Devolo Mesh WiFi 2
An all-in-one powerline and mesh networking kit
The system can merge the bands into a single network, and switch to the closest adapter
£299.99 (Multiroom Kit) FROM Devolo, devolo.co.uk FEATURES 802.11ac Wi-Fi on 2.4 or 5GHz bands, powerline connectivity, 2x2 MIMO; 3 adapters, 2m Ethernet cable
Devolo’s new Mesh WiFi 2 products combine powerline connectivity with far-reaching mesh Wi-Fi that can penetrate brick walls and cover your entire home. That versatility comes at a price though, and the three-adapter Multiroom Kit here costs £299.99. (There’s also a two-piece Starter Kit for smaller homes for £199.99.)
The chunky adapters are designed to plug directly into a mains power socket so that their 2,400Mbps powerline connectivity can send data to other rooms over your mains electrical wiring. They also include a passthrough socket, so that you can use that for other devices.
Unfortunately, Devolo’s documentation is rather vague. Devolo claims that the system provides ‘tri-band’ connectivity – most people would assume this to mean ‘tri-band Wi-Fi’. In fact, the Mesh WiFi 2 adapters only provide dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, with the powerline wired connection being counted as the ‘third band’.
It’s not the fastest Wi-Fi, providing a relatively modest speed of 1,200Mbps. That’s fast enough for most home broadband services though, and each adapter also includes two Gigabit Ethernet ports for devices such as a games console or an iMac.
Other features include ‘bandsteering’, which merges the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands into a single network, and automatically switches devices to use the closest adapter and the fastest frequency band as you move from room to room. You have the option of separating the two bands and creating two separate networks. You can also create a schedule to turn off Wi-Fi access at certain times, and a guest network for visitors.
Setup and performance
To set up, you have to plug one of the adapters into a mains power socket close to your router, and then use one of its Ethernet ports to connect it to the router in order to use the router’s existing broadband connection. However, the manual tells you that all three adapters need to be in the same room as the router during this process. We didn’t have three power sockets spare, so we had to find a multi-socket power strip to plug all the adapters into.
Devolo’s Home Network app doesn’t provide much help either. It seems to assume that you know what you’re doing, so we found ourselves randomly pressing buttons to try and get the three adapters to talk to each other.
Some features, such as the app’s parental controls, also require technical know-how, such as knowledge of MAC addresses to block access for individual devices. More experienced users will be pleased to find that there’s another app, called Devolo Cockpit, for Mac, Windows and even Ubuntu, that provides advanced controls via a web browser interface.
Once the Mesh WiFi 2 kit was set up, it performed well. Devices in the same room as the first adapter connected to our router were able to squeeze maximum speed out of our broadband connection, with both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands registering speeds of 110Mbps, and Steam downloads at 12.5MB/s.
The Wi-Fi speeds held up well even in a back office, with both bands holding steady at 110Mbps. The 2.4GHz band did dip a little with a Steam test in that room, falling slightly to 9.5MB/s, but the 5GHz band didn’t pause at all, breezing along at 12.5MB/s throughout.
Devolo definitely needs to clarify its documentation and provide more help for beginners. Not all homes will require powerline connectivity either. But, for homes where thick walls and other obstacles can affect your Wi-Fi signal, the combination of powerline connectivity and wide-ranging mesh Wi-Fi could be the ideal solution. Cliff Joseph