Devolo Magic 2 WiFi
Next-gen network power adapters In many ways, the power adapters work better than other mesh router systems £169.99 FROM Devolo, devolo.co.uk features G.hn powerline network spec, mesh Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n/ac, 2.4 and 5GHz)
Devolo’s powerline adapters allow devices to use your home’s electrical wiring to transmit network data. A powerline system gives you the stability of wired networking without the need to trail cables through your home.
Magic 2 kit uses the G.hn tech spec – which promises faster speeds than the previous powerline standard. In fact, Devolo claims that Magic 2 can reach speeds of up to 2,400Mbps, a big leap over its last-gen Devolo dLAN 1200+, which was capable of up to 1,200Mbps.
The Starter Kit comes with two units for £169.99; a single unit, for extending existing setups, costs £109.99. The Multiroom Kit comes with three units for £269.90. In the Starter and Multiroom kits, you get one unit with a single Gigabit LAN port for connecting to the router, and then either one or two additional units with two Gigabit LAN ports. You may find two Ethernet ports a bit on the low side, although you can use a network switch to extend the number of ports.
The LAN ports are easy to access at the top of the unit. Each unit has two buttons with LED lights; one for Wi-Fi, the other for connecting to the Magic 2 network. The LED indicates the state of the Wi-Fi network and Magic 2 network, and can be switched off using the Devolo Cockpit software.
Powerful powerline
With the first unit installed and connected to the router, you then add the additional units. Connection is as simple as pressing a button on the units, though this needs to be done in the correct order.
Once set up, the network works well, with wired devices connecting to the Internet without issue. When the Devolo Cockpit software has found the units, you can monitor data transfer rates and adjust the settings for each unit. From there we were able to configure the Wi-Fi network, with each satellite unit having a built-in extender. You can change the name of the Wi-Fi network, set passwords and enable a guest network. Best of all, the system works as a mesh router, which means that each unit broadcasts to the same Wi-Fi network, so your wireless devices don’t need to switch networks as you move about.
In many ways, the power adapters work better than other mesh router systems. These usually take an existing Wi-Fi network and amplify it; with this system, the network travels through the power lines and is broadcast by the unit as a Wi-Fi network. Though it’s worth noting that increasing the distance between the units can impact speeds.
Data transfer rates for large files between a desktop on one floor and a NAS drive on a different floor reached around 35MB/s. A folder with 9GB of files transferred in around two minutes. Though less than the advertised rate, this is good and, as mentioned, distance between units – and the hard drive of each connected device – can affect the speeds. The Devolo Cockpit software was showing speeds of around 1,400MB/s between two of the units.
The Multiroom kit is pretty expensive, and the new technology means it’s not backwardscompatible. Also, while speeds are good, they don’t match a cabled Ethernet network. That said, the Magic 2 WiFi is the best powerline adapter kit we’ve tested, with the new G.hn standard bringing noticeable improvements to network speeds.