The Linksys HomeLink Phoneline 10M network starter kit offers connectivity between two PCs over a home's existing phone lines so there's no extra hardware to buy. Every standard telephone jack in the home is capable of hosting a PC, thus transforming the home's telephone wiring into an easily expandable network. The Linksys starter kit uses new HomePNA-compliant technology that allows your phone line to carry computer data as well as regular telephone voice service simultaneously. You can talk on the telephone, share files, and share resources such as a cable modem or DSL connection at 10 Mbps all at the same time.
This kit includes two HomeLink Phoneline 10M network cards, two telephone cables, an Internet LAN bridge, free technical support (via telephone or Internet), and free driver upgrades.
Now you can connect multiple Pentium PCs in your home or office to share files, printers, Internet connections, and more. Best of all, you don't need anything more than what's in the box! You won't be required to buy any cables or hubs to get your network started. This exciting new technology is being offered in compliance with the standards of the Home Phoneline Networking Alliance (HomePNA). The Linksys HomeLink Phoneline Network Card offers instant connectivity to multiple PC's over a home's existing telephone lines. You can network any PCI-equipped computer by connecting it to any telephone line. There's no need for a switch, a hub, or even any RJ-45 Ethernet cabling - the network runs on standard home-grade telephone cables. Simply install the card, plug the provided telephone cable into the wall, run the installation software, and go. The technology makes networking PCs at home easier than ever. Plus, there's a 10BaseT port on-board -- use it whenever you want to upgrade to a 10Mbps Ethernet.The HomeLink Phoneline Network Card utilizes Advanced Micro Devices' (AMD) PCnet-Home technology which allows phone lines to carry data at a 1Mbps transfer rate without interrupting regular telephone voice service (POTS) or feeds from a cable modem or Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line (xADSL). You can talk on the telephone, download files from the Internet, and share resources over a network all at the same time. Every standard telephone jack in the home is capable of hosting a PC. You can connect up to 25 devices on any given phone number. With the HomeLink Phoneline Network Card, you will instantly transform the home's telephone wiring into an easily expandable network.
1 Why isn't this more popular?
Just recently added another computer at home to my phoneline network which has been in operation for 2 years now. This makes 4 computers at home all networked on the telephone lines in my house. I can be watching music videos on my office pc while my son is doing a homework project via the WEB and printing to our color printer in my wife's office from his room while my daughter is sending instant messages from the pc in her room and oh yeah, my wife is on the phone in the kitchen! I'm amazed this is not more popular. Easy setup, fast and reliable. Amazing.
2 Even works with Linux
This product worked great for me and was very easy to set up. I wasn't too pleased with the Internet LanBridge software that came with it, though. Also lacking were details of where to download the drivers for Linux. The first information I found gave me erroneous details about which driver to use and eventually got lucky when someone told me where the obscure FTP site was to download the correct driver ... I also did not like the fact that it had to be opened in Windows and was not a *.tar.gz or *.rpm file. Once the driver was found and installed, it worked great and was easy to set up. I have installed this on Windows 98SE, Mandrake Linux 8.1, and Windows 2000 Professional with no problems except those minor ones mentioned earlier. I read another review that said that Windows XP includes the drivers, but the XP hardware compatibility test told me the device was questionable, so I have not tried it with XP.
3 awesome product !!
i bought this card before 1 hour. i installed it on Windows XP on my 2 pcs and now i am connecting to amazon.com through the SHARED internet connection
i just love it
and i highly recommend it
4 Awesome Product!
The Linksys HPN 200 is one of the best phone line networks out there. The setup is extremely easy. Just plug in the hardware into a free PCI slot, and insert the drivers CD for Windows 98/Me. Windows XP includes the drivers, so it will be setup automatically! Its great for playing games (compatible with IPX games), sharing files, printers, and Internet connections. If you are using Windows98 Second Edition or later, you do not need 3rd party software to share an internet connection. I have had my network for over a year, and it works great!
5 Erratic support; still no drivers
I bought the LinkSys Phoneline 10M Network Card Kit in mid-November, fully expecting that nearly a month after the release of Windows XP, they would have drivers available. Boy, was I wrong. I called them up to ask when they'd be available and the friendly tech support rep informed me that the drivers would be ready around the 20th of November. On the 20th of November, they were nowhere to be found, so I called them up again. "Oh, the development team is behind schedule. They'll be out by the end of the month." So I waited until yesterday (the first day of the next month) to check the site for drivers. Guess what? There are STILL no XP drivers for the cards. I called them up again and they said: "Oh, well it's the weekend, so I guess they're not putting them up until Monday." There is too much going on in my life to have to bother playing phone tag right now. Three strikes, you're out, LinkSys.
6 Linksys support really sucks!
I have a Linksys Homelink network system that has now been unusable for months. When I upgraded to Windows ME, the only problem I had was with the Linksys card. Neither phone support or email support has been able to fix the problem. Email support rarely returns any messages, and if they do, all they say is they are working on the problem. I have four computers and a laptop and all were working decently on the network before upgrading to ME - not good, just decently - but what is so discouraging is the lack of support. I will NEVER buy another Linksys product!
7 Promised Sharing Software Not Supplied
Linksys advertises that the internet connection software included is Sygate (which has gotten good reviews.) My kit, just purchased, came with LanBridge on a CD with file dates of 10/99. The documentation is pre-Windows 98. It really only covers dial-up connections using Windows 95 and earlier. The supplier of LanBridge (which Linksys emphatically states THEY do not support) apparently was Virtual Motion. They are long gone and so is the support. Lanbridge, after hours of tweaking can be made to operate, but inconsistently. Linksys phone support seems to be non technical folks reading scripts that may not have anything to do with the problem. Consider avoiding this product if LanBridge is included.
8 When In Doubt Read the Directions
Made this setup harder than it should have been. One of the cards was DOA but instead of testing another card in the machine I assumed that I had a software problem. I called the toll free number and had no trouble at 4 pm EST on a Friday getting support personnel. Replaced the card and now have 3 computer network with 2 98 machines and a 95. (Had to buy an extra card, only two comes in this box.) Don't run your modem through it though-- It'll slow the connection down. Also I was not impressed with the Lanbridge software and uninstalled it. Stick with Wingate or one of the other good internet gateway programs.
9 Works great
It was smooth sailing networking a win98 and a win2000 pro machine together. I had to fiddle with the network settings on the win2000 machine a bit, but that was because of the share settings. In all, a great deal for about 70 bucks. Transfers and backups between machines are fast, and the built in internet connection sharing feature of win2000 lets two people use the internet.
10 stay away from it
Took me a whole weekend the first time and the thing still didn't work. Every few lines in the documentation it asks you to consult your network administrator. I wonder how many homes have such a person?
Then I sent an email to their support. Haven't heard from them yet. Not even an auto reply. This was several months ago.
The second try, I got it to work. Turned out it's picky about the wires. It worked on my fourth wire. Unfortunately my phoneline wiring isn't good enough. I ended up hardwiring the two computers.
And the speed isn't good either.
11 Works in seconds
I've read all the reviews before installing this card. What I found out is that the software that comes with it (LanBridge) which allow one to use internet sharing, as well as setting up one computer as a server, works find on 98SE OS but will not on computers with Windows ME OS. I wrote the company who owns the software and they pointed out that they do not support Windows ME only Windows NT, 2000, 95 and 98. Thanks a lot.
The Linksys HomeLink Phoneline card works great. I set up MS Home Network on both computers (98se and ME) and it so easy to use. The file sharing allows me to use my ME computers CD-R to rip MP3 files from my 98se computer. And it is less money than others out there. Great buy for what it dose. I've just purchased the Linksys cable router and their Broadband Network Bridge to allow each computer their own cable access.
I am a novice to home networking. That is why I purchased the Linksys HomeLink Phoneline cards.
12 GREAT: quick, easy, and does the job!!!
This product is EXCELLENT!! A quick and easy way to create a home (or small office) network without extra cabling or hassle. After quickly installing the PCI cards into the PC's I was up and running on my home network - about 10 minutes total. No need for special network configuration, IP mapping, or anything else.
The connection has proven to be a blessing. Days after installing the cards I had a problem on one of my machines and need to resintall the OS. I had several gigabytes of data that I wanted to keep (lots of scanned images) and didnt want to use zip disk. I copied the data over the LAN and voila! The performance was outstanding. Unfortunately I didnt measure the actual speed I attained, but the 10mb speed is definitely enough for most home uses.
THE NEGATIVE: the LanBridge software isnt the best. Its okay but I prefer the WinGate product which I use to share my internet connection between my machine. LanBridge required a bit more network tinkering.
