With many of us now working from home you might find that Wi-Fi taking the strain and even in some cases parts of your house offering lower than normal Wi-Fi signal strength. So how can you fix this issue?
Well, we have been sent the Devolo Magic 2 Wi-Fi Next which provides that extra Wi-Fi signal in a different way to how you might expect. The Devolo Magic 2 Wi-Fi Next are plugged into a mains power socket and sends data signal boost via your electricity circuit which will offer strength up to 802.11 ac. However, $299.99. for the whole home kit or $134.99 for the LAN starter kit does really work and is it worth the investment?
Who is Devolo?
Devolo was founded in 2002 to enable people to discover powerful home networking as well as keeping their data secure. Devolo took to 2005 to sell the first million power socket adapters across the EU offering Wi-Fi speeds as high as 2.4 Gbps.
Design/Features
The Devolo Magic 2 Wi-Fi Next we were sent is the whole home kit that comes with 3 plug adaptors – 2x Mesh Wi-Fi adapters, 1x connection adapter and 1x LAN cable.
Set-up is really easy the connection adapter is plugged in near the router and you connect both via the ethernet cable. The other two can be connected anywhere else in the house just make sure it’s within the same mains circuit.
Once that has been done you have basically created your own mesh network that should offer you seamless roaming. The devices will automatically detect each other and create a secure encrypted connection. Where devices are pushed to connect to the access point offering the strongest signal. Devolo offers you the chance to use the default name and password for your new network. If you decide to go for that then no further set up required but if you do decide the change the password it’s not a tricky set-up at all. You can also set it up to use the same password as your router the choice is yours.
In terms of the tech side, the AP offers a web portal where you can optionally split the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands into two separate networks which are combined into one by default. To enable an isolated guest network as well as set up parental controls to block network access to specific devices at certain times ideal for keeping the kids off their devices when its bedtime.
The AP unit also offers two-gigabit ethernet connectors which offer a decent speed but not at the full two-gigabit speed perfect for linking up your printer or storage device. However, the issue of using a mesh network is that the data still remains Wi-Fi meaning the signal gets weaker the further. That is where Devolo claims they break the mould by significantly reducing the wakening of the signal meaning faster download speeds all around the house.
Performance
We have been using the Devolo Magic 2 Wi-Fi for the last two weeks and have noticed a real difference in connection especially in rooms where the signal was poor. Devolo claims to have speeds up to 2400Mbps. Devolo does have a free app you can actually check the connection speed. In testing, we were getting results of up to 850Mbits/sec which was an increase on the normal speed but this was only between the devices connected. Our download speeds were an impressive 85.5Mbits/sec compared to 79Mbits/sec without the Magic 2 installed.
This was further tested in my 3rd bedroom that normally has very poor signal and after installing the Magic 2 Wi-Fi Next gave me an upstream speed of 85.5Mbits/sec and downstream 87.8Mbit/sec compared to an upstream of 15Mbits/sec and 40.5Mbits/sec for the downstream so as you can see the Magic 2 Wifi does make a difference.
Verdict
The Devolo Magic 2 Wifi is useful if you live in an old house with thick walls or other obstacles then the powerline technology does help give these rooms normal Wi-Fi struggle to make an impact.
The tests prove this work even in the most signal dense areas of the house the Devolo Magic 2 Wi-Fi next is an ideal choice. Amazon offers a wide range of options if the full home kit is not required or you want to buy additional adaptors.
Product Rating:
- Design: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars
- Performance: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0
- Value for Money : 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0
Overall Rating: 4.6 out of 5.0 stars – 4.6 Stars
Thanks for reading this review, please continue to support us and check out our other reviews and follow us on Social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin and don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter below.
Recent Comments