devoloMagic 1-1200 Wi-Fi 5 Add-On Powerline Adapter, Mesh Wi-Fi, (Up To 1200 Mbps Via Powerline, Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi Anywhere, Access Point, 2x Fast Ethernet Ports, Stable Home Working)

My Virgin Media hub 3 router is in the upstairs study in the corner of my house. My Hi Fi system is diagonally opposite in the downstairs corner of the house. As I didn't want to 'hardwire' from router to music streamer using ethernet cable I decided to try an over the mains system. I am pleased to say this works very well, and to my ears the sound of the music coming through on 'Tidal' is very good. There is no signal break up so far.Wifi on phones and tablet was weak or non existent when away from the router. (The hub 3 is not that good anyhow). I looked into wifi mesh systems and wifi extenders but decided on the Devolo system because;a) this can be set up as a mesh system; same SSID, password as the hub 3 so don't need to change when moving around the house,b) over mains data transmission which works well for my Hi Fi,c) don't loose the use of an electrical socket, although Devolo do state that you shouldn't plug the unit into a mains extension cable. (The mains extension cable can however run out through the Devolo socket). Also on this point, if you put the Devolo plug into a double wall socket shared with some other appliance, this has the same effect as using an extension lead. They say it can effect the wifi signal.d) Fairly easy to set up.Main downside: expensive.Wifi speeds around the house vary from day to day, hour to hour. I am on the VM 300 mbps supply, and sometimes I get that around the house but more often than not I get between 120 to 250 mbps. I think the fluctuation is more to do with Virgin Media than the Devolo sockets. Also the two wifi plugs are hidden. One behind the television in one room and the other in a corner behind my hi fi gear in another room.One other thing, I live in an oldish house and mains electrical system for the power sockets is a single circuit upstairs and downstairs. I do not know how this would effect powerline data transmission on most houses with at least 2 separate circuits.

I have had previous generations of Devolo tech so this was a next step into full mesh home setup. They’ve made the setup of the products and network really simple and effective through the Devolo Home Network app and in 10 minutes, I had both a three and a two unit set paired up to be a home network of five of these really easily. (Devolo setup used to be a nightmare of trial and error, so they’ve really sorted this out).What’s important to know is how Devolo achieves its ‘mesh network’ and that’s through powerline connection and wifi hotspot units that broadcast the powerline connection and mesh it together that way.The unit that connects to the router with ethernet sends the powerline connection to all other mesh units and these each create their own meshed wifi zones.Lots of other companies use wifi rebroadcast to create a mesh network. There are pros and cons to both approaches but I expect the Devolo mesh network to be pretty stable (a speed test on each unit is reporting maximum up and down mbps). From experience with older Devolo units, the odd power demand from an appliance (a boiler starting, for example) can cause brief outage; but only for a second or two).Watching which unit my phone is connecting to as I walk around the house (using the Devolo app) shows it switching efficiently to the nearest unit without dropout of connectivity.Where the system falls short for me is that you have to have a house and grounds where everything is on the same electrical circuit. I needed one of the units to give a wifi mesh zons in our garage (gym space) but because the garage is on its own electrical circuit, the powerline doesn’t work).I had (mistakenly) thought that Devolo Mesh used powerline and/or wifi rebroadcast to give a double layer of network connectivity and so assumed (though to assume makes an ass out of ‘u’ and ‘me!) it would be possible to disable powerline connection to just have that garage unit take a wifi rebroadcast.No such luck - this isn’t possible and so is something to be aware of if having multiple electric circuits in your home/grounds applies to you.My own solution in the end was to add a TP-Link Mesh Extender in the garage gym that is now successfully rebroadcasting wifi from the nearest Devolo unit in the house. Not perfect but working well.My only real negative in the whole Devolo setup was the brief call to Devolo’s customer support number. I explained my want with the garage gym and asked if it were possible to disable the powerline connection on the garage unit to just achieve wifi rebroadcast connection. A German company has a German call centre which is expected and fine but the person didn’t seem to understand the nuance of my query and sort of mansplained me saying ‘powerline is how mesh networks work’.In truth, that’s how Devolo’s mesh networks work and mine works very well thus far but it’s not how all mesh networks work so I felt a bit patronised and ‘told’ rather than helped.On balance though, so far this is a solid and efficient setup that was easy to get going with. (Just note the point about outbuildings and potential of separate circuits).

I bought these to replace some Netgear 1200 poweplugs that were driving me up the wall. Namely the Netgear models would occasionally drop connection and "go to sleep" now and then. An issue which I just couldn't fix as they didn't have the function to turn of this power saving feature.Anyway concerning the Devolo Magic 2-4000. What can I say... a bit like a well oiled machine they've not missed a beat in 2 months (and counting).The install software wasn't "Apple level" friendly but after a few clicks and attempts I managed to set them up to my preferences with no issue (turned off power saver mode), and once done you don't need to ever really go back. So solid stable connection.. tick!Speed wise in fairness they're not much quicker than the old Netgear 1200 models. I am getting about 140-150MB so quicker yes than the Netgear which did actually give me 120MB. However the Devolo connection is solid and stable so I'm as pleased as punch. So speed... tick!Additionally this model has three outputs on the "output" plug which is incredibly useful in this new age of home working as it means I can have multiple devises plugged in at once without having to resort to the dreaded Wi-Fi or having to purchase additional expansion units. Perfect for a small home office!So in conclusion if you are after a solid stable powerplug solution then they come really recommended, night and day compared to the old Netgear ones I had. No they probably wont give you a 240MB connection and yes they are a tad expensive but I guess you get what you pay for.