Powerline Ethernet: D-Link PowerLine AV+ Mini Adapter Starter Kit

I recently reorganized the way we connect our home and my office, which is across the yard. “Across the yard” became about 100 feet further than it had been, and it looked inconvenient to connect this via a cable.

So I didn’t.

I have tried a couple of power line ethernet adapters for clients and have had good success with them. I was concerned in this case because we’re in two separate buildings and there is about 150 feet of underground power cable that separates the two. In addition, there would be another 50-60 feet between the transformer  and the breaker for both buildings, which would matter (if I understand correctly) if I happened to plug into outlets on the opposite phase.

In this case I bought the D-Link PowerLine AV+ Mini Adapter Starter Kit, DHP-309AV, for just $49.99. Since it’s connecting into a 100 Mbps system, the 200 Mbps limit seemed acceptable. The two units are small and barely noticeable, which my wife appreciates. They do provide only one Ethernet outlet at either end, but I was planning to plug a router with wireless and four Ethernet ports on our house side.

Setup was trivial. I just plugged one adapter into an outlet in my outbuilding/office, and the other into an outlet in the house, and they lit up green. I find the description of the colors the the PowerLine status amusing:

Green – Link rate/quality is the bestAmber – Link rate/quality is better
Red – Link rate/quality is good.

I guess “light out” is the only bad option!

I did encounter that. Take the installation instructions seriously when they say not to plug this into the same outline with appliances. I plugged it into the same outlet as one of the computers, and it went right out when the computer came on. I then plugged it into another outlet and also plugged the router into the same outlet. It went immediately to red and the network performance was slow. I don’t mean we measured it a few Mbps less. I mean it crawled, with minutes to load a web page. It was effectively non-functional for the LAN. I couldn’t load a document. As soon as I plugged the router in elsewhere, an outlet just a few feet away, everything sped up.

Since then I have not noticed any speed issues, though we do see Amber on the LGL quite frequently. The only measurement I’ve taken on speed gave it around 25 Mbps, though notes on that method indicated it tended to read low. I’ll post here if I get a better speed indication.

In the practical speed test department, however, I have been remote controlling clients computers through CrossLoop without any problems or noticeable difference in perfomance. I stream movies with it, though only on the computer or portable device, and I do page layout for books on my laptop in the house while using the drive on my office computer for all files, again without any noticeable delays.

I am very happy with this adapter set, both in terms of price and performance.