21Oct/105
Actiontec MegaPlug 200 Mbps AV Powerline Ethernet Adapter and 4-Port Hub Kit Reviews
Actiontec MegaPlug 200 Mbps AV Powerline Ethernet Adapter and 4-Port Hub Kit
- Perfect for high-bandwidth applications like HD Video and audio streaming
- Compatible with any high-speed service provider or equipment
- More secure than wireless! 128-bit AES pushbutton security
- Very easy to install. Simply plug in.
- Uses HomePlug AV standard
The MegaPlug 200 Mbps AV Powerline Ethernet Adapter & 4-port Hub Kit uses your home electrical lines to create up to a 200 Mbps network throughout your home. Perfect for high-bandwidth applications like HD video and audio streaming. Access high-speed internet, DirecTV On-Demand, Blu-Ray players, Tivo, DVRs, Slingbox, HDTV's with internet access and online services such as Netflix. Powerline adapters can reach places wireless can not, so they are perfect solutions for computers, printers and fax
Rating: 
(out of 38 reviews)
List Price: $ 169.99
Price: $ 108.98
October 21st, 2010 - 18:07
Review by Chris Zee Shutterbug for Actiontec MegaPlug 200 Mbps AV Powerline Ethernet Adapter and 4-Port Hub Kit
Rating:
ActionTec plug Av
Very Easy to set up if you had all the instructions.
A quick review and as typical for me an update will follow. I had everything set up and truly believed the Quick Start Guide when it said no configuration required. Unfortunately…. I first disabled my wireless card in the Windows Control Panel just so I would not have any conflicts. Then I plugged in the two devices as described above. The LEDs on both boxes were green and red, sometimes green and yellow. The Guide said “Make sure both lights turn solid green”. The guide warns you not to plug the devices into any outlet that is surge protected or filtered, which I did not. Oh well I said, I started moving both boxes into different outlets and could not get both “link” lights to turn green unless they were plugged into the same outlet. Rats I said. There is no explanation in the guide at all as to what to do when the lights are not both green. NO troubleshooting guide at all. I tried to hook up to the Web, but nothing happened.
Here I will save you the trouble of the hour long process that followed, and just tell how you can save yourself the trouble I had
1. It does not really matter what color the “link” light is. It is only the quality of connection indicator. Please go to the [...] website and download the user manual for the HPE400AVP. There is no manual and no CD with the box you buy and in my case it was the critical missing step. Here is the lights portion of the manual
Red means the condition is poor and less than 50Mpbs,
Orange indicates a fair line condition of 50-100Mbps,
Green means the line is in good condition with over 100Mbps throughput.
Of course since I was using wireless previously in a remote location with a 18 Mpbs transfer speed, even a Red light meant a vastly improved connection. The connection speed varies for me between yellow and red, and always is better than the wireless. My wireless was a Linksys WRT54G with the power setting at 75mw, the distance involved was about 50ft with 3 walls in between.
2. There are small black buttons on both boxes, but NO explanation in the User Guide as to what they do. You have to download the manual for that. They are the security enable keys, and you have to go thru a sequence of four timed presses to set it up. In my trials of various outlets in the house, I must have pressed one or both, but in a wrong sequence and must have messed up the communications, hence even with the connection established, I could not connect to the web. At the time I still thought that it was because I had red lights and they needed to be green. I had to reset both boxes using a pin.
3. At this point following the reset, even though the link light on both boxes was red, the Internet magically appeared. So the setup is truly plug and play, unless like me you believe the dreaded step #13 in the quick setup guide “Make sure both lights are green ” or you accidentally press the security buttons.
Finally when set up, and even with my troubles it only took an hour. The connection speed to the web as judged by [...] was 50% faster than my best wireless connection and 3 times better than my worst connection. Great product, and only a one star downgrade for no packaged in manual or CD.
Lastly you may also try the following steps to improve your speed at lower costs.
1. Get an antenna with gain for the router and your wireless card (10-30$, 50% improvement)
2. Change the wireless channel in the router utility (G networks conflict with 2.4 ghz cordless phones)
3. Move the antenna even slightly for possible improvement, Use a utility like network stumbler to fine tune the position
4. If available for your wireless router, get an open source custom firmware for it which will allow you to fine tune the antenna transmit power (I use Tomato).
UPDATE
5. Get an inexpensive N standard router with multiple antennas (used to be called MIMO multiple in multiple out). I have picked up one recently and now all my remaining computers have a better signal as well. While you will not get speds higher than G standard of 54mb, you will get closer to nominal. You would ned a N adapter in the pc as well to get all the benefits.
Happy Powerline and Wireless networking.
October 21st, 2010 - 18:23
Review by Tom Diederich for Actiontec MegaPlug 200 Mbps AV Powerline Ethernet Adapter and 4-Port Hub Kit
Rating:
I’ve tested the Actiontec MegaPlug with a desktop PC, a Slingbox and also an Xbox 360 (which I use to play online games) and its performance has far exceeded my expectations. It’s like having a second router/internet connection in the far corner of my home where my wireless network does not reach. I don’t notice any difference in terms of bandwidth compared with a direct connection to my downstairs router.
I was a little concerned that I’d have to configure settings in each device in order to get it to work. To my great relief this wasn’t the case. Connect it and it works. Period.
I simply plugged the base unit into an outlet (a wall outlet is recommended — the directions warn that it probably won’t work with a surge-protector) near my router and then connected the two with the included Ethernet cable (it comes with two Ethernet cables).
Next I plugged in the bigger piece of the Actiontec set — the one with the four Ethernet ports — into an outlet in the area of my house where I wanted to place my desktop PC, my Xbox and my Slingbox. I then connected all of the devices with Ethernet cables and they were instantly connected to the Internet. It was a wonderfully elegant customer experience.
Two thumbs up for this product.
October 21st, 2010 - 18:44
Review by Modern Blue Argonaut for Actiontec MegaPlug 200 Mbps AV Powerline Ethernet Adapter and 4-Port Hub Kit
Rating:
I already have Actiontec HLE200AV0-01GK MegaPlug 200 Mbps Powerline HomePlug A/V Gaming Adapter Kit (White) and recently relocated my kids computers to the living room (right next to each other) so they could concentrate on homework after school. I was able to connect both computers to the Internet using the hub that is included with this kit, but yet still use the older models connection between the router and the wall in the family room at the other end of the house. I had read that 200 Mbps ethernet adapters are not downward compatible, but I’m happy to report that at least within the same brand, same speed, these are 100% compatible and work flawlessly.
The connection only took a couple of seconds to be live, and the green lights helped me to ensure that everything was connected correctly and working.
If you don’t like messing with wifi, wep codes, and Internet dongles, and dropped signals, these are the way to go. Not only that, the speed is exceptionally fast and that’s why gamers like to use either these if they can’t have their computer plugged directly into their router.
These really are just plug and play across multiple platforms, devices, and throughout the house. Despite running a security camera system on Ethernet adapters and using two different models of this Ethernet kit, and having computers with various os including Linux and Windows, it all just worked perfectly by plugging in the adapter to the wall, and the Ethernet cord to the device. There is no software to install and the system can easily be upgraded by buying additional powerline adapters of the same speed. I cannot comment on brand-mixing at this point, since I haven’t tried other “compatible” brands yet.
October 21st, 2010 - 19:33
Review by Eugene Balerna Jr. for Actiontec MegaPlug 200 Mbps AV Powerline Ethernet Adapter and 4-Port Hub Kit
Rating:
The Good – Setup is a breeze. No software to install or code keys to input. Plug into the wall and connect the cables.
The not so good – Actiontec recommends that the ports be on the same circuit for the best performance. I am not an electrician, but I doubt that a first floor outlet and a second floor outlet are on the same circuit so you are most likely not going to get the highest speeds. Also I had a library that uses a touch sensor to turn on the lights in the same room as the hub that I was using. Every time the hub sent data it would turn on the lights. This was aggravating especially during overnight situations when I would discover the lights had been on all night. I am running a new precision desktop computer with Win7 hooked into the hub and at times it seems like it is from 1990 running windows 3.1. I have to click 2-5 times on an ‘ok’ button to get it to perform the function. When I disconnect the network cable the system returns to blazing speed.
Unfortunately for me I think I may have to return to either a hardwired solution which would require drilling through floors or find a wireless solution.
October 21st, 2010 - 20:26
Review by A. Lee for Actiontec MegaPlug 200 Mbps AV Powerline Ethernet Adapter and 4-Port Hub Kit
Rating:
I bought this pack in May and have been using them to connect my ASUS O play media player, Harman Kardon DMC1000 media (Music) server, and PS3 to a Dlink DIR825 router, which connects to a Acer Easystore WHS server where all my movie, music and photos are stored. I have about 1.5 TB of movie files in various file formats, incl. MKV, AVI, RMVB, DIVX, etc. I used to use PS3 and WiFi to stream movies, but any files bigger than a gig will run into problems from time to time. Now I can enjoy upto 9 GIG MKV movies on my 106″ screen without any glitch: picture quality and DTS sound quality are fantastic. I don’t have any 1080P MKV files due to my projector is only 1080i/720P, and therefore can not comment if the adapter can handle files bigger than 9 gig.