Customer Reviews
They're great, however ... 
2008-02-04
These adapters work great, but the Linksys setup could save many hours of frustration and tech calls to your ISP and to Linksys if they gave more information to those who need one adapter hooked up to their modem/router. [The instructions gave no specific steps for this.]
#1..The first adapter must be configured on a PC that's attached to the modem/router you plan to use with it. [This may sound obvious, but my home network only had Macs directly hooked to the router, and the PC I was connecting was previously wireless downstairs at the very far end of the house. You can't configure the first adapter attached to the PC alone, then hook it back to router, like I tried to do.] Now you can configure it's twin where you want. However ...
#2..It makes a difference which outlet in your house you plug the second adapter into. My adapter was originally plugged into the farthest plug away from the modem/router, and the internet connection was very poor. Simply moving it to another outlet helped a lot.
Powerline Ethernet adapter 
2007-12-28
The adapter works well,was easy to install, and provides good connectivity. I am averaging about 15Mb/s speed over the adapter. I did have an initial problem connecting from one specific power outlet, but switching the adapter to a different ourlet cured that.
Better than wiring your house, more reliable than wireless. 2007-12-11
A little tricky to setup, speed fluctuates a lot, but it is better than wiring your house.
Product works great - zero setup - PC & MAC home network 2007-12-11
I just purchased the Linksys kit and I must admit that I was expecting it not to work. I have a hundred + year old home, a network with both PCs and a MAC, and endless problems with WiFi. The product worked flawlessly. Had it up and running in less than five minutes including the time to open the box and read the instructions. Running Skype video from a MAC to my Verizon router through ancient knob and tube wiring that's connected to a new circuit breaker panel. Couldn't be more pleased nor surprised. First networking product I have purchased that actually works as advertised. I will definitely be buying more of these units to extend network to other parts of the house.
Great Hardware but Obsolete Firmware 2007-12-01
See also the Linksys PLK200 Powerline AV Ethernet Adapter Kit, which is more economical.
This product is based on a "HomePlug-AV" chipset than runs a specialized type of sofware known as "firmware". Linksys does not design, manufacture, or maintain this chipset or its firmware. An unaffiliated company does that, and Linksys is just one of dozens of that company's customers.
I've purchased about 20 (twenty) PLE200s over the past year--from Amazon and other sellers--and all of them have shipped with firmware version 1.4.5 installed. The primary purpose of my 'review' here is to caution you that hardware running firmware version 1.4.5 cannot communicate with hardware running newer firmware versions. I hope this caution reaches people who have already purchased the PLE200 as well as those who are contemplating doing it.
Version 2.0 implemented a change that was required to achieve compliance with the HomePlug-AV standard. That change unfortunately rendered 1.4.5 unable to intercommunicate with versions thereafter. Fortunately, no subsequent firmware change will have such a devastating side-effect.
"HomePlug-AV" products currently coming off various manufacturers' production lines are likely shipping with 2.0 or later firmware installed. Be advised that if you wish to build unified network consisting of PLE200s and these other products, you'll have to upgrade the firmware in your PLE200s; otherwise, the PLE200s and the other products won't even "see" each other. Not only that, but they'll probably also step on each other's transmissions because of inability to coordinate their usage of the powerline medium.
The PLE200 ostensibly is compliant with the HomePlug-AV standard, but it actually is NOT compliant with the HomePlug-AV standard until its firmware is upgraded from version 1.4.5 to version 2.0 or newer. As of this writing, 3.0.5 is the newest version.
Linksys ought to provide a binary image of the firmware for download on their web site, but I don't see it. The Windows GUI application that Linksys ships on CD with the PLE200--it has a mechanism for programming a new firmware image into a PLE200, but I've never used it and am not certain it is able to perform the 1.4.5-to-later upgrade even if it were given the appropriate binary image.
Being an engineer who is doing development work in the HomePlug-AV space, I have the means to do the upgrade, but it requires my using some software that is not available to the general public. To the general public who already own PLE200's, I would suggest pestering either Linksys or the chipset manufacturer about the firmware. To everyone else--maybe you can find a HomePlug-AV adapter under a different brand name that comes with firmware version 2.0 or later pre-installed.
No Issues.... 2008-06-11
Followed the instructions to set the network password on each device, plugged them in and they just worked. I use these to boost the transfer speed between 2 Tivo boxes that previously were wireless only. Amazing the speed difference. They work as advertised!
Easy Set-up 2008-04-06
For someone who is technologically challenged, the set-up was extremely simple. The whole process took less than 10 minutes. I purchased it in order to get Direct TV on demand and it works perfectly. Great product.
Couldn't have been easier to install... 2008-03-26
I purchased 3 based on the reviews posted here. I hooked up one to my Verizon FIOS router, one to a PS3, and one to a DirecTV DVR to receive DirecTV On Demand. Everything worked perfectly on the first try. Highly Recommended.
powerline was plugged and running in 2 minutes 2008-02-15
I have three of these units two hooked up to two different computers one for work and home computer. I also have one hooked up to HD DVD player and this work well as well. I have had no issues with this item.
Fantastic product 2008-02-09
Due to the way my house is built, I have no phone jacks in the basement, however all of our computer equipment is down there. So, with DSL being on the main floor, and the WAP in the basement, I had been doing a wireless link back up to the DSL modem via a Cisco Aironet 350 PCI card in my VMware platform, to a Linksys 54GL upstairs. That worked fairly well, but one piece of that wireless puzzle would have an issue from time to time. I decided to go with the Linksys powerline product, and so far, so good. Plug and go installation, performance seems to be great, and latency is definitely less than the aforementioned WAP solution. I also removed a couple hops, which is an additional latency bonus. Highly recommended.
