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Solwise takes a direct approach with its HomePlug hardware.

The packages are plain white boxes and the model codes are a sight to behold. These £50 (inc. VAT) units are called HomePlug Net-PL-200AV-PUSH because they have a push button to assist the process of linking your network.

Simple to set up

Pay an extra £4.95 and you can choose the Net-PL-200AV-PIGGY which carries a mains plug socket on the body of the adapter. That allows you to plug in the Solwise adapter and then piggyback another device, which is handy if you have very few sockets in the room.

This is especially handy as every HomePlug manufacturer advises that you plug the unit directly into a wall socket without resorting to a four-gang adapter.

The adapters aren't the most compact and are relatively deep and project 75mm from the socket but are slender so you'll have no problem connecting them next to other devices.

Plug in the first adapter, push the Simple Connect button, then plug in the second unit and push its button within two minutes and the green activity lights come to life. Job done.

Chooce your priority

There's no need to use the supplied software but you'll find it is worth the effort. It offers the ability to update firmware and also has a Quality of Service option that allows you to select Gaming, Audio Visual or VoIP traffic as your priority.

We've seen the QoS option on a number of recent routers where you have to make a decision about sharing the available bandwidth on your home network. If you use VoIP it makes sense to give it priority so your kids can't flood the network with their pesky on-line gaming.

The minimum system requirements don't mention Windows Vista but the software ran flawlessly on our test laptop.

The look and feel of the Solwise adapters isn't quite up to the standard of some rival hardware but the price is more reasonable.