802.11ac wireless offers faster transfer speeds and wider coverage.

Sometimes it just takes a little thing to make a big impact on a product. But what is the "little thing" that makes this adaptor so special?

Finally, 802.11ac wireless networking comes to your laptop in USB adaptor form. Does it live up to our hopes?

Netgear is a respected name in networking, offering everything from routers to powerline hardware, and the Nano 500 is one of just three 500Mbps starter kits that the company produces.

The TPL-401E is one of the latest editions to Trendnet's powerline range, boasting support for the latest 500Mbps connection standard.

Netgear is a well respected name in networking, offering routers to wireless adaptors to Powerline tech. How does this kit fare?

Despite all the advances of wireless 802.11n, walls and distance still conspire to kill your router's reception dead. Asus, like a knight of old, is here to rescue you like some long-haired damsel in distress.

If you are a data junkie and baulk at the limits of online storage then the GigaRunner USB thumb drive has the potential to put your entire PC in the cloud

We're big fans of Devolo's powerline networking adaptors, so we had high hopes for the Devolo dLAN 500 AVtriple+. Speeds can reach a maximum of 500Mbps.

Western Digital WD Livewire doesn't look like other network powerline adaptors. For a start, it doesn't plug directly into a wall power socket. Instead, it's a small box that connects to the power socket via a cable.

The Buffalo AirStation N450 USB 2.0 Wireless Adapter WLI-UC-G450 uses Buffalo's 'beamforming' tech - used in the Buffalo AirStation N-Technology HighPower ADSL2+ Modem Router - to focus and direct Wi-Fi signals.

The Asus USB-N53 dual-band 300Mbps wireless N adaptor performs very well, and goes some way to justify its higher than average price. Being dual-band, you get both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands - as long as you have a capable router - and interference from other wireless signals is kept to a minimum.

Enhance the range and reception of your Wi-Fi

The easy way to create a wired network

Replace your wired home network with the speedy Netgear Powerline AV+ 500

Is Belkin's Share Powerline AV 3 Port the media centre network solution?

Bring your Wi-Fi to hard to reach places with this wireless network extender

The Fritz! WLAN Repeater has a few tricks up its sleeve to make your life easier

The dLAN 200 AV USB Extender has great potential

D-Link upgrades its Powerline starter kit

Unfortunately the difference this card will have on your system is dependant on its age. Newer systems won't get a tangible benefit from freeing up the CPU, while the differences it can make to latencies are so slight as to make it mostly irrelevant.

A powerline networking adapter from Devolo offering 200Mbps network speeds

The new powerline networking kit from Devolo comes with LCD screens and 200Mb/s speeds

Speed and ease of use in a slightly uninspiring design

Manage your home network with a little help from Zyxel