INTRODUCTION

   Most people i know connect all of their computers with their modem/router wirelessly mainly because they don't like having many cables around and quite honestly who can blame them. I on the other hand use Wi-Fi on very rare occasions and only when I’m neither at my office or at home. The reasons behind is that i don't like people using my wireless connection without authorization (there are plenty of hacks out there that enable one to use your Wi-Fi even if you have password protected it) and also because i want to enjoy the highest possible transfer speeds. So i have chosen the best possible solution by routing Ethernet CAT5 cables throughout the walls of both my home and office something which may however not be easy for most people. For those who can't do something like that and don't really trust or like the speed of their wireless connection current Powerline adapters could be the solution and today we are testing the latest ICY BOX IB-PL550D 500Mbit/s Powerline adapter kit.

   RaidSonic Technology GmbH was founded in Hamburg 1999. To realize our future visions and the rising requirements, RaidSonic moved to Ahrensburg (20 min. away from Hamburg) in May 2004.The capacity of our new warehouse, our permanent improving logistic and the expanded technical support lets us look into the future very optimistically. Our vision in a constantly growing IT market is to develop products, which will become your future dreams. Our extensive product portfolio, which we distribute Europe-wide, combines all internal and external solutions for the application of mass storage, for industrial and professional applications as well as for the private sphere, too. Through our all along increasing know-how, good results in research and development and our good cooperation with our long-time customers we could achieve a dynamic growth.

   Powerline adapters are very convenient and easy to use because you just plug them into your wall socket and in turn they use the building's existing electric grid to transmit data from one adapter to the other. This automatically means that you don't have to worry about someone gaining access to your modem/router/systems however it's far from perfect since the data transfer speeds between Powerline adapters is directly affected by the quality of the building's electric grid/wiring so you will probably achieve much better speeds at a new house than at an old one. Certainly the same can be said about wireless connections due to the variety of materials used in houses so some may have thin walls made out of plasterboard or wood while others may have thicker ones made out of concrete, rock or bricks so neither solution is perfect. Still we can see just how well the new IB-PL550D Powerline adapter set fairs against a wireless connection inside the same building and at the same range and that's what we are about to do.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The IB-PL550D Powerline set comes inside a medium sized box with a product image at the front right next to the main product features and a topology drawing.

On both sides we see the list of features written in English and German.

The list of features is also written at the rear of the box in 8 languages.

Inside the box there are two small cardboard ones.

Each adapter comes with its own installation manual and a 1.8m long Ethernet cable.

THE IB-PL500D

Just by looking at them you can see that the IB-PL550D Powerline adapters by RaidSonic are quite small (each adapter uses less than 1W in idle and less that 5W during use).

To see just how small they are i placed one of them right next to the latest TPL-402E 500Mbit/s Powerline adapter by TRENDnet.

The holes of the power outlet feature the typical protection system.

Three activity LEDs are placed at the lower front, the power on LED, Ethernet LED and the connection LED.

Each adapter is perforated on all sides (especially during the summer period these adapters can get really hot).

A small reset button is placed on the right side.

At the bottom of the adapter we see the RJ45 Ethernet port and the lock button.

You can find the units default MAC address along with its serial number and electrical specifications on a small sticker placed at the rear.

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   As already mentioned the performance of Powerline adapters is directly linked to the quality of the buildings electrical grid/wiring so the output speeds from such devices will most probably vary between new and old buildings. Still testing Powerline adapters inside the same building should point out the best one and so we used the well-known Passmark Performance Test to measure the data transfer rate in wired, wireless and Powerline modes with a distance of 15 meters between our Netgear DGN3500 modem/route and the primary and secondary systems (30m in total between both systems). The network data transfer test was set to duration of 40 seconds and was repeated a total of 5 times after which we recorded the average numbers into our charts.

TEST RESULTS

As expected there's simply no comparison between a direct wired Ethernet link and the wireless/Powerline methods since even with two long 15m cables connecting both systems to our modem/router the achieved average data transfer speed almost reached the 700Mbit/s mark. Still the Powerline adapters clearly outperform the wireless-N connection by 15%.

CONCLUSION

   If you require the best possible data transfer speeds and there's any way at all for you to install/route Ethernet cables from your modem/router all the way to your computer(s) then there's really no need to bother with Powerline adapters and wireless solutions. However if you can't or if it's hard and you just don't need the best possible performance then the new ICY BOX PL-550D 500Mbit/s Powerline adapters by RaidSonic with their small size and power outlet could just be what you're looking for. 15% improvement compared to a Wi-Fi connection may not seem impressive but you also need to take into account the disconnection issue with Wi-Fi connections something you will not encounter if you use a Powerline adapter.

   The ICY BOX IB-PL550D 500Mbit/s Powerline adapter set currently retails at around 100Euros inside the EU a price tag that lands it right in the middle of similar 500Mbit/s Powerline kits. However the IB-PL550D Powerline adapter has something most similar adapters don't and that's a small size and a power outlet which means you will not lose a wall socket while using them. So if you really can't use normal Ethernet cables for a direct wired connection then your next best choice is to use a Powerline adapter kit and so the RaidSonic ICY BOX IB-PL550D 500Mbit/s kit should be ontop of your to buy list and that's why it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Size
- 500Mbit/s
- Power Outlet
- Lock Button
- AES 128Bit Encryption 

CONS

- Price (For Some)