Home > Consumer Reviews > Netgear XEB1004-100NAS Xeb1004 85Mpbs Switch

Before trying the Netgear Powerline 85MBPS kit, I was highly skeptical of its professed ability to use home power lines for computer networking. Having tried earlier attempts of this technology, I assumed the worse. Only a few reviews I had read led me to try it again.

Once you have two units plugged in, and connected to your computer and router, it can take anywhere from a couple minutes to nearly an hour for communication to be enabled. Over the next half-hour or so, speeds tend to increase as the units filter noise and find the best methodology for communicating over your home's electrical system.

Now that I've installed this kit in a number of homes, I can attest that it works largely as advertised. But keep in mind that it won't work in all homes, and rarely in a commercial building (not recommended). It all depends on the topography of the electrical system and the amount of noise on the lines. If large electrical motors are in operation, for example, throughput can greatly decline or cease entirely.

Do keep in mind that this is not a fast, reliable solution to your networking needs. For connecting to the internet for simple browsing or transferring small files between computers, it's a great solution. But forget about streaming video or moving large files - this system will choke if you try it.

I highly recommend this product for simple, straightforward installations in the home where wi-fi or running a CAT5 cable just won't do.

I was dubious of this product for a while, it seemed to good to be true. The Price is high, but it does exactly what I needed. I wired my 360 and will be wiring my wii. Its made a big difference in connection speeds and for that matter it was a breeze to set up. At first I was worried it wasn't working right, but so far so good. If you want to secure your wireless network, and connect game consoles to your wired network this is the ticket.

Also its worth knowing that this comes with two 4 port units, so you could buy a single port and have 2 4 ports to use...

I bought this item since I needed four network connections near my entertainment center. One for Dishnetwork DVR, one for Samsung LCD, one for PS3 and one extra for streaming movies from my PC. I connected one of the switches in basement to my router and one near the TV. That is all it takes. It works great. My only concern is its capacity to withstand power surges since this needs to be connected directly to the wall and not through a surge protector. Only time will tell.

I usually avoid Netgear products after bad experience with my old wireless-G router and I had since switched to a basic Linksys N-Router. My house is pretty big and the router and my living room and master is over 100 feet and 2 exterior walls apart. So when I got the Linksys N router I thought my wireless hiccups will finally go away.
Despite the hype about N, I still can't get excellent connection using N routers (not dual band) and G/N-cards. So I decided to switch to wired PowerLine adapters and given them a try. I needed to also connect my Blue-Ray player and Sling-Box which only afccepts ethernet connection that i don;t have in my living room.

So I started looking for Powerline products and I found in this area NETGEAR leads LinkySys in innovation and quality. The products have matured a lot since those slow 14Mbps adapters. I had a special need in that , I wanted both Transmitting and Receiving ends of the kit to have more than 4 ports.

XEB1004 is the only product I found that has 4 ports both in the Tx and Rx adapters. So if you have your modem far away from your office/living room that your wireless does not connect, you can do something like this:

1. Connect your Broadband MODEM LAN cable output to any one of the 4 ports in one of the 2 adapters in the kit
2. Connect any of the other 3 ports in the Tx adapter to say your LAN PC, NAS, Network printer etc etc
3. Connect the other switch in the klt in your office/living room. You can biu another single adapter as well.
4. Connect your Work PC, Sling box, Blue-Ray player, PS3 etc to any of the 4 ports in teh Rx adapter.
5. Optionally you can even connect your old wireless router to ANY one of the switch that gives you best coverage.

Its has been running PERFECTLY for multiple weeks now. Streaming non-HD video like a charm. Download movies , sling box , everything works great and fast. You don't need the 200Mbps version unless you are moving large files between PCs in your household often. I also trialed and tested the new 200 Mbps Powerline adapter from Netgear and after repeated test found no diff in performance for what I do and hence i returned and it didn;t have 4 port in teh Tx, only in the Rx side. Linksys doesn't even have a 4 x 4 powerline powerline adapter.

Advantages over wireless product:
1. NO SOFTWARE TO INSTALL (all thoughthey gave a CD, god know for what)
2. NO CONFIGURATION NEEDED. JUST LITERALLY PLUG AND PLAY (wow I thought only APPLE can do that)
3. NO 192.168.0.1 login and debug problems
4. NO SECURITY PROBLEMS, NO WEP2 vs WPA debates, NO PASSWORDS TO REMEMBER, NO INTERFERENCE WITH PHONES
5. NO MORE LONG "WAITING TO CONNECT" wireless card when coming out of Standby mode.
None of that junk.

EXCELLENT PRODUCT. JUST WHAT THE NETWORK DOCTOR PRESCRIBED. I THINK THIS PRODUCT LINE HAS GREAT FUTURE EVEN THOUGH THE NEW DRAFT 11Z P2P Networks CLAIMS TO FIX WIRELESS PROBLEMS but ALWAYS REMEMBER (I AM A COMPUTER ENGINEER from HP) :

WIRED ALWAYS BEAT WIRELESS PANTS DOWN.

I've used powerline home networking now for 3+ years. I replaced 3 14MB powerline units with these Netgear units. My purpose was to increase in-home internet speeds to two PC's (Wife and Son). We have a newer home (10 years old) with good wiring). Prior to changing I was getting 3MB/Sec download and 1MB/Sec upload on both PC's using www.speedtest.net. I compared this to my PC which is connected directly to the router and I was getting 30MB/sec download and 8MB/s upload speeds. Installation of the Netgear products was truly "plug and play". I simply plugged in the primary unit that was plugged into my router and then installed the unit for my wife and it only took a few minutes to identify the network and her Internet was up and running. Same issue with my son's PC (both homemade with onboard NIC cards). NIC cards were fast ethernet (100MB/s). I then performed the same www.speedtest.net test on both and upped the speed to 10MB/s download and 6-7MB/s upload. Both now handle online video much better. I was hoping for higher throughput, but the speed increase is noticeable and that's what counts. Would it handle HD video streams from say a media center PC? I believe so, but have not tried it (as I said, internet streaming video is much improved). Overall I would say I'm happy with this purchase, but would prefer they cost $50 each (per set) max since you need at least one set and in my case I bought two sets (to allow for a possible expansion). I think this is one of the easiest methods to establish a "wired" connection within your home. Also they provide encryption software on a CD, but I haven't used that. Also worthy to note- you can still use the upper plug in a wall outlet with these plugged in. Not sure why the manufacturers don't tout this as some cover up both sockects. Also it's a plus that you can plug more than one device into this unit in case you have a need for that for your application. In my case it worked well since my wife has both her PC and sometimes a work PC she plugs into it at different desks in her home office.