Sling Media Slinglink Turbo W1 Ethernet Over Power Adapter

This device works great and is truly plug-and-play. Speeds are pretty but good but they're obviously slower than when connected to the modem/router directly. For whatever reason I cannot get WiFi signals to travel through the walls in my house and maintain any kind of decent connection speed. I started looking for alternatives and decided to try this out. I have a modem/router combo at one end of the house then I connected a 2nd wireless router at the other end of the house using two of these Slinglink devices. I have a 40/5 DSL service and when I'm connected through the Slinglink I am getting about 9 download and 4 upload which is actually pretty decent, fast enough for most everyday uses (streaming, etc.).I expected slower speeds since this has to send the signal through multiple electrical circuits in the house and through power outlets which other devices are drawing from. I tried this in a couple of different outlets and found one had a better connection speed than another since it is "upstream" on that electrical circuit. If you don't need extremely fast speeds and just need to connect devices around the house without running cable this is a great option.

Summary - These Plug-and-Surf devices work well at high data rates. You need two to start, but can add on more devices individually.Background - I have a 4200 Square Foot Home. Due to the placement of the cable modem and VOIP connection, the wireless router is in the basement. This was causing speed issues, especially with Over the Top Video Services such as Amazon Prime, Netflix, Apple TV, etc. on the second floor.Application - I had heard about this product, but like many others was not sure. When Woot! offered a deal on a SlingBox ( Sling Media Slingbox SOLO (SB260-100) ) and two Slinglinks ( Slinglink Turbo 1PORT Enet Connection Bridge (SL 150-100) ) for $99, I thought that it was worth the cost to try since I wanted a SlingBox for my daughter at College. Since I had multiple items in my media cabinet I wanted to support (SlingBox, Apple TV ( Apple TV MD199LL/A [NEWEST VERSION ]), Sony BluRay) and these devices only have ONE Ethernet jack, I was cautious because I wanted to make sure these devices would support a Ethernet Switch. I will skip the drama, and tell you that they do, turning a single data port into 4 or 7 (depending on the switch you purchase).  TRENDnet 5-Port GREENnet Switch (5 x 10/100Mbps Auto-MDIX RJ-45 Ports) TE100-S50g (Black Metal) Installation - I installed one of these in the basement near the router and the other in the Master Bedroom Sitting area. One was installed into a wall outlet directly, the other on a un-switched extension cord. NOTE - These can not be plugged into a surge suppressor, GFI, or power strip per the manufacturer's instructions. They are very clear about this, so when I read reviews complaining that you could not do this, I was a bit surprised that people complained that it did not work. This placed both devices at the far ends of a large house, so I knew this would be a good test of the capabilities. I had also read that other people had experienced issues with devices like this not being on the same circuit in the past. Both of these devices were not only on different circuits, but on different breaker panels. This is a newer home, so the quality of the wiring was good (Romex 3/12 and 3/14). I connected the unit in the bedroom to a five port switch, wired up the devices, and started streaming. IT WAS EASIER THAN ANY WIRELESS SET-UP I have ever done!Results - I ran the SlingBox, the Apple TV (Netflix Movie), and the BluRay (Amazon Prime) simultaneously each streaming HD to my LG Flat Panel and my iPAD using Sling Player (which you have to pay extra for, but that is a pricing issue I have with the SlingBox, not this product). The Slingbox was slinging back the DirecTV HD broadcast. The iPad was connected to a wireless repeater in the master bedroom via N. All of the pictures were PERFECT and the iPad Sling content was the highest quality I had ever received. Later, I tried it on the road from a hotel room. Again, great results on the SlingBox.Expansion - Since the first purchase, I added one of these devices to the media cabinet in the Great Room. Again to a switch to support multiple devices. Again, same high quality results and easy set-up. These are Plug-and-Surf. Ultimately you are sharing a 85MB/sec feed, so each device reduces that bandwidth, but since most home internet connections are at 10 MBS down and 4 MBS up (Mine is 40 Down and 10 Up), you can have around eight of these on your network before you have divided out all of the bandwidth. Even then, no device uses anywhere close to the maximum on a regular basis.New uses - To expand my Wifi Network, I have purchased a fourth unit. I plan on setting up an upstairs WiFi Router (with DHCP disabled) to expand my wireless network. Obviously, I am very pleased with the results. I will follow up on this newer application I am trying.Recommendation - Not only would I buy this product again, but continue to buy this product to expand/simplify my home network (4 and counting). I would recommend this to a friend.

I never thought I would switch from wireless to a wired connection again but my wireless setup was causing me more and more problems. At first I thought it was my ISP but when I connect my laptop directly to the modem with a ethernet cable i get close to what the speed the ISP claim (15Mbps I get ~14Mbps). I even bought a Wireless N router from a G setup. Even with the N router set to run only on N @ 5Ghz my connection was still chopping. There would be times (especially in the evening) when the kids and family are home that the internet just hangs and finally times out. I even restricted all other MAC addresses and put the network on invisible mode but with no luck.I came across the SlingLink turbo because when i switched to Dish Network, it provided one for the DVR and it was the cheapest alternative to testing this so called "powerline ethernet" since i only had to purchase one other adapter instead of buying a set of them to test it out. It would of costed me about seventy bucks to try something that I don't know how well it will work.Installation was easy just plug it in and within seconds my laptop acquired a connection. Good, but i was very disappointed at first. Regular browser internet was snappy but when I went on Youtube (which was initially why I wanted a better connection) videos would not load right. It would just hang after loading a few seconds. Even when videos did load, it would by at 240i resolution. Which is worse than my N wireless connection since I was able to watch 480p and 720p (very slow loading) videos on that. Netflix would not load right too. After 2 days I was reading to return this product and just go back to wireless N. But somehow on day 3 everything just seemed to gel together. I went on Youtube and 480p videos just loaded until my laptop can no longer buffer. 720p loaded as i chose just a few secs to get the buffer going and then it was streaming with no problem. Netflix videos loads too and in HD if available. I also have a couple tabs open of Youtube videos while I watch a video with no hiccups.Now I am solely running the powerline for my Mac and can confirm that Airplay works even when the Macbook is on ethernet. I would never go back to wireless now. My advice is to give the powerline adapter to somehow adapt and find the best connection to the other adapters in your house like what happened in my case. Previously when I had wireless N my speed was about 7Mbps (testmy.net) and now with my SlingLink i am always getting greater than 10Mbps. Def a great investment but can get expensive for every laptop in the house. I think I might get another one for my AppleTV so I can Airplay HD files to my TV.