Dynamode Powerline 200M

Part of the supposed benefit of using HomePlugs over wireless is reliability over distance and decent speed regardless of the physical obstacles. But the new Dynamode Powerline 200M failed to come up to scratch in this regard.

Our speed tests employ the same 128MB single file and 128 1MB files we use for testing wireless routers, copying them between a pair of laptops on a small home network.

And in close proximity the Dynamode pairing performed well, achieving an average throughput of 37.7Mbit/sec in the same room test - the fastest of all the homeplugs tested here - and speeds of between 33.4 and 35.5Mbit/sec were recorded in other locations throughout our test house.

When it came to long distance performance, however, performance can only be described as disappointing: we recorded a throughput of just 10.7Mbit/sec. To put it into context this is not only slower than the other homeplugs here, but also slower at the same distance than most of the wireless routers we tested in our last Labs.

It's a shame as there's not much wrong with the design of these devices. There's a button for quick encryption without a software utility and a reset switch too should your homeplugs' network keys ever get out of sync with each other.

Next: ZyXEL PLA401

Author: Jonathan Bray