devolo dLAN 500 AV Wireless+ Add-On Powerline Adapter (500 Mbps via Power Line, 300 Mbps WiFi, 1 x PLC Homeplug Adapter, 3 x LAN Ports, WiFi Booster, Wireless Range Extender, whole home wifi) - White

What can I say? We've been using Powerline (Home Plug) systems for years, ever since they first came out. This Devolo system beats them all. However, there are a few caveats:a) before you install them, scamper to the Devolo website and download the manuals for the AVplus and Wireless+ plugsb) also download the astonishingly good Devolo Cockpit app for your PC or Mac (don't bother with the iOS app; they've done something dreadful to it which means that the current version can't find the network; hopefully an update will solve that in the near future).I bought a couple of starter kits, so a total of two AVplus plugs and two AV Wireless+ plugs (we have quite a large building).I'm a reasonably experienced network administrator, so I started by sitting down with the manuals and zipping through them (they're nice and clearly written; it didn't take me long).I then installed the Devolo Cockpit app on my MacBook Air.Then I put the plugs where I wanted them (switched off), and once they were all in place with the appropriate cables plugged in (we have a couple of broadband routers and various switches/machines that use Ethernet), I walked round the building switching them all on. I had an Apple AirPort Express plugged into one of the AVplus plugs; my MacBook Air was connected to it wirelessly.To my considerable surprise, as soon as the plugs were switched on, the Devolo Cockpit utility launched itself and offered to update the firmware of the two AVplus plugs (not the Wireless+ plugs, for some reason, but hey, you can't have it all; I updated those separately via the Wireless+ plugs' configuration web pages after downloading a firmware update from the Devolo website – very easy). The Cockpit app showed all four plugs in place and immediately started analysing network speeds between them. Very impressive!The network was available immediately. I was going to use the built-in encryption switches to generate a random network password, but the Cockpit app let me enter my own preferred admin password very easily. So all the hardwired network was immediately available. I suspect the wireless network was also available, but I didn't bother using the WiFi settings programmed into the two Wireless+ plugs (although they were eminently sensible ones); I set up my own instead.The Cockpit app allows you to launch configuration pages for all the plugs; these appear in your web browser.There are a lot of settings. They're very clear and straightforward to use if you've got some network experience. Possibly a little scary for a beginner (in fact, yeah, they are scary for beginners!). The good news is, you don't need to access them if you don't want to: you can use the plugs – ideally with encryption enabled – straight out of the box.Best of all, you can name all the plugs individually, based on their location. The names show up immediately in the Cockpit app. They also appear in the configuration web pages. This is just so convenient!Finally, the Cockpit app constantly monitors the flow of data to/from the plugs. You can click on any given plug in the network diagram to see what the connections between it and the other plugs are like. If the data rate seems a little low, you can move it to another socket and see if anything improves. It's amazingly simple and convenient.Despite the relatively high price, I'm absolutely delighted with these. They've speeded up the flow of data across the network, talk flawlessly to both our broadband routers (hint: definitely a good idea to disable the WiFi Move function if you've got a relatively complex network setup), and picked up from where the older, failing network left off without a murmur. Totally recommend!

In a high-rise apartment, you get steel-reinforced concrete structural walls, making each room a Faraday cage, so wi-fi doesn't go far. Until homes come with built-in gigabit or 10G networking, powerline networking is about all you can do.This device has mains pass-through (the +), wireless a/b/g/n, and 3 ethernet ports on top. I couldn't find another brand that has all 3 of these. It saves connecting a separate ethernet switch or a wi-fi access point to the remote plug, reducing wires and power adapters, so that is a plus. The physical layer claims speeds up to 500mbps. Of course real world performance is lower, and as the datasheet shows, the ethernet ports are only 100mbps, not gigabit, so that tells you what to expect. Across a long distance in a large flat, we get about 36mbps down and 21mbps up, which is good enough for most things although working on videos or photo albums on a home NAS could slow you down a bit. I couldn't get this brand in Hong Kong, so I had them shipped to a UK friend and then air-mailed out, which means I had to pay VAT even though it is an export. I liked it so much that I bought an add-on unit for another bedroom. The design is good, and there is desktop software as well as an iPad app which allows easy setup and admin. The wi-fi allows MAC filtering so I can restrict access by my kids when needed.

These are top end power line adapters which work pretty well, but have limitations. I used them to replace cheaper TP link models and they are more reliable. They work really well if the router and the client are on the same ring main, less well if the client is in the same house but on a different circuit. I think I've pushed the limit of the technology by trying to use it to connect to an outbuilding, via two consumer units and about 50 ft of exterior mains cable. This proved to be too much of an ask, although it did work sporadically. For this building I'll need to bite the bullet and run ethernet all the way. So in summary, they can be a good convenient solution but in some cases you still might have to take the harder option of running cable.

Bought this Devolo Wireless+ Starter kit after trying 2 so called WiFi extenders/repeaters/boosters which just didn't help my situation at all. Bog standard repeaters do just that...a repeater just repeats whatever signal it receives and if that signal is weak then the repeated signal is equally weak. If you can locate the repeater where it's received WiFi is at maximum then the repeater will extend that strong signal, but not that far, and the repeated signal will become weaker as it's range increases so there are a few factors that affect the result. My router has dual band, 2.4 and 5gHZ but the signal strength just wasn't enough for my Fire TV and buffering was occurring regularly. I tried 5gHz which was better but due to its nature the range was less than the 2.4 so I was no better off in reality. 2.4 was a stronger signal but with a narrower bandwidth.This gizmo from Devolo solved the problem in an instant. It's a clever idea and design and without going into further technical info it works extremely well. Dual band of course and I now have a very strong, wide bandwidth consistent 5gHz WiFi. No buffering (so far anyway). My wallet is a little thinner but I can now watch streamed video frustration-free so I think for me it's money very well spent. I cannot comment on longevity or consistency as I haven't had it long enough but currently I can thoroughly recommend this unit.