Patent ID: 7970563

Claim:
A powerline signal test apparatus comprising: a housing; a pair of prongs protruding from the housing, the pair of prongs including a first prong and a second prong to be inserted respectively into an AC powerline outlet; a powerline module coupled to the pair of prongs and within an interior region of the housing, the powerline module being configured to process a first data signal in a first format; a processor coupled to the powerline module and provided within the interior region of the housing, the processor being configured to initiate transfer of first test data characterized by a first data rate from the pair of prongs through a portion of a powerline network to a target node, the processor being configured to initiate receipt of second test data from the target node characterized by a second data rate, wherein the second test data is an acknowledgement to the first test data; a signal strength indication for the portion of the powerline network associated with the second test data characterized by the second data rate; an output device coupled to the processor, the output device configured to output the signal strength indication.