Powerline networking gear tested

GET THE SPEED AND STABILITY OF WIRED NETWORKING WITHOUT THE HASSLE OF RUNNING CABLES.

A FLAKY INTERNET connection when you’re trying to stream TV, work remotely or be competitive in your favourite online game is an insufferable grievance for any techie.

But when it can cost over $200 per room (plus a callout fee) to get an electrician to install Ethernet ports around your house, getting a stable wired network connection set up will seem like an excessive luxury to many. However, the alternative of turning your house into a cyberpunk film set by running fat blue Ethernet cables down the halls to eliminate all those Wi-Fi dead spots isn’t ideal either. [ Hey, speak for yourself Joel! — Ed]

Fortunately, there is a third option, where you don’t have to pay through the nose for a professional connection or put up with residing in an Ethernet snake pit.

Powerline adapter kits (also commonly known as HomePlugs) are devices that plug into your home’s power sockets and use the copper electrical cabling hidden in your walls to push an Ethernet signal from one socket-adapter to another. They generally do an excellent job of easily connecting any two power points — with the caveat being that they’ll need to be on the same electrical circuit.

Some of the less-expensive models here come in at less than a quarter of the cost for an electrician, give reliable throughputs upwards of 20Mbps and are almost always simple plug-and-play solutions. If you want the reliability of an Ethernet connection without to much expense and hassle, powerline Ethernet adapters are an excellent networking solution.