Best homeplug brand/products?

[d000hg]

I've some Solwise 200AV units and they work well apart from having to be restarted occasionally, but I'm thinking about getting a NAS for media storage and figured I might as well utilise it as a network drive too, for which 200mbps seems a tad slow.

Wikipedia says homeplug is a standard and units from different providers should work together, but even Solwise's products have different chipsets value/pro so I'm wary.

Are these things much of a muchness as long as I avoid £10 noname imports?

[WTFH]

I'd go with TP-Link AV1200 or AV2000, easy to set up and good signal.

I've used Devolo ones in the past which were pretty good too.

...and no, I don't believe there is a standard for them that means different brands can talk to each other, but I could be wrong.

[TwoWolves]

I've been using Devolo units for quite some years and found them very reliable and they post regular firmware updates that are a doddle to apply. Always buy the fastest spec.

[Hobosapien]

I too have been using some Devolo ones for years and no problems at all. Not had to touch them since I plugged them in and set them up, other than relocating the odd one over the years.

Had some Netgear ones prior and they ran too hot for my liking, was worried they'd set on fire they were that hot. They also didn't have a pass through plug so lost a socket, which turned out to be inconvenient so was on the list of 'must have' when shopping for replacements.

Newer ones are a better investment as they are likely not only faster but more efficient with power saving etc so pay for themselves over time.

[d000hg]

Thanks.

I'm dubious, 1200av and 2000av models seen to exist, are these really claiming to support higher than gigabit speed? I'm dubious though I have never tested what speed the 200av ones achieved. How do they handle contention issues, is it effectively a P2P system since no unit is the master, akin to an Ethernet switch?

I saw a deal on two 1200av units for £40 today... Would I be better just hardwiring ethernet to my office from the hallway?

[WTFH]

If you can hardwire, that is the best way.

[Soho]

I say go for TP-Link AV1200. At least works for me.

[Hobosapien]

I'm dubious, 1200av and 2000av models seen to exist, are these really claiming to support higher than gigabit speed? I'm dubious though I have never tested what speed the 200av ones achieved. How do they handle contention issues, is it effectively a P2P system since no unit is the master, akin to an Ethernet switch?

I saw a deal on two 1200av units for £40 today... Would I be better just hardwiring ethernet to my office from the hallway?

If you can hardwire, that is the best way.

Homeplugs are hard wired. Just that they use the power cable instead of a dedicated ethernet cable.

Certainly more convenient using homeplugs than laying new cables unless you are able to hide them properly.

2 gigabit is nothing these days, though like broadband the marketed speeds are 'up to' so better to go for fastest available at a reasonable price as quality of cable and any interference will slow things down.

[d000hg]

Homeplugs are hard wired. Just that they use the power cable instead of a dedicated ethernet cable.

But it's just one wire, which all the devices spew packets into... which is not my understanding how ethernet works where you have a central hub and individual cables to each device?

Still seems weird you can piggyback on the mains and get better than gigabit, which is faster than most home routers can achieve!

[Platypus]

Another vote for TP-Link here. I have the AV1200, some single port, some 3 port. One of the 3-ports failed in a weird way recently after a year, but I simply replaced it as these things are so convenient.