Customer Reviews
Excellent Product and alternative for Wireless 
2008-08-11
This is an excellent product. Pure plug and play. No software setup required for casual users. Worked great for me. I have 2 XE103 and one XE104. The XE104 has 4 ethernet port and I am currently using 3 ports;
one for my Vonage device (adaptor), second for my son's Xbox 360 box and
the third one for a desktop. I am planning to use the 4th on for a printer. These are directly plugged into the power outlets (and not
in the powerstrips). The distance between the main adaptor (connected
to the Router) and the other two are 15 feets and 25 feets respectively.
The XE104 provides 4 ports so that one need not have a switch to increase
the ports for a ehternet connection. This cuts down one network hop for
the traffic.
I had read in some review that the products heat up. However, I haven't
experienced that.
I haven't tested the speed though.
Overall, excellent alternative to the wireless and the ugly ethernet
cables.
I am thinking about diabling encryption as it is used in the house setting
and I hope that the signals do not go beyond the main board. This might
increase the speed.
No weaknesses.
You will not get 85Mbps out of these 
2008-07-25
I have two of these and they definitely do not come close to 85 Mbps as stated in the product description. I would love to try the 200 Mbps version of these, but I have already invested too much in these to throw them out for new equipment.
I am currently looking at the connection speed in the Powerline Encryption Utility and the connection speeds are as follows:
Upstairs: 14.68 Mbps
Bedroom: 10.19 Mbps
I am easily getting a faster connection with wireless all over the house, sometimes getting 54 Mbps connection speed with my 802.11g router. The only problem is connecting my son's video game consoles upstairs. I am unable to get a reliable connection to his Wii, PS3 or Xbox 360 upstairs and these Powerline adapters solved the problem, although the connection is slow. The adapter also allowed me to connect my HD-DVD and Blu-ray players to the network for firmware updates, so that's a plus too.
There has been a bit of a problem with my connection dropping as well, but I am not sure that they are the problem, so I am purchasing a new gigabit switch to connect to my cable modem to see if it will fix the problem.
My suggestion on this is that you only buy these if wireless is not a viable option, as is the case with the game consoles upstairs and my HD-DVD and Blu-ray players upstairs and in the bedroom.
Easy to Install Works as Advertised 
2008-05-06
I ordered two units, the XE103 and XE104 for my apartment. I was a little nervous that the powerline networking would not work right in my apartment because all the reviews etc I read online talked about using the units in houses, not apartments. Both units could not have been easier to set up. Plugged the XE103 in by my router and connected in, the XE104 went by my two PCs, one running Vista. Then I loaded the CD into my vista machine, loaded the Encryption Utility and set up the security for both. That's it. I had the utility running while I was on my PC for most of the first night and my speed never dropped below 83 mbps. My concerns about these working in an apartment were gone, they work fine and I feel secure in the fact that the utility didn't see any other powerline units and I was able to set up the security with a strong password. Also, in case anyone wonders, I was able to plug them in upside down in the outlet, no polarized plug issues. I needed to do this because of the surge protectors already plugged into those outlets. I would definitely recommend these two units. The only reason I didn't give them a 5 star rating is because I haven't owned them that long.
Easy Easy Easy - and Fast 2008-01-26
NETGEAR XE104 85 Mbps Powerline 4-Port Ethernet Adapter
Plug an go is the word for these Ethernet Adapters. If you have a wired network up and running I can't imagine anything easier. Remember to write the passwords printed on each remote unit (so you don't have to go back). A simple process to secure with your own password and you're up and running.
The Answer, For Us 2008-01-20
Our house is made of bricks and steel beams and the wireless network did not go far or work too well. These Powerline adapters work great. It is the answer to our problems. Speed is excellent. All you need is a good outlet, which is the only issue with these. Some outlets don't work as well as others, but it's a minor problem. One other benefit: when adding devices to the network, these are treated as an ethernet connection and there is less set up to do.
Works great 2007-12-03
The NetGEAR XE104 85 Mbps Wall-Plugged Ethernet Switch delivers everything you need to extend the Internet to any room. Don't waste time and money running wires needlessly -- just plug one XE104 into your router and another XE104 to any Ethernet-ready devices. The fast 85 Mbps speed can transmit multiple video streams at once and without interruption. Onnect up to 4 and you'll have a LAN party in minutes. It's compatible with most desktop or notebook PCs, gaming consoles, Netgear's PS121 USB Print Server or SC101 Storage Central -- even a DVR or Slingbox. It sets up without software & its attractive white casing blends easily into any home decor. Never have to worry about a signal being lost among household interferences again!
Works where XE102 did not 2007-11-20
Have ancient electrical wiring that defeated earlier versions of the Powerline adaptors. This model worked right off the bat. But at nowhere near specified bandwidth
Caution Before Buying 
2007-10-25
Please note that this product is not for everyone. I found out the hard way. I purchased two XE104 in hopes of extending my network to the back of my house. Upon first installing the XE104s in the locations I needed them they worked great, for about a day. From that point forward I could get no connectivity between the two devices. I tried moving them to different wall outlets and as they got closer together I could finnaly get some throughput. When they were in adjoining rooms I could get 15 Mbps and if they were on the same wall I could get up to 37 Mbps.
I finally contacted customer support throught their website and followed their recommendations to no avail. After finally calling and talking to a Level 1 tech support person I was told that my problem would need to be escalated to Level 2 support and they would contact me in 24 to 48 hours. After waiting three days I wrote back via the website requesting to be contacted and finally, a week later they sent me a email with a phone number for Level 2 support.
Level 2 support walked me through a number of test and it was determined that the product does not work in older homes and under a number of other conditions. Since my home was built in 1940, I was out of luck. My support rep spoke with his supervisor and they agreed to issue me a refund. I was asked to call back in two weeks to check the status.
After waiting the required two weeks I called back only to find that the number, (866) 274-5279, was not in operation. I tried again the following day and received the same message so I reported the outage via their website as instructed. After submitting another request for support via the web I finally received a message back that they would not honor their commitment to refund my money and further stated "We cannot state in the product information guide every possible hindrance to good performance."
All this to say Buyer Beware! The customer service stinks and they do not honor their promises.
Great idea; fair implementation 2007-09-22
Ethernet over power is a great concept and I could have used this; I purchased two of the netgear adaptors and located them roughly 75 feet apart and got marginal connectivity (about 3mb/s.) It was sufficent for my purposes, but a far cry from their advertised capability. I noticed if you locate the adaptors closer (ie, same wall, or opposite wall in other room) the bandwidth they deliver gets order of magnitude better - approaching 10mb/s (over a 1gb/s backbone negotiated down to 100mb/s)
Biggest flaw is the latency injection and broken packets; also one adaptor died after about 6 months and I had to purchase a replacement. So buyer beware. After giving them another 3months use I chucked them and went completely wireless with the Airport extreme.
If only all technology worked this simply and reliably 2007-09-03
My house was built in 1939, and much of the original electrical wiring is still in use along with two areas that were gutted and completely rewired in the last 20 years. I installed three of the Netgear XE104's, replacing three Netgear XE102's. Extremely easy to install and secure, the XE104's have always operated across circuits, from one end (rewired) of the house to the other (original wiring). They have always established a connection, never failed to function, and adapted their speed to the quality and distance of the wiring. They are backward compatible with the Netgear XE102. In my opinion, this is the best and only way to implement a secure home "wireless" network. Highly recommended.
