Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Background: Software Developer. I was a network engineer for several years some time ago. Desired Objective: Greater than 500 megabits transfer rate, approaching as close to manufacturers 1200 megabit maximum specification as possible. This would be completed in a regular residential home between two outlets not on the same circuit. Test setup: Both connectors were placed directly into a wall outlet per the manufacturers instruction, no filtering device between the wall and the device. The device attached to the main network was directly connected to a aggregate switch capable of providing greater than 1000 megabit access to an attached NAS. All tests were performed with a Lenovo laptop with a gigabit ethernet adapter (1000 megabit). As a baseline, I attached my laptop directly to the same cable the device attaching to the network would use. I connected to the NAS and started a large file transfer while directly on the network (not using the device yet) and was able to transfer 120 megaBYTES (960 megabit) per second sustained. I then attached the device to the network on the same cable and port on a gigabit switch and performed the same test with my laptop attached directly to the second device (which was plugged in on another circuit). Results Achieved: Before clearing both circuits of possible devices creating noise, my first test resulted in a transfer rate of 3 megaBYTES per second, that is 24 megaBIT. That is about 2% of the manufacturers claimed maximum speed. On a second test, after clearing the circuits of other devices I was able to achieve transfer rates 8 megaBYTES or 64 megaBIT or about 6% of the claimed maximum. (Sorry for the emphasis but a lot of reviews seem to use MBps and Mbps interchangeably and there is a factor of 8 difference between the two.) For a final comparison, I connected my laptop to my Apple Airport Extreme over wifi. I was a medium distance connection through several devices that cause interference and on a wifi network with 6 wifi cameras and several other devices sharing the bandwidth. Performing the same file transfer I was able to transfer 24 megaBYTES per second (192 megabits per second). Therefore, my far less than idea wifi connection achieved 3 times better performance than the best performance from this device. Conclusion: I am returning this device because it cannot achieve even 10% of what the manufacturer claimed of its maximum. Gigabit ethernet claims up to 1000 megabits per second, as you can see from my test I was able to achieve 960 megabis per second or 96%. My wifi claims 300 megabits per second and I achieved 192 megabits in less than ideal circumstances. I achieved the best results by removing all other electronic devices from both circuits (not really reasonable for most people). This means in regular circumstances, in my home, this device delivers only about 2% of what it claims as a maximum. If you are using this device to make up for an interior wifi device, or some other situation, and your desired objective is to easily see the same speed on Speedtest from this device as you see wired to your router you will probably be pleased with this. A 64 megabit unshared connection to the internet for browsing or streaming is perfectly acceptable. As another reviewer pointed out though, you can just purchase a cheaper model because this one doesn't seem to gain you anything over the similar model that costs half the price. That said, there are very few situations in life were someone says up to 1200 and then delivers 64 as a maximum consistantly. If my internet provider said they provided up to 50 megabits and I was perpetually only able to get 3 megabit, I would be pretty mad. I think it is reasonable to take this device to task for the same reason here. This device cannot achieve anywhere near the manufacturers claim in residential use. The device is ridiculously easy to set up. Depending on your purpose for it, it is perfectly understandable why most people would be satisfied with it. This review is for people like myself that hoped or expected that some speed greater than 500 megabit would be achieved (why sell a 1200 megabit device if it is not better than the 500 megabit one?). This is the review I wish I had read before I purchased this, as I would have simple moved the mouse away from Add to Cart and returned to Shopping. tldr - This device is great if you are completely clueless and/or have the most basic of network bandwidth needs. However, if you are some geek that expect the claims of 1200 mbps might be true, promptly return to planning your cat 6a wiring for your home, because this device won't outperform your wifi connection. PRO - * Easy to set up, so easy - like plugging in a lamp easy. * Just works * If trying to solve an access problem where wifi is poor, this might be just the ticket CON - * Works poorly, I feel greatly mislead by the manufacturer * Apparently the device performs no better than the manufacturers much less expensive 400/500 mbps versions * The maximum theoretical rate cannot be achieved outside of a lab situation - in fact it is not possible to get anywhere near the maximum claim in the average residental home