Average Customer Review: ( 24 customer reviews )
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8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
 Works Like a Charm Apr 08, 2007
By Agent Excel
"agentexcel"
Note that this package has only one adapter. You need at least two adapters for them to be useful. I own three of these.
The configuration of my third adapter took me all of 5 mins. I am currently using it as I type.
Pros:
Very easily to configure.
Very reliable.
Low latency and high bandwidth. This is reliable enough for my gaming: Warcraft 3, World of Warcraft.
Cons:
Very expensive.
I may buy one more. I really like these adapters.
9 of 10 found the following review helpful:
Magical! May 10, 2007
By G. Morrison
"Media Slave"
I love these devices--they work with neither drivers nor a a web/MS Windows based configuration utility (most such devices from other mfrs. require MS Windows for configuration); so, these work well with Linux. (Getting wireless networking to work with Linux/unix/freebsd is convoluted, and the flawed online documentation is jumbled, often out-of-date, conflicting, and ambiguous.)
With these, one must simply plug in and reset the terminal (remote) unit with a paper clip, plug both units into the same wall outlet, press a button on each unit within 5 secs. to link them (this also automatically sets up 128-bit security--this prevents others using similar tech from hacking in from the same power transformer--this is not much of a problem yet), unplug them, move them to where they are desired, plug them in, connect ethernet cables, and then test for good connectivity by pressing the setup button on the terminal (remote) unit. Everything is done with hardware, not software or firmware; it's really simple! This is as it should be with good networking hardware! The units use a power cord, so they don't monopolize wall sockets....
These may cost more than certain competing mfr's units, but they also can stream media easily. The connection is much more secure than with wireless....
With this tech, which likely will be refined and perfected over time, electric companies will soon enter the internet provider business.
I regret the waste of my time, effort, and expense of trying to get wireless networking to work with Linux....
Panasonic BL-PA100A HD-PLC (High Definition Power line Communication) Ethernet Adaptor
Panasonic BL-PA100KTA HD-PLC (High Definition Power line Communication) Ethernet Adaptors - Two Pack
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
Plug n Play Feb 18, 2008
By D. Williams
The Panasonic Ethernet Adapter provides higher throughput than some other units out there. They are plug n play. There is a little bit of setup for the third and up units. A friend of mine, who has a knack for starting a project and calling me to finish it, actually connected these up correctly without calling me. I like the built in speed test. There is one item to be aware of that is not mentioned in the instructions. If the units are on different phases of the incoming electrical lines, the throughput will be low unless one installs a phase coupler. This is not a design fault. It is the nature of trying to run signals over the power wiring.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 as long as u dont need to stream HD content, should be fine Mar 06, 2009
By E. Meshack-Hart
Setup was easy, pretty much plug and play. I ended up returing these for these for the Netgear AV powerline models, as they were unable to stream HD video, and when connected to the same outlets, the netgear units got a higher speed. so if u just need a network connection/transfer files, internet, etc, these will work,and u really cant beat the price, but for more bandwitdth, look elswhere (5ghz N, or ethernet)
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
My Easiest Networking Setup Experience Oct 28, 2008
By J. Sadin
I bought a set of Panasonic's powerline network adaptors to get a relatively high speed connection (up to 190 Mbps) to a location that was out of range of my wireless-G network. I could have bought hardware to extend the range of the wireless net, but the price/performance of the Panasonic product made more sense. The plan was to add two Macs and a PC to my network. I've been burned setting up home networks before, so I was skeptical as to how easy this would be.
I decided to start with one of the Macs. Set-up was absolutely easy. It took maybe 15 minutes. The few necessary directions worked exactly as written. Even better, there was nothing to configure on the computer. The job consisted of plugging one unit (the master) into an AC receptacle near my DSL router and running an ethernet cable between the unit and DSL router. The second unit (the slave) gets plugged into a receptacle near the computer you want on the network, and another ethernet cable goes between it and the computer. Amazingly, everything just worked.
To hook up all three computers, I unplugged the ethernet cable from the first Mac and plugged it into a Netgear 4 port dual speed ethernet hub. Then I ran three ethernet cables between the hub and each of the three computers. Once again it just worked.
I've been heavily using this configuration trouble free for about eight months. It's worked so well that last week, when I needed to move one of the Macs to a new location in my house, I bought another Panasonic adapter from Amazon. Adding this new slave adaptor took 10 minutes and, as before, did not require any configuration changes to the Mac.
If I want to expand this set-up further I can add more slave adaptors (up to 15). Obviously you'd need pretty fast Internet service for 15 computers to surf the net simultaneously. In my house my computers aren't all used at the same time, so things are generally pretty fast.
Last, I read some of the other reviews and noticed not all are as glowing as mine. While I found Panasonic's product highly reliable and easy to set up, I can guess what happened to some of these folks. First, while the adaptors are relatively simple devices, they are electrical and are subject to damage, interference and misuse. If the adaptors are damaged it should be fairly obvious because each unit has three colored lights to report various status and error conditions. I'll bet damaged units are pretty rare.
As for misuse, the instructions are clear and contain only a few steps, but must be followed exactly - including running a straight forward speed test that must pass before you plug the ethernet cable into your computer.
Interference is probably the biggest source of problems. Panasonic is quite specific about the potential for this sort of problem.
The adaptors ideally must be plugged into an actual AC receptacle that is not shared by another device that could generate interference, like a power block for a low voltage device (i.e., laptops, printers, speakers, phones - almost everything, these days). Power blocks are really stepdown transformers that produce electric fields that can disrupt powerline network signals. Likewise, you should avoid plugging adaptors into a power strip, which may contain circuitry that can create interference, or may have a power block or two plugged in.
Panasonic sells a high quality, well documented product that has worked well for me. Note that most of the technical points cited above will apply to any powerline networking product from any manufacturer.
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