EDIMAX Phoneline / Ethernet Network Adapter Review
Reviewed by Alan Kuik (19th December 1999)

These are the contents of the package: These are the contents of the package:		Software & Drivers included
(1) Phoneline/Ethernet network adapter (1) User's Guide (1) Installation CD (1) telephone cable		WEBdesk manager (trial)

Here are the features as specified,

- Complies with HomePNA.10 and IEE802.3 10BaseT specifications.
- Connects PCs by sending signals over existing telephone wiring. No dedicated network wiring is required.
- The data speed is up to 1Mbps in phoneline network.
- Includes a 10BaseT RJ-45 port - Migrate to a 10Mbps Ethernet at anytime.
- PCI interface
- Plug-and-play
- Web-Based Management

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Card Installation

Card installation was a breeze in win98. I apologise for testing only on this platform. Since it is one of those most commonly used OSes at home, i guess it's okay. Driver support for this network includes those for Windows 95B, windows98, Windows NT4.0 and Windows2000. Seems that edimax is all geared up for driver support.

Anyway, the installation CD comes with online html readme menus. Step by step instructions are almost idiot proof.. take a look a sample that i've put here. Click here for sample
However, it could be better if there're hardcopies of the installation guides. The cdrom contents were not programmed to autorun and i had to search the directories for the drivers during installation.

One major problem which could face novice users is that though the whole installation process was automated, it still tells you nothing on how to configure your network settings, protocols to install and how to set your subnet mask, IP address etc.... This is a major setback since most people who are new in this area would have difficulty in this part.

After a successful installation, this is what you'll see.

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The Good

The Card Inspection section

click for full screen image		Packed in an attractive box, it catches attention with it's product name. The card itself is of high quality PCB board and very sturdy when slotted into the PCI slot. You know those china ones somewhat feels slimsy sometimes? Just simply plug in this card and Win98 will auto detect this plug and play card. Plug in a UTP cable if you have that, or a normal telephone cable will also do the job.
		This is a view of the card with it's jacks. Notice that it has a pass-through for the phoneline jack just like a normal internal modem. There're also LED indicator to indicate Ethernet speed when using UTP connection.

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The Test

After installing the cards in 2 of my system, i quickly tested out the network features. I tested out simple network games like tetrinet and they ran without a hitch. (i wasn't expecting them to). Dragging huge files (>100mb) over the phoneline network was what i did to test out the maximum speed attainable. An average of slightly under 1Mbps was noticed. This is the same either i use a direct telephone cable to connect the 2 pcs, or do it through the wall sockets. However, do take into note that i recently rewired my home telephone lines.

With such speed, playing LAN games at home is not a problem anymore. Games like Q3A and Unreal Tournament do not require even 1mbps to play smoothly. Actual data transfer to the UT or Q3 server is small.
The speed is enough for you to watch a VCD playing in another computer straight over the network, to stream mp3s, to install programs over the network also. Overall, the performance of the card overwhelmed me and i was tempted to get a pair myself to replace the old 3coms that i am using.

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The Bad

On the whole, i was more than satisfied with the performance and reliability of the card. What that annoys me is the level of user-friendliness in it's instalation manuals.

The readme files are in within the subdirectories. Also, the software, WEBdesk manager provided has a very useful feature of looking into other systems over the same network. You can poll it for information such as Operating System, harddisk capacity, Ram, softwares installed etc and it works over SNMP. Almost like an SNMP agent i would say. It could also send a "magic" packet (actually a packet broadcast over the network to the specified managed system) to wake it up. This feature of course needs the Wake-on-Lan feature to be supported by the remote system.

By providing a Trial 30day expiration period software (webdesk manager) it actually discourages me from using this useful software. I'm suppose to pay for it after 30 days of trial.

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Conclusion

Overall, this is a product that people who want to network their home pcs should look out for. However, i was told that the vendor have decided not to bring it in for the moment. Depending on it's price if it's available, it would justify whether you should get these cards, or get normal ethernet cards together with a cheap 10BaseT hub for home users.

Do take note that if you only need to link up 2 pcs, you also can make use of only 2 ethernet cards by linking them up with a cross-cable. A very good product that i expect to be well received ( depending on it's price of course ), what EDIMAX lacks would be in presentation and documentation, and probably a crash course on how to assign IP address.

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PRODUCT RATING

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Last updated December 23, 1999.

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