rhodesengr
Occasional Visitor
After good experiences with two other Zyxel products (NBG5715 router and WAP3205 AP) I am disappointed in the PLA4205. I have been working to get network signal from my downstairs office to an upstairs bedroom. before running a cable, I though i would try this Homeplug solution. To be fair, I have to say that the hardware worked right out of the box. The throughput was no so great. I get about 5Mbps with the PLA4205's compared to 15Mbps using the WAP3205 in repeater mode). I use Netstress to do the speed tests. I get 78Mbps if I wore both the TX and RX to the router. I think my lap top is not GigE (have to check that). So I understand Homeplug performance varies with wiring and I am pretty sure the wiring situation is not ideal. The upstairs is on a different sub-panel from the downstairs because it was an addition.
My real disappointment is with the software utility. I just could not get it to work at all. There are 64bit and 32 bit version on the disk. I installed the 64 bit version on my W7 desktop. The utility opens but does not detect the PLA4205's. All the fields are greyed out. I tried connecting one of the 4205's direct to the ethernet port on my desktop. The utility still does not see it. I loaded the 32bit version on my XP laptop. It won't even run. I just get a "must close" error when I try to run it. Pretty pathetic.
I was hoping to use the utility to check whatever settings there might be and check for latest firmware to perhaps improve the speed. I checked the Zyxel website and there are no firmware releases or updates to the utility that i could find and no entries at all in the knowledge base. If I can get the software running on my laptop and talking to the 4205's, I might keep them for some use in the future use but otherwise, I'll probably send them back.
My real disappointment is with the software utility. I just could not get it to work at all. There are 64bit and 32 bit version on the disk. I installed the 64 bit version on my W7 desktop. The utility opens but does not detect the PLA4205's. All the fields are greyed out. I tried connecting one of the 4205's direct to the ethernet port on my desktop. The utility still does not see it. I loaded the 32bit version on my XP laptop. It won't even run. I just get a "must close" error when I try to run it. Pretty pathetic.
I was hoping to use the utility to check whatever settings there might be and check for latest firmware to perhaps improve the speed. I checked the Zyxel website and there are no firmware releases or updates to the utility that i could find and no entries at all in the knowledge base. If I can get the software running on my laptop and talking to the 4205's, I might keep them for some use in the future use but otherwise, I'll probably send them back.