By Ki Grinsing

The Universal Multi-Ports Powerline Adapter – an easy way to extend the network by using electrical wiring in home.

Overview

When you build a wireless network in a large home with multiple rooms and multiple floors, the signal strength degrades with distance due to many obstacles. Probably there are many areas with very low signal strength and even dead spots.

The easiest way to get a solid connection with the network is by using existing electrical wiring, you can install Powerline network adapter. If you have multiple Ethernet-based devices, you can select multiport powerline adapter. Currently there are two, three, four or even more ports Powerline adapters available in the market today.

Why Powerline?

With Powerline adapter, you can create building wide network using existing electrical wiring eliminating running network cable from one room to the other rooms within your building. No drilling holes to pass the network cable from the router to the clients. You just need to connect one Powerline adapter to the router (the network), and your power outlets are ready for the network.

Various models of multiple port powerline adapters

The following are multiport powerline adapters with three or four Ethernet ports with various speeds. You may also like to see powerline adapters with 500Mbps speeds.

Netgear XEB1004

As powerline adapters in general, the model of this adapter is slightly grayish white box with 2 ports on each side left and right. With the white color will blend with the color of your white wall.

4-port 85Mbps

Netgear XEB1004 is a four-port 85Mbps Powerline Adapter Kit. It’s a plug and play (PnP) device delivering the speeds up to 85Mbps, fast enough to support your multimedia devices including the Blu-Ray player, XBOX Console, and other Ethernet-based devices.

How secure?

The adapter includes the software to let you configure via the computer to let you protect the connection using AES data encryption.

XEB1004 can cover as large as 5000 square feet home as long as in a single circuit breaker system.

Click here for XEB1004 manufacturer’s description and spec details.

TPL-305E 3-Port 200Mbps

This adapter is also white clean with three ports. Unlike with Netgear the ports are on the right and left side, but this one the three ports are facing down. I prefer facing down because if your power outlet is higher than the table your network cables look neater.

3-ports 200Mbps

The TPL-305E contains three Ethernet ports delivering the high speed up to 200Mbps. It’s also plug and play (PnP) device, you can connect one Powerline adapter to the router and up to 15 adapters to receive the networked signal with up to 980ft network coverage. The adapter can support up to four overlapping network.

How secure?

For secure connection, you can configure the encryption using 128-bit AES data encryption. And the good thing is that the adapter support eco-friendly to conserve the energy. In power save mode, you can save power up to 70%.

Click here to see more specs detail for TPL-305E powerline three-port adapter.

VideoLink 3 Powerline Internet Adapter

Unlike the two adapters with white, this adapter is dark black with a indentation looks sweet and elegant. With your white wall, this adapter will stand out.

3-port 200Mbps

Like the Trendnet TPL-305E, the Belkin VideoLink 3 includes three Ethernet ports to allow you connect up to three home theater devices such as HDTV (with internet ready), Blu-Ray player and gaming consoles to the internet with the speeds up to 200Mbps and covering up to 300 meters.

How secure?

Like the other two adapters, this Video Link-3 supports the data encryption up to 128-bit AES encryption with easy connection by just pressing a button.

Click here for Video Link 3 Powerline Internet Adapter manufacturer’s description and specs detail.

You can also consider of deploying a wireless router which includes the Powerline adapter integrated in the power adapter – WNXR2000 N300 powerline router. You can install the router in the first floor with broadband internet connection and your building electrical outlets are ready for the network.