Just like some people choose Coke over Pepsi, in my house, we’ve always used wireless instead of power-line-based network equipment.

This is partly because the wireless gear came out first, but I’ll admit I was also more comfortable with my data traveling over the air rather than through electrical wiring.

Colleagues who’d tried power-line equipment said I could create a hybrid network using both. I could keep my wireless router, use power line to distribute the network around the house, and then, if I wanted to, add more wireless on the edge to patch up spotty coverage areas.

I finally relented and tested home power-line equipment GigaFast had sent. Other home networking vendors offer power-line equipment, too, including Linksys, Netgear and Belkin, so your experience may vary.

To connect a computer via your power outlets, you’ll need at least two adapters – one that connects to your router or broadband modem, and the other that connects to your computer. Any additional devices you want to connect just need an additional adapter.

In my case, I connected the GigaFast HomePlug Ethernet Bridge (PE902-EBx, $45) to the Linksys wireless router in a spare Ethernet port. Then I connected my laptop to a GigaFast HomePlug USB Wall Adapter (PE909-UI, $45), a tiny device that looks like an AC adapter with a USB port. After some driver installations and a few reboots, the system connected to the home network, and I could access the Internet from any power outlet. I didn’t need to take down the entire wireless router-based system, and wired and wireless now coexist peacefully.

The good: Using the power outlets as possible Internet nodes opens up a lot of locations where I can avoid using wireless (low coverage or just by choice).

The bad: The wall adapter plugs into any power outlet, and then connects to a computer with a USB cable. But if you want to connect with a Cat 5 Ethernet cable, you have to use a bulkier Ethernet adapter (PE902-EBx), which doesn't plug directly into the wall (it uses a separate power cord). We would prefer a wall adapter that connects with an Ethernet cable, such as the Belkin Ethernet Adapter (F5D4070).

The ugly: Installation took much too long. The instructions assumed we’d use only power-line equipment, so there were no instructions for connecting through an existing router or modem. I had to reboot the system several times and actually re-connected the network once before I found the right combination of steps.