Reviews: Books and Hardware North Las Vegas NV

Posted by : Ken Henningsen, Christy Mulligan, and Jende Huang

Powerline wonder

Phonex's NeverWire Ethernet transceiver.

How would you like to use your home power line not only to run your computers but network them as well, with a network connection as close as the nearest wall outlet? One of the first shipping consumer systems to realize this long-held dream is the just-introduced Phonex NeverWire 14 QX-201 ($129 per node at www.phonex.com). Each of these HomePlug 1.0-compliant devices consists of a modem-sized box with just two connectors--a power plug and an RJ-45 Ethernet jack. Plug the NeverWire 14 into the power line (but not a surge protector, which attenuates the signal) and each Ethernet-equipped computer or hub, and the power line becomes part of your network, running at up to14Mbps.

Installation is literally plug-and-play. With no software drivers to install, the NeverWire 14 should work on any Ethernet network--I did all my testing with Macs. Up to 16 units can be used on a single network, with no individual configuration required. Each unit has five status LEDs and three switches. There's a "Hub/PC" crossover switch, a test button to check the link, and a button to set an optional 56-bit DES security mode (to keep your similarly equipped neighbor out of your network--a usable signal will travel until it hits a line transformer).

In my testing, the NeverWire 14 managed real-world throughput of between 1.08 and 2.81Mbps--in the same ballpark a...

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