Home > Consumer Reviews > Linksys Homelink Phoneline 10M Network Starter Kit

Great card, auto detected in XP and Me. within 20 mins I had a network going. Only small problem I had was availability of single cards since I have 3 machines. but otherwisw a fantasic kit, runs faster than my old cat5 10MB as well and I am yet to see if it is actually ADSL compatible.(I aint got dsl)

Gareth

Works exactly as expected straight out of the box. Network cards are recognised automatically at least in ME and 2000 so you don't even need to install drivers if you don't want to. Cards are treated just like ethernet cards.

Real speeds are about 7-8MBs (which is about what you'd expect from a 10base-T network and best you'd get from a wirelss 11MBs setup). Plenty for file and print sharing and internet sharing on a small network.

Been using this stuff for about a year on some pretty old and messy BT telephone extension wiring with no problems at all (either with telephone calls or data connections between computers). Running new CAT5 cables wasn't an easy option for me because of internal listing on building. Wireless has speed and security issues so HPNA2 seemed to be the way to go - and I believe it is.

One drawback - you only seem to be able to buy network cards in the UK. None of the other useful stuff is imported here. Come on Linksys/Netgear- when are we going to get your Ethernet/HPNA bridges and routers over here? There are ways of ovecoming this using a PC with an ethernet card and an HPNA card but for simplicity, I ended up bringing an ethernet/HPNA bridge back from the US so that I can run an ethernet segment and use a hardware print server.

I bought this because I've got computers at opposite ends of the house and phone outlets everywhere - didn't want to get into ethernet wiring if there was a simpler way. The bottom line is - it works perfectly. I'm running a Zoom X4 modem/router with an ethernet connection to the main pc (WinXP Pro) - the network connects this with the other pc (WinXP Home) and shares the broadband connection and printers.

Mind you, I'd have had the system running a lot quicker if I'd realised sooner that the reason it didn't work in the first place was that I was running a virus checker with a software firewall on the main pc. This was preventing the other pc from seeing it!! Easily solved once identified, and just down to my inexperience with firewalls. I'd recommend this to anyone wanting a simple network - just get it working without anti-virus software first, eh?