Actiontec MegaPlug AV Powerline Gaming Kit Review

Posted by Ken on October 20th, 2008 Comments Printer-Friendly

Are you regretting neglecting wiring your house with Ethernet when you built it? Just don’t want to deal with the hassle of cutting holes in your walls? Read on to find what may be the perfect solution for you.

When thinking of networking, most people think about a traditional hardwire and wireless connectivity. One reason for this is due to the lackluster performance of the original powerline adapters. While the original powerline technology was slow and unreliable, the Actiontec MegaPlug AV Powerline Gaming Kit crushes any preconceptions you may have of powerline Ethernet networking.

The MegaPlug AV works with a two unit system. First you plug a transmitter into your router, and then an open power outlet nearby. (Note, Actiontec recommends that this is not plugged into a surge protector to insure optimal performance, which may create problems for some power users’ setups.) Next, the receiver unit is plugged in wherever you chose, and the Ethernet is plugged into your device nearby, and you are ready to be connected to the Internet, no complicated setup necessary. The connection is then routed using the preexisting powerline infrastructure in your house, which eliminates the need to route Ethernet wires through your walls, which can be expensive and very time consuming.

So you may be thinking, “This is great, but how well does it actually work?” In my tests, I found the difference between being hardwired into a router, and the MegaPlug AV adapter to be none at all. When using my Xbox 360 on the MegaPlug AV kit, I could not tell any latency or speed decrease from what I am used to with my standard wired setup.

While the MegaPlug AV is not marketed for this use, I have also tested this kit on a computer, and could not tell any difference. When running a speedtest from my computer, it returned a result that was exactly the same as my hardwire or WiFi setups. Also, transferring files over the Internet was fast, at around 100mbit, due to constrictions with my PC hardware, where as the adapter supports up to 200mbit. I even took the extreme of having 2 computers, and my 360 all connected at once using a switch, and I have seen no noticeable difference in surfing the Internet and other normal daily tasks.

At an average price of $150 online, it is more expensive than the Xbox 360 wireless adapter, but performs much better than it in my testing.

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