Positives: Compared with other products in the market, The TrendNet TPL-401E2K 500Mbps Powerline AV Adapter Kit offers the best performance even though it doesn’t touch the 500Mbps mark, it also has a push button which could be used during emergencies.
Negatives: Since it is automatically switched off when it’s on the power save mode, this might result in temporary disconnection, allows only one Ethernet port because of which other products might be considered.
The End Result: TPL-401E2K 500Mbps Powerline AV Adapter Kit is the best which is available in the market, only if you wish to transmit the highest amount of data from the electrical wiring.
Review
TPL-401E2K 500Mbps Powerline AV Adapter Kit is priced at $150 which is believed to be overpriced compared to other products which are available in the market of the same kind. This product is thought to be around $40 more expensive when compared to products such as the WD Live Wire. However, the company defends itself by stating that you pay for what you are given in return.
The reason for being over priced is that this is the first product of its kind which supports the new IEEE 1901 standard in power line technology. This means the TrendNet does not charge you extra without any particular reason. The extra $40 not only provides you a product which is of substantial quality but it also offers you the best technology available. IEEE 1901 helps in offering the fastest speed among the power line adapters which already exists in the market.
TPL-401E2K 500Mbps Powerline AV Adapter Kit besides the support of IEEE 1901 does not have anything new to offer. The reason for this is that most factors such as the design have been kept similar to the ones already existing in the market. Besides the design, the other two similar factors are the ease of use and the features it offers. This product is believed to be a great investment if you wish to make the most out of your home electrical wiring. Furthermore, if you require more ports then you would have to go for alternate solutions such as Linksys PLK300 or the WD livewire.
Design, Setup, and Features
When the product was reviewed, the basic usage recommended was either to charge a cordless phone or an external hard drive. This means that the adapter is only capable of charging smaller devices and shall not be used for ones it cannot support. This kit comes with two identical powerline adapters which are very similar in terms of design to that of Plaster Network PLN3 and Netgear XAV2001.
Performance
In terms of performance, the results were nowhere close to 500Mbps; however the product was much better in terms of speed compared to the other products available in the market. It is believed that TPL-401E2K 500Mbps Powerline AV Adapter Kit is the fastest which is available even if it doesn’t touch the 500Mbps mark which they claimed that it does. The speed registered was 79Mbps and at this rate 500MB of data could be transmitted within a time period of 50 seconds. The good thing about TPL-401E2K 500Mbps Powerline AV Adapter Kit is that it automatically switches the adapter off when no data is being transmitted.