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Power Ethernet Socket T1000 review

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Verdict

Uninspiring performance, but it offers a simple and unobtrusive way of securely extending networks in a busy office

Review Date: 31 May 2012

Reviewed By: Dave Mitchell

Price when reviewed: Twin-pack, £235 (£282 inc VAT)

Overall Rating

Features & Design
5 stars out of 6

Value for Money
4 stars out of 6

Performance
2 stars out of 6

The Power Ethernet Socket T1000 builds on HomePlug adapters by embedding the circuitry into a standard wall socket and teaming it with a four- port 10/100 Ethernet switch. It’s a neat solution, with the electronics hidden in a plastic shell behind the faceplate, and installation is no different to a standard wall socket.

We installed the sockets a few metres apart, connected a dual-Xeon X5560 Windows Server 2008 R2 system to one, and linked the other to the network. With no further intervention, the sockets established a 128-bit AES-encrypted link between them.

The PowerPacket Windows utility monitors connections, and you can change passwords to allow selected sockets to be isolated into different groups. The integrated switch is also manageable and supports VLANs, QoS and SNMP, but the software for this is currently in beta testing.

For performance testing we used a Synology DS1812+ NAS appliance, and as a baseline we started with a direct Gigabit link. Iometer reported a 112MB/sec raw read rate for a mapped share, and copying a 2.52GB video clip returned 102MB/sec.

With all connections moved to the PE Sockets, Iometer reported 5.3MB/sec, and the video clip took just over eight minutes to shift across to the NAS. We then reinstalled one socket at a distance of 25m. We still had a green light for link quality, but Iometer reported 4.3MB/sec.

Real-world speeds will limit use to low-demand applications, but these are similar to other 200Mbits/sec powerline adapters. The sockets don’t support HomePlug AV 500Mbits/sec speeds, as the heat output of the current chipsets makes them unsuited to this design.

Speed aside, the T1000 offers reasonable value, as each provides four network ports and a power socket. The biggest advantage over standard adapters is the T1000’s integration with the building’s wiring, which makes them less likely to be removed – accidentally or deliberately.

Author: Dave Mitchell

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Comments

User comments

A neat soloution, but another Homeplug kit with dissapointing throughput.

By JStairmand on 31 May 2012

USB

The device would have had greater value if a couple of USB ports were present for devices that don't have Ethernet

By Chrisfjr1300 on 31 May 2012

Not very adapable then

So if you wish to move your equipment to another room you would have to rewire your house?
I think I prefer the normal plugin type which are also cheaper.

By curiousclive on 31 May 2012

These are a little too expensive (IMO)

It costs way too much to purchase those, when you could buy an ethernet switch and an average pair of homeplugs for less

By r1sh12 on 1 Jun 2012

Unfazed

At that price, it's clearly aimed at large offices. But isn't that going to cause problems with electrical phases in the building? The ethernet bit won't work unless the 2 rooms you want to link are on the same phase. Which they probably won't be.

By Grace_Quirrel on 1 Jun 2012

What about rebooting the adapter

I have succcessfully used homeplug adapters for some time. Occasionally they need unplugging and reconnecting. Switching off the whole house to do this would be drastic.

By svtdot on 5 Jun 2012

Hello

curiousclive: you simply swap out a local socket for a PE Socket.

Grace_Quirrel: works well in the home as well as in offices. We have a whitepaper on commercial installs including multiple phases.

Svtdot: The PE Socket has over 100 extra components than a plugin so that do not need occasional rebooting (plus there is a reset button on the front)

Kind regards

James (from www.powerethernet.com)

By PowerEthernet on 6 Jun 2012

Ring mains

Grace_Quirrel is correct, i also have been using homeplug adaptors in my house for some time, and unless there is a physical connection between the upstairs ring main and the downstairs one (and there is not, the earth connection is not the same for up and downstairs at least in my house) they will not work.
USB (a good idea though)would be virtually useless over the distances for data to travel,impedence and resistance play a big part here, and would need signal boosters built into the box too, making them even more expensive

By hanstrans3 on 7 Jun 2012

sorry

Sorry about the triplicalte comments i refreshed twice to see if comments were there yet...oops!!

By hanstrans3 on 7 Jun 2012

phases

Just to clarify, almost all homes are on a single phase: what you will have is multiple circuits connected to a single consumer distribution box (the fuse box) and Powerline networking will work across those circuits.

By PowerEthernet on 7 Jun 2012

Huh..., looks wrong to me

You say that you have fitted a pair of these...

...prey tell,.....how?

All single and double gang sockets in my home have screws through the face plate, can't see any holes, nor screws in the photo. Looks like a mock up to me ;)

By Addicted_2_WoW on 9 Jun 2012