Magic 2–2400 Wi-Fi 5 Next: Whole Home Kit | 4k/ 8k UHD Streaming | Stable Home Working (Up to 2400 Mbps Powerline, Mesh WiFi 5, G.hn, 5x Gb LAN ports)

Bought to replace my failing dLan set up - had given 5+ years of service with one plug failure but was often a pain to reset/reboot when needed (too often). Debated but decided to stick with Devolo, glad I did. These were so easy to set up and add to - just plug in, add network details, and wait a few mins. All good so far, speeds up a bit but not massively, main limit is the part fibre 60 odd feed. Now have 3 wifi plus one non and all work 100% - need as internal walls have blocks with high metal content.... Expensive, almost twice that of the equivalent(ish) competition but I'm happy with both ease of set up and functioning now installed.

So nearly decade later and AV2 Homeplug Powerline has moved over for the ITU G.hn standard. I decided to buy the wired version (too many reviews of pain with the WiFi) and give them a go. They worked out of the box, and I had no issues during set-up. They did require a firmware update, but that was about it. To be clear, I bought a Devolo Magic2 LAN Triple. This contains ONE triple port, and ONE single port adapter. I think the box art on this is very deceptive. The triple port adapter is slightly bigger than the single port, both are bigger than AV2 and both run much hotter - for better or worse. Also, I ordered an Amazon Warehouse deal, and the first one Amazon sent didn't actually have any triple port Magic2 in the box (just two single port ones) , so I had to return and re-order. I've discovered they're happy to run in parallel to AV2 adapters without any noticeable loss, and bizarrely the Devolo Cockpit software even spots AV2 and Magic2 adapters. There's also web-page access to the adapters via their ip address, and the ability a set password if you don't trust people on your network. The iPhone Home Network app is okay - but it doesn't display any link speed information despite telling you it will. In tests at range I discovered a few surprises. AV2 is in the same location for reference, tests using iperf3: - TP-Link AV2 600 Two-Port ~16Mb/s (appears to split bandwidth across both ports rather than share it) - TP-Link AV2 600 Single-Port ~32Mb/s - Magic2 Single and Triple Port ~80Mb/s If range is reduced, speeds jump quite quickly up to 200Mb/s and then on to about 350Mb/s if distances are close. As a rule, expect 150 to 200Mb/s in a new-build four bedroom, but be prepared for slower. You'll still beat an AV2, but it might only be on range, or a factor of two. And in some cases, I suspect AV2 1300 will beat the Magic2, but not necessarily if you have older AV2 kit mixed with new stuff, which is why I was testing the Magic2. Will I keep them? Well that depends on whether they're stable. They solved my problem and increased my setup by speeds by about 7 or 8 times. I'm concerned about the temperature they run at (50C on the back, 35C on the front, 0.3A@240V = 7W), but they do have a three year warranty in case they melt down though. Note - if you're looking for adding WiFi Access Points to parts of your house, I wouldn't recommend the Magic2, simply because you'll be crippling any broadband gains you may be looking for, go for WiFi Mesh and Access Points with a dedicated third back-channel, or run Cat6 cabling (budget vs effort). The Magic2 is about easy of use, and getting the best out of something while doing very little. It does achieve this very well. Better than AV2 600 for sure, but it's not a "magic" bullet (sorry - groan now).

My house isn’t very big—just a terrace house. For my setup, a fully wired connection is ideal so I can directly connect my PC, NAS, and CCTV camera. This kit is perfect for me. I love it—it works like a dream. I have it already for a month I previously had an older TP-Link model, and after buying this one, the difference is like day and night. The setup is very easy, there is nothing even to talk about - more or less plug and play. It’s also nice to know that this high-quality product is made in Europe.

TLDR: Super expensive. Terrible instructions. Terrible UI. Didn't work properly at all. The automatic pairing nature and designating a LAN/Master was a shambles. Do not buy. So lets acknowledge something quickly. I am not complaining that the speeds weren't fast enough or that powerline adaptors aren't good. I'm complaining about these ones specifically. My parents have always had issues with internet (big house thick walls, lucky them) so I splashed out on what I thought would be high end adaptors after the tp-links they were using were ok, but not really cutting it. I lost a day trying to get these to pair correctly. The instructions are bad. They say things like "Connect all your devices" and then in the next sentence "Connect your LAN". I tried both methods. Or wanting you to connect your devices. and then plug your router into one of the devices. But then this messes up the network meshing, due to unplugging your router, during setup in my experience. And a few other contradictory instructions. Even when you follow them correctly the network loves incorrectly designating the wrong device as being connected to your router (as the LAN/master adaptor). So you have one of your satellites acting as the signal source and trying to talk to your router through the wifi, and then sharing the signals with your other satellite adaptors. Meanwhile your LAN adaptor's sitting ether-netted up twiddling its thumbs. You have no way to manually assign the correct one. It can also constantly jump between adaptors as the LAN/master. And whilst its doing this you're dropping your whole powerline/network. And if you do try troubleshoot it you end up with them just cloning networks and a huge mess in the app screen. I think i had every possible combination of a LAN and 3 satellites at one point. And none worked. I Tried setting them up at their eventual final designated sockets. Or sockets all next to each other and moving them. Neither worked correctly. For the price this is just absolute garbage.

I had been using TP Link devices, to get cable bandwidth over my mains sockets at the other end of my house to where the router is located. However, I started to get low signal strength and disconnecting, which rendered them useless. Having done some research, I decided to take the plunge, and try these powerline devices. Initial setup failed completely, so I decided to follow the manual process for pairing the devices, which worked perfectly. I did notice you must have them not all on the same circuit, especially if there are lots of other mains devices connected, as it will cause a weak signal warning over the cables. I placed the 2 Wi-Fi/LAN devices in the same sockets where my TP-Link devices were, and they both connected to the device at the router end perfectly. To configure the Wi-Fi on them, I strongly recommend you download the app 'Devolo Cockpit' onto your mobile first. It will automatically detect the Wi-Fi and allow you to configure and make changes to SSID and password, so you will not need the key from the back of the devices. It is a brilliant app, and easy to use, but sometimes you need to keep re-connecting until it recognises the devices, so be patient. I get nearly 100MB on Wi-Fi, and full bandwidth of 200MB over the cables. Expensive, but well worth the money, as you are paying for superior performance and signal quality.

Bought this to get broadband into a detached garage, primarily to have video while using treadmill and to reach security cameras. Worked ok except either treadmill or fridge freezer would impact the signal to the extent that videos would pause and become unwatchable. Switched the config from MIMO to SISO and that lowered the speed but signal became rock solid and still plenty fast enough for video and cameras. I did switch off the wifi signal on the devolo and replaced with a more powerful dedicated wifi to improve range beyond the garage. Been working for 3 years now, and does the job it was intended for.

I've been using inexpensive TP-Link 500Mbps extenders with additional nodes in my study and home cinema in quite a long house (27m). They worked fine, but over six years the TP-Link powerline transmitter connected to the router died twice, so I decided to upgrade. The devolo Magic 2-2400 Mbps whole house kit replacements are now up and running and provide very good WiFi coverage throughout the whole house, down to 50% in just two spots - one in a bathroom, and are so far stable. They are much larger than the TP-Link units, so large that they cover the mains socket switch they are attached to, and it's a bizarre design decision for a product intended for a domestic environment to have the network ports at the top of the units - this is always going to look ugly, but as the cinema unit is in a cupboard with the projection kit and the other is near the floor in a small study, it doesn't affect me. Installation, however, was a nightmare. Now I am not a network specialist, but I did work in IT consultancy for over 30 years, so am reasonably adept at installing and troubleshooting new software and hardware, and yes, I can read a manual. Reading other reviews, the essential problem seems to be that if you follow the very pared-down installation instructions step by step and it all works first time, you are a happy camper and you'll be up and running in 10 minutes. If it doesn't all work first time you may be entering a world of pain. The full online instruction manual has more pages, but tells you very little more. There is an amusing FAQ on the devolo web site where the question is posed: "How are Magic devices installed?" The "answer" provided is, "The devices connect automatically. You do not have to do anything." Who said the Germans had no sense of humour? On day one I spent approximately 3 hours attempting to install the devices, first pairing them (so that in theory two new devices each with its own security key should appear in your list of wireless connections) and then following the extra steps to create a mesh wireless network (utilising your existing router id and wireless key.) The manual is dumbed down almost to the point of uselessness. One of the first questions is raised when the manual recommends that you "make a note of the Wi-Fi key on the back of the devolo Magic adapter". At this point you pause because in the "whole home" kit you have two devolo Magic adapters, so which one do I use? The installation manual is specifically for the whole home kit, and has a picture of the three devices on the front... but there is no mention anywhere of the two WiFi keys question. In fact the manual has a space on the back page where you can write down "the" WiFi key. This point was also raised in a magazine review, where they suggested that maybe it's the first one you connect (it turns out that isn't necessarily so, for me it was the second.) It's not a large point, but it became significant later. Not being a complete idiot I wrote down the two WiFi keys, and Post-it noted each unit approprately, and also the security key on the transmitter unit (this key not mentioned in the manual at all) and of my existing hub/router itself. I also noted the steps I took on each attempt. By the way, the manual also said in English "the WiFi key on the back of the devolo Magic adapter". The other six languages said (in translation) "the WiFi key on the back of the devolo Magic WiFi adapter". So it became advisable to check some of the other language instructions at each step in case any other important words had been omitted in English. I followed all steps to pair the units. Unfortunately the manual doesn't call it "pairing" at this point and this becomes important when you recognise there are two processes to perform, pairing the units to create interlinked WiFi nodes, and THEN creating a meshed WiFi network with one unified WiFi key cloned from your hub. For the first process the manual refers to "connecting", "encryption", and then "set up WiFi connection on your smartphone etc." In the second process it does say that you can "Optionally use Mesh technology to connect all devolo Magic adapters and your router to a contiguous network..." Much later in the manual, after describing the indicator lights/buttons in six languages it mentions "Help: If automatic pairing during initial installation was unsuccessful, you can carry our manual pairing of the Magic adapters." Note that this is the first mention of the word "pairing" or "pair" and it's completely unclear whether this is a manual alternative to the first or second process! I managed to get one Magic WiFi adapter connected (white Powerline Connector light) and one not (red PLC). I had one devolo-460 listed in available WiFi connections, but neither of the WiFi keys worked (and nor did the main unit's security key, nor the router's WiFi key: I even tried them using the SSID on the back of each unit - Nada! I think I know what happened here. The unit that hadn't fully connected was the one supplying the WiFi key, not the WiFi key of the one that had connected, so I couldn't log on to the devolo-460 connection. Once again, "devolo-460" wasn't mentioned in the manual. I repeated this twice more and finally got all white lights. So, after 2 hours of fafffing about that was the "You do not have to do anything" part of the FAQ completely sorted! Now the Meshing. That just made things worse and I ended up with one WiFi unit's PLC light flashing white, the other flashing red. I couldn't log in to anything except my router, I still had the unloginable devolo-460 showing in my list of connections, and despite several attempts to reset to factory defaults I was unconvinced the units had actually reset. Three hours gone. Next morning I tried once more with no luck. I phoned the devolo help desk and was pleased to be number 2 in the queue, then quickly number 1, where I sat for 20 minutes. I though maybe this indicates they only have one help desk operator, and/or each problem takes about 20 minutes. Finally spoke a help-desk, a rather dour German who was abruptly dismissive of my attempts to enter the LAN unit's security key or the router WiFi key, before I explained in exasperation that if nothing else works you are led to attempt the implausible. After 35 minutes of starting from scratch we finally got through both processes to create a mesh WiFi system. Thirty-five minutes! That tells you that this was NOT straightforward. Several steps we had to repeat as they didn't "take" first time, and one step (creating the mesh) we had to repeat three times, moving the WiFi adapter closer and closer to the router until it managed to sync with the router's WPS process. When all that was done I located the units where they should be and they all reconnected fine, and (only 4 days later) everything seems stable. Main problems are an under-written installation guide that gives you no clue what to do if any step fails, sloppy structure and language translation where in an attempt to simplify things they manage to obscure meaning (e.g. "connection" or "basic installation" used instead of "pairing"; and "pairing" only used when describing how to use "manual pairing" when "automatic pairing" has failed - when by now you are not sure which of two processes this is. The fact it took 35 minutes to talk through and carry out the installation process for two WiFi adapters (it really was automatic with the TP-Link units) shows that when you have problems, you REALLY have problems, that can take a help-desk techie some time to bash through. So, including 55 minutes on the phone (including the 20 in the queue) that was a total of FOUR HOURS.

Powerline connectors are a cause of, but also are affected by electrical noise in your home powerlines and they are unlikely to reach the stated speeds. Microwave and washers etc reportedly affect them as well as power cable length between them but my signal seems quite robust. I have five Magic 2 powerline adapters in total (Including 1 distribution unit) fitted in my home ranging from 300mb/s to around 850mb/s actual speed range throughout the house. My system is also supplemented with a WiFi mesh loop from the internet provider. It provides data signal to TVs, security cameras and computers etc. and also helps to boost the WiFi connectivity in the house. This is an expensive but ideal buy for houses that are not suited to running network cables and where WiFi has difficulty in passing through the walls. I'd also mention that when more units are added they can steal bandwidth (Speed) from each other as they use the same powerlines. I'd say four or five of these are possibly close to the working limit when also connected to WiFi in the house but for longer wiring distances a repeater may be needed to boost their data signal. This is why I fitted the Consumer Unit module which also very recently passes internet outside to a shed via a CAT-6 Cable. If you fit them and combine them with WiFi you may need some trial and error to setup the network to avoid conflicts between the networks leading to network dropouts. I'm not an IT expert hence I'm learning how to setup from YouTube/Google. In summary - Nothing beats hard wired connection with WiFi as a second options, but for a house like mine where these are not really options I'd recommend the MAGIC 2 2400mbs Powerline connectors.