| Article Index |
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| D-Link DHP-300 Powerline Ethernet Adapter Review |
| 2 - In Operation |
| 3 - Conclusion |
| All Pages |
Instead of running messy cables all around your house or unit, one of the latest trends
in home networking is Ethernet Over Powerlines, we take a look at D-Link’s DHP-300 unit to see if it’s any good.
The DHP-300 is a very simple device, you plug it into your wall socket, connect a standard network cable from it to your computer, and that’s it. It does help a great deal though if you have another one (or more) elsewhere in your house also plugged in and attached to a computer or router, otherwise you may find the whole thing rather frustrating and pointless.
On the device itself there are no buttons and nothing to configure, it doesn’t even have a power button – if it’s plugged in, it’s turned on and working. There are 3 status LEDs on the front of the device, one for power, one for network cable connectivity, and one to indicate that it has found other devices on the power circuit that it is connected to.
If you’re not worried about security, then the DHP-300 is one of the simplest devices in the world to set up and use, simply plug it in and it’s working. There’s no DHCP server or anything fancy like that built in, so you either have to manually configure your IP address on each machine, or have a unit that’s plugged into your router/server/rest of network etc...
With only 2 devices plugged in, the DHP-300 acts as little more than a cable extender, however you have the ability to add as many devices as you want onto the network/power circuitry, then all the devices are connected in somewhat of a matrix - in that they can all talk to and transmit to each other and as far as your PC is concerned it’s plugged into a normal hub or switch.
The software included with the DHP-300 is not required for basic operation, however it is needed if you want to add some security to the network. Each individual unit can be set with its own password and you can even setup separate networks on the same power circuit, all you need to do to get the devices to talk to each other is give them the same security passkey. For example is devices 1, 2 and 3 use passkey #1, and devices 4, 5 and 6 use passkey #2, you will have 2 separate networks, it’s that easy – quite impressive in its simplicity.
Some sort of passkey (other than the default) is a good idea, as even though the devices have to be on the same circuit, D-Link warn that it is possible for the signal to stray beyond your house, so just like securing your Wi-Fi, if you don’t want neighbours leeching off your connection, some security is a good idea.
The DHP-300’s don’t need to be plugged into a PC, they can connect to and work with any network capable device. Think of the DHP-300’s network “matrix” as a standard hub/switch, but a huge hub that conveniently has a port just where you need it all round your house.
In Operation:
The speed of the DHP-300 was certainly reasonable, here at the office we setup a basic network of 2 PCs, and had consistent transfer rates of around 50Mbps (around 5MB per second). According to D-Link they are capable of 200Mbps transfer rate under ideal conditions (100Mbps each way?), which would have a lot to do with the distance between the two power points and the condition of the wiring, as well as other factors such as interference.
In a basic ping test (to a local machine) the DHP-300 seemed to add around 3-4ms of latency over our standard network setup, which really is next to nothing, so gamers won’t be disadvantaged by using these at home. When being used for gaming it’s certainly more reliable than most wireless networks, with more consistent speed.
A basic QoS (Quality of Service) protocol is built in, which DLink market as being useful for prioritising streaming media for your home network, however it could also be used to help with VoIP and online gaming if your network starts to become congested. This is handled through the same software that handles the setup and security of the units.
The DHP-300 doesn’t need to be plugged directly into a mains socket, it can be plugged into an extension cord or power board (power strip) and work just as well. This means the device is not in any way picky about where it has to go, so as long as you have some sort of a free power socket, you can plug it. That is providing you have a lot of spare room next to that socket, as the DHP-300 is bigger than any power pack I’ve ever used, and will often block off the sockets on either side, so using in conjunction with a small extension cord or similar will solve this problem.
Conclusion:
The DHP-300 sells online for around AU$140 per unit, so it’s certainly a lot more expensive than a length of Cat5 cable, but it’s also a lot tidier so it would be ideal for people renting who can’t properly cable up their house, or for those who want a more customisable solution than fixed cabling.
The DHP-300 units are extremely easy to setup, and getting the network secured takes all of about 2 minutes, even networking novices shouldn’t struggle too much with setting these up.
The price of the DLink DHP-300 may seem expensive, but only if you compare it to the slower models on the market, such as the Netgear XE103 which is only $95, but also operates at a max speed of 85Mbps, if you compare it to similar products such as the Netgear HDX101 which runs at the same 200Mbps and also offers QoS then it’s pretty line-ball, with only a few dollars difference between them.
Overall the DLink DHP-300 is a great solution to those messy cables that won’t cost you too much in terms of performance.
OzHardware Rating – 9/10 – Recommended!
This product can be purchased online at www.techbuy.com.au (Direct Link)
Or maybe he's just a n00b :)