Homeplugs lose speed over time?

[Griffolion]

Hi everyone,

I have a home plug network that goes like this:

Andy's Room is my room, that homeplug goes into a switch that splits out to my PC and a wireless access point. Office goes into the main router that the internet feeds into. The living room connects to the TV, Sky box and PS3.

Occasionally, the link rate LED on my plugs will drop to orange. But a switch off/on of the devices puts them back to green. Has anyone got any idea why that may be?

Also, if anybody can let me know some tips to making the home plug network more reliable/quick that would be greatly appreciated, as I don't know much about this sort of thing.

All my products are Netgear, and have been, on the whole, very good with me.

One last thing, the "Andy's Room" homeplug will often just turn itself off, as if it's cut out or something. Is this a known fault, or protection mechanism? I've noticed that both the XAV5501 adapters can get quite warm in operation.

 

[Griffolion]

UPDATE - After some searching on the internet, I found some updated firmware for all the units, and have upgraded. After the upgrade, the lines seem to be faster and more stable, though I'll have to give that time to properly discern.