Netgear XAVB5201 500Mbps Powerline Adaptor Review

LAN Speed Test a a simple free to use application that creates a file of any given size and pushes it across a network to a given destination folder, measuring the maximum speed of throughput during the file transfer. To get a better and more accurate throughput speed, we set the file size to 1GB. To add a variation to the data set, we tested the adaptors at a varying range of distances by plugging in one plug next to our switch and then the other to start right next to it. We will then move the other plug furthest point we can (roughly speaking) and then half way between to see how distance affects throughput.

Across a long distance we notice that there is very little drop in performance experienced through the powerline adaptors. What we do quickly realise though is that the 10/100 interface on each plug is a huge bottle neck over say a gigabit connection and so we don’t got to see the advantage of the 500Mbps link between the two plugs. Overall we saw throughput speeds topping out at around 88Mbps which for 10/100 is not bad going.