5. Setup & Administration - more

All the utilities are bascially customized versions of the PowerPacket Utility supplied by Intellon and the versions supplied by NETGEAR and SMC are functionally identical (SMC didn't even bother to change the PowerPacket name or icon). Only Actiontec has chosen to dumb things down by combining the Security and Main tabs, eliminating the Diagnostics tab, and removing the Rate information as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7: Actiontec's censored Advanced screen

Speaking of the Diagnostics tab (Figure 8), it contains a bit more info for the curious to glance through. I thought it interesting that the only device that displayed any info in the Diagnostics > Vendor column (you need to scroll to see it) was NETGEAR.

Figure 8: NETGEAR Diagnostics screen

If you do need to change the Private Network Name, you'll first need to enter the 16 character password printed on each device's label that you wish to change and then execute the change. Actiontec makes the process easier than SMC and NETGEAR by allowing you to do both the device password entry and execution on one screen instead of clicking between two.

Figure 9: SMC Privacy screen

The password-setting process seems to have been tightened up since the last time I played with HomePlug gear, which is a good thing. It may be a pain to have to enter the 16 character "password" from each device, but this method ensures that your neighbor can't accidentally (or on purpose) change your HomePlug device security.