One of the other drawbacks of powerline adapters is that they shouldn’t be plugged into a surge suppressor (the surge suppressor will identify data traveling over the powerline as noise and try to filter it out). It’s based on the latest HomePlug AV2 MIMO technology. ZyXel’s PLA5405 is one of the fastest HomePlug adapters on the market. Non-MIMO powerline adapters have just two-prong adapters, but they deliver much lower performance, as you’ll see in this product roundup, which also contains much more information on the technology. I plugged a second PLA5405 into a receptacle in my home theater and connected it to my home-theater PC for measuring TCP throughput.Īs with all the products in its class, ZyXel’s adapters require grounded electrical receptacles because they transmits data on any two pairs of wires on a three-wire electrical cable: Line/Neutral, Line/Ground, Neutral/Ground, and so on. I plugged one of ZyXel’s PLA5405 adapters directly into the wall at my homerun and connected it to my router using a CAT5e cable. I installed the second adapters in my home theater. This is where my DSL modem, Wi-Fi router, Ethernet switches, six-way coax splitter, and uninterruptible power supply are all located, so this where I conducted my tests.

I have a network homerun in my equipment closet, meaning all of my home’s telephone, Ethernet, and coax cables terminate there.

Moca ethernet testing