Home Plug Compatibility

[Uncle Albert]

We have a mix of Netgear & Devolo. They work fine together but the Devolos do seem more reliable.

[VectraMan]

I would buy the same. Yes there's a standard, but standards are always open to interpretation with these things and buying other manufacturers' stuff is just asking for trouble.

[northernladuk]

Have you asked your accountant

No point asking him if he's tried a search.....

[northernladuk]

Compatibility betweeen standards

In order to ensure compatibility between products from different manufacturers, most products have adopted a standard networking protocol called HomePlug. In fact, the terms ‘powerline’ and ‘HomePlug’ are often used as though they’re interchangeable, but there are competing standards. HomePlug is the most popular, though.

Kits that support the HomePlug standard may run at different speeds – most of the kits reviewed here adopt the HomePlug AV standard which nominally operates at 200 megabits per second (Mbps), which is fine for web browsing and most streaming video.

However, if multiple computers need to play high-speed online games and stream high-def video at the same time you might want to consider slightly more expensive kits that run at 500Mbps (also known as HomePlug AV2). There are also ‘gigabit’ kits starting to come out, which run at 1000Mbps, although these are still relatively rare and quite expensive.

You can mix and match Powerline adaptors running at different speeds and from different manufacturers – as long as they all support at least HomePlug AV. Naturally, faster adaptors can talk to slower ones only at the lower speed.

Beware of older kits still on sale that are based on an earlier standard called HomePlug 1.0. These run at a maximum speed of 85Mbps – which will probably still be adequate for many home users – but they’re not compatible with faster HomePlug AV products running at 200Mbps or more. They'll co-exist on the same mains wiring, but cannot talk to each other. Most home users should probably stick with newer HomePlug AV products in order to keep things simple.

Might help?

[eek]

Solwise - Introduction to HomePlug - Interoperability and features

[MrMarkyMark]

I have a pair of Netgear AV500 home plugs, do I need to find another of the same type if I want to extend their usage?

Have you asked your accountant

[SimonMac]

I have a pair of Netgear AV500 home plugs, do I need to find another of the same type if I want to extend their usage?