
Why
Why not have a cheap switch !!
Are your one-port powerline Ethernet adaptors proving insufficient for hooking up all the gadgets you want to connect to your network? Western Digital has the answer. WD Livewire It's moving into the powerline market with Livewire, a four-port adaptor that uses the HomePlug AV standard to deliver raw data rates of up to …
A switch is going to need a power supply too; and often they're cheap plug-top efforts, which may spew out crap that affects the powerline network.
If you're using something like this to bring the network into the living room, then you may well have rather more aethetic considerations (and a partner to nag about the mess) than you would in the study.