I have been having problems with the WLAN here in the cellar since I moved in. I've tried 3 different WLAN routers, but the signal was always slow and unreliable - often on refreshing a website, it wouldn't be found and I'd have to do it again.

The NAS was also upstairs with the router, which made copying the gigabytes of photos to it slow! Now it is in the cellar with the rest of my kit, connected to a gigabit switch.

I saw the Netgear XAVB2501 Powerline AV+ 200 kit reduced on Amazon in their lighting Christmas sale (select products reduced for an hour or so). I ordered it as soon as it became available. With Prime, it was delivered next day without extra charge.

I plugged it in this evening, with one upstairs, connected to the router and one down here, connected to the switch, then I connected the laptop to the switch and turned it on. It worked straight away, with WLAN turned off, no configuration, nothing! It was so easy to set up. I haven't tested the speed, but the connection is stable and "fast enough" at the moment.

I'd always had doubts about the Powerline networking stuff, but short of drilling holes through 2' of concrete into the cellar to lay an ethernet cable, it was my last hope. There are faster (and more expensive) systems on the market, but for a test, this one was the right price and it is working great... I'll have to wait and see, if it is still so great when the washing machine or cooker are in use...