Accessories

We’ve come a long way since the late 1980s, when British company Curran, sold pairs of innovative adaptors interconnecting RS232 serial devices via the mains. The speed? A whopping 9,600 bits per second! Today we have speedier (and cheaper) devices like this product from Solwise, which - if your mains wiring and connected electrical-appliances are up to scratch - boasts speeds of up to 882Mbps. ’.

These supersized mains plugs are pushed into wall sockets – one at the end where your network gear lives, the other in the remote location for which access is required. You then connect them to your gear via the supplied Ethernet cables. Then press the Simple Connect button to initiate pairing. Simples.

It works very well indeed. I was able to stream uncompressed audio, 5Mbps MPEG-2 standard-def video and 12Mbps full HD (x264 codec) from NAS boxes and PCs over an estimated 20m of mains wiring with no unwanted glitches.

Powered by Gigle’s MediaXtream chipsets, these devices automatically apply 128-bit AES encryption to ensure that your data traffic is secure. ‘Meshing’ tech maintains connections when conditions are less than ideal. The NET-PL-1000M is compatible with the HomePlug 1.1 standard, and thus interoperable with other such products.

Dirty mains supplies and the use of filters/conditioners can affect performance. Even an extension cable or distribution can cause problems. Our advice is to plug the adapters directly into wall sockets.

It is essential that both adapters are on the same mains circuit. If they’re not, then one adapter might fail to find the other. If this is the case the middle ‘powerline activity’ LED won’t be lit.

Solwise Net PL-1000M
Price: £90 Approx

Overall: 4/5