The stated rate belongs to the standard; the wiring of the building decides the rest
Powerline sends network traffic over the mains wiring of a building, and the number on the box is the furthest thing from a promise anywhere on this site. A figure such as 1200 or 2000 is the theoretical sum of the peak rates the standard defines across the wire pairs it can use — HomePlug AV2 and G.hn each define their own — and the electrical path between two sockets in a real building is what settles the outcome. That path is why the useful questions here are questions about the building. Adapters do best on the same circuit and the same phase; a run through a consumer unit to another floor loses more; an extension lead or a filtered socket strip between the adapter and the wall interferes with the signal, which is why nearly every maker asks for a direct wall socket. Read then whether the adapter carries a pass-through socket, because occupying an outlet in a room that only has two is a real cost. On the network side, count the Ethernet ports on each unit and read their speed, since 1000BASE-T is common and a single 100 Mb/s socket on a cheap kit caps everything regardless of the headline. Kits ship as a pair or as a starter plus extra units; units of the same standard from different makers can usually be paired, while HomePlug and G.hn cannot. Some kits raise Wi-Fi at the far end instead of offering a socket. We compare powerline standard, stated peak rate, pass-through socket, Ethernet port count and speed, kit composition, Wi-Fi at the far end and the stated maximum number of paired units.
HomePlug AV2 · 600 Mbit/s stated · 100 Mbit/s Fast Ethernet sockets · no pass-through outlet · 128-bit AES by button · unit count not printed
A HomePlug AV2 pair whose headline figure is six hundred and whose Ethernet sockets are published at one hundred, both stated on the same page.
Best for: A television or a set-top box at the far end of a flat, where a hundred megabits are enough and the wiring is simple.
≈ 30 €
500 Mbit/s stated · Fast Ethernet socket, unrated · no standard named · no pass-through outlet · two units, two 1.80 m leads · AES 128-bit from the factory
A two-unit set encrypted before it leaves the factory, whose mains figure is five hundred and whose socket is named Fast Ethernet without a number.
Best for: A room where a printer, a games console or a media player needs a wired connection and where a hundred-megabit socket is not the constraint.
up to 1200 Mbit/s over the mains · Wi-Fi 5 access point at 866 plus 400 Mbit/s · three gigabit sockets across two units · WPS and WPA2 · no standard named
A two-unit set pairing a wireless adapter with a wired one, whose title, first bullet and second bullet each attach a rate to a different thing.
Best for: A house where the far room needs wireless and the room next to it needs two cables, and where a FRITZ!Box is already the router.
≈ 165 €
HomePlug AV2 · 1000 Mbit/s stated, and halved by the maker itself · pass-through outlet to 16 A · one gigabit socket per unit · two adapters and two leads · no wireless
A HomePlug AV2 pair that prints its own headline figure and then explains, in the next sentence, that a half or a third of it is what is usually obtained.
Best for: A room across the house from the router where a wall socket cannot be spared, and where a gigabit socket is wanted rather than a Fast Ethernet one.
≈ 50 €
G.hn, stated not backwards compatible · 2400 Mbit/s over the mains · mesh wireless to 1200 Mbit/s · two gigabit sockets · three units, one lead · dLAN both named and excluded
A three-unit G.hn kit whose bullet says the older range is not supported and whose title prints the name of that older range.
Best for: A house where two floors both need coverage and one room needs a cable, and where nothing older from the same maker has to be kept working.
≈ 178 €
Every price named in a summary was read on the date that review carries. What a shop asks today is shown beside the product, and it moves.
