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Zyxel ships its first 500Mbps power-line adapter

Zyxel announces its first 500Mbps power-line adapter, the Zyxel PLA4205.

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The new Powerline AV+ 500 adapter from Zyxel.
The new Powerline AV+ 500 adapter from Zyxel. Zyxel

Zyxel announced today that it has now officially joined the Powerline AV+ 500 club with its first adapter, the Zyxel PLA4205.

Similar to the D-Link DHP-501AV and the Netgear XAV5501, this new adapter from Zyxel is designed to offer up to 500Mbps throughput speed via a home's electrical wiring.

In real-world usage, the speed is likely to be much slower than that but probably still faster than a traditional Ethernet connection, which would make it more than fast enough for streaming HD content and other heavy home-networking needs.

Zyxel says its PLA4205 adapter is backward-compatible with previous power-line standards and has built-in power-saving technology to reduce its power consumption. The device comes with one network port and is designed to plug into a power socket. Like the D-Link DHP-501AV, it doesn't offer a pass-through power socket.

The Zyxel PLA4205 is available now and costs $100 for a single unit or $160 for a kit of two units.