Intellon won the nod as the technology of choice by the HomePlug alliance and is the basis for their 1.0 HomePlug spec. Phonex's Neverwire 14 will probably be the first product to market, sometime in late October , according to their website. HomePNA 2.0 10Mbps products really will give you performance that you'll be hard pressed to tell from that of a 10BaseT Ethernet network. The main caveat is your home's wiring. The Broadcom chip used in virtually all HomePNA 2.0 products can handle a wider range of wiring problems than the earlier HomePNA 1.0 chips.
Wireless kits are another story.
But before you click away in disappointment, consider that although you might think 1Mbps is too slow compared to 10Mbps or 100Mbps, it's actually as fast as many small LAN users will need to go. This is especially true if you are sharing a dialup Internet connection, or use a broadband connection primarily for web browsing, email, instant messaging, and other non bandwidth intensive tasks. Gamers obsessed with low ping times or folks needing to do large file transfers or watch streaming video should stick with Ethernet though. But when you consider that you don't have to buy a hub or switch or run CAT5 cable for HomePNA networking, the cost difference from Ethernet shrinks to something that most of us can rationalize. EarthWeb is a service of INT Media Group, Incorporated Copyright 2001 INT Media Group, Incorporated All Rights Reserved.