Amped Intros "Industry's Smallest" Powerline Network Adapter

If you haven't noticed, there has been quite a lot of buzz around power line-based network adapters as of late. That's because, theoretically, data travels up to 500 Mb/s second through the electrical system of a house or office, a tad bit faster than what you'll (theoretically) see from a Wireless N Wi-Fi connection. A power line connection is also less likely prone to interference as seen with wireless coverage on both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands.

Amped Wireless said on Monday that it has launched the "industry's smallest" power line-based network adapter in a 2-unit kit, the PLA2 Powerline Nano AV500 1-Port Network Adapter Kit. This kit includes two paired Powerline Network Adapters, each packed with an Ethernet port and a pass-through power outlet so consumers haven't lost a power connection for their laptop, TV or other devices.

"Thick walls made with metal or concrete may interfere with Wi-Fi signals," said Jason Owen, president and CEO at Amped Wireless. "Powerline provides an ideal, plug-and-play solution for these types of situations and can be used to easily connect A/V devices or game consoles.  It can also help extend a Wi-Fi signal by pairing a Powerline adapter with our award-winning High Power Wi-Fi Access Points."

To use this kit, simply plug one adapter into an available power outlet and connect it to a router via an Ethernet cable. Plug the second adapter into another power outlet on the same electrical system, and then plug it into an Ethernet-based device. With a plug-and-play setup, extending network connectivity to any room is easily accomplished with little effort, the company said.

"The PLA2 comes secured with 128-bit encryption to protect network traffic from outside intruders," Amped said on Monday. "The compact design of the network adapter allows it to be installed discreetly and leaves room for other devices to be plugged into the same outlet."

The PLA2 has a retail price of $99.99 and is now available on the Amped Wireless website. The kit will be available nationwide from retailers and "e-tailers" March 11.    

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  • fnh
    Remind me if these adapters work with surge protectors again ...
    Reply
  • azgard
    fnhRemind me if these adapters work with surge protectors again ...
    Shouldn't matter unless it has a line filter.
    Reply
  • house70
    fnhRemind me if these adapters work with surge protectors again ...Not if you plug it into the surge protector; yes if you plug the protector into them.
    Reply
  • nieur
    100$ seems little too much for this
    Reply
  • mobrocket
    if they could get the cost of these down to like $20 per adapter
    and allow u to hook up 3 or 4 throughout the house

    I could see these become a very hot item
    Reply
  • nolarrow
    They are already pretty awesome. You can hookup multiple units throughout a house. I use it in my apartment for gaming on my laptop and for my streaming devices. I use Zytec (spelling?) or something - bought it a year or two ago. You plug one into the wall near your router and plug an ethernet cord into it. The other units get setup wherever you want so long as you have a power outlet. I then use ethernet from the wall outlet into a switch and I can share wired low latency across multiple devices in different rooms. Trying to copy Gb files from a wireless laptop to a wireless netbox can take forever. Ping in games goes up with a wireless network. These things are a god send.
    Reply
  • xforce_dac
    I have 2 of the Belkin AV500. They work really well in the areas of the house where the wifi signal was weak. One of them feeds the flat screen tv, which made HD streaming from Netfilx work great. Although this model doesnt have the passthrough, so gave up an outlet plug in order to use them. But everthing else is on a surge protected strip so not too much of a problem.
    Reply