Either the measurement is somehow uncalibrated or it is dysfunctional? I tried numerous outlets, same result.
If this reflects the 500mbit powerline backbone then it is understandable. However, I can only guess as to why the LAN speeds would be so low if the connection was so healthy. I wouldn't knock an egg off for this one because I see it as trivial.


3. Outlet obstruction:
The plug obstructs both outlets. On one particular outlet of mine almost leaves the room for the unused plug, however it would only work forcing it at an angle (which I didn't want to do.)
I tested many different outlets and most only had room for this large adapter.
Ironically, I could use a two-prong adapter that eliminates the ground plug and it would likely work, since it extends away from the wall. Doing so would appear aesthetically clunky and tacky, however.

I do know that the Trendnet client adapter lacks a ground pin, but I don't know whether Netgear’s noise filter uses the ground to function. It is entirely possible. (Again, not employing an o-scope and other tools for this one.. Maybe someday.)

Other Thoughts: I did not expect to write a negative review and am typically more generous and forgiving, though honest about flaws. However, I can only dress it up so much given the slow speeds, questionable marketing and the minor dysfunctions. Neither the Pick-A-Plug fault nor the outlet obstruction are huge issues to me, since they do not significantly impede the adapter’s function. I can see how they would matter to the average consumer, however. The megabit interface, however, is a huge negative quality that is compounded by how it is presented and advertised.

All in all, absent gigabit Ethernet this adapter should not target customers expecting a 500 Mbps connection. Yet, that is what is advertised. A 100 megabit port on a 500 megabit line is, in reality, a 100 megabit link…It seems pretty straightforward. In spite of knowing this with confidence, I still double-checked and found that no standards have changed. The 1995-era 10/100 “Fast Ethernet” is still the 100 Mbps that is slow by modern standards. for LAN networks. In comparison, more cable internet providers are now offering 100 Mbps internet.

If looking to extend a network (even at this price) I would recommend other options. It really comes down to whether $40 is worth it for a slower 12.5 MB/s connection over the preexisting powerlines. Netgear’s PLP1200-100PAS (Newegg #N82E16833122464) has gigabit but at twice the cost.

Depending on the situation, it appears more reasonable to use a gigabit switch (like this 5-egg one for $18, #N82E16833156250) across Cat 6 Ethernet, 50-feet (#N82E16812119199, $7 to $12) or 100-feet (#N82E16812119219, $13 to $20). This is easily within a $40 budget and certainly under the $80 price of Netgear’s gigabit adapter and the speeds are exponentially greater. However, an Ethernet cable longer than 100-feet requires a more expensive PoE switch.

As of this review, Trendnet’s adapter (#N82E16833156478) has dropped to $54 and reaches speeds five times faster via the N300 wireless compared to this 10/100 port. I am not committed to brand loyalty here, but it is much faster and fills a similar role to this Netgear powerline setup for a marginally higher price.