HomePlug Powerline networking is based on the concept of "no new wires." HomePlug is a standard for using existing electrical power lines in our homes and offices to build computer networks.



IOGEAR's HomePlug connects to an external device into a USB or Ethernet port on your computer, and then into an AC wall jack. The HomePlug device translates the data coming from PCs into a signal that travels over the AC wires, using a different frequency than -- and not interfering with -- the ordinary current coursing through the same wire.



HomePlug uses existing electrical wiring to move data as fast as 14 Megabits per second (Mbps), with real-world performance of 6 to 8 Mbps.
By offering 56-bit DES encryption, it is also much more secure than other home networking technologies such as wireless Ethernet.