TP-Link TL-WPA4220KIT
Here we test a HomePlug kit that lets you connect all your wireless devices.
We've long been big fans of HomePlug adapters, which let you route network information through your home's electrical wiring rather than trailing Ethernet cables around your home. HomePlugs are also much faster than Wi-Fi at transferring data to devices and offer better quality streamed video and smoother web browsing. Normally, you'd use HomePlugs to network devices that don't have Wi-Fi adapters, such as desktop PCs, games consoles and smart TVs, but the TP-Link TL-WPA4220KIT lets you connect wireless devices to your network, too. One of the HomePlugs in this two-adapter kit acts as a network access point. You simply connect to it just as you'd connect to your Wi-Fi router to access the internet and your wider network This means you can use the TL-WPA4220KIT to add Wi-Fi access to upper floors of your house or garage, and any other areas your Wi-Fi router might not reach.
Quick and easy set-up
The kit is comprised of two HomePlugs. One is the eponymous TL-WPA4220 HomePlug, which is the one you connect to wirelessly, and the other is a standard TL-PA4010. The TL-PA4010 has a single Ethernet port and the TL-WPA4220 has two Ethernet ports. To use the kit, you plug the TL-PA4010 into a power socket and connect it to your router via an Ethernet cable. You then plug the TL-WPA4220 into another wall socket and use Ethernet cables to connect your devices to it. The HomePlugs should communicate with each other as soon as they're plugged in, so all that remains is to press the Pair button on each HomePlug to create a secure network between the two. The set-up really is as easy as that so you can connect your PC, Sky HD box or games console to the internet within minutes. Although both HomePlugs conform to the HomePlug AV 500 standard, which means they have a theoretical maximum data transfer speed of 500Mbps, they only have Fast Ethernet ports, which limits their performance. This is disappointing, and we'd much prefer Gigabit Ethernet ports on these devices, so that their bandwidth is exploited to its full potential. Even so, the two HomePlugs provided a data-transfer speed of 932Mbps when plugged into adjacent mains sockets, which is the best speed we've seen over Fast Ethernet At a distance of 10 metres, the transfer speed tailed off with a transfer speed of 43.4Mbps, which is still fast enough to transfer Full HD video, although it's worth bearing in mind that the TL-WPA4220's bandwidth is potentially shared between two devices.
Reliable performance
Connecting to the TL-WPA4220 over Wi-Fi is equally straightforward. Just like a router, the TL-WPA4220 HomePlug broadcasts its own SSID (essentially, its name) by default. This means you can select it from the list of available Wi-Fi access points in Windows and connect to it. Once connected, you can change the default SSID and password to something that better meets your needs. You can even clone the SSID and password of an existing Wi-Fi router, as long as your router has a Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) button. To do this, simply press the WPS button on your router and then the Clone button on the TL-WPA4220. The TL-WPA4220 is compatible with 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi devices, but its a single-band unit, so it only supports connections on the 2.4GHz band. To test the Wi-Fi performance of the TL-WPA4220, we attached it to our test PC via Ethernet and then connected our test laptop to the TL-WPA4220 via Wi-Fi. We achieved a data-transfer speed of 42.9Mbps at one metre, 41.2Mbps at 10 metres and 9.3Mbps at 25 metres. These speeds are pretty good and as fast as some routers we've seen. The speed at 25 metres is a little disappointing, but the Wi-Fi coverage should be good enough to reach most of the top storey of a typical three-bed semi. In order to test the kit's Wi-Fi performance in a typical set-up, we connected the test PC to the TL-PA4010, which was plugged into a router. We then used our test laptop to connect to the TL-WPA4220 via Wi-Fi. This test produced speeds of 45.8Mbps at one metre, 34.3Mbps at 10 metres and a very low 2.5Mbps at 25 metres. These results showed a healthy speed up to the middle distance, followed by a rapid decrease. Even so, the kit should give you good Wi-Fi coverage wherever you are in your home.
We've long been big fans of HomePlug adapters, which let you route network information through your home's electrical wiring rather than trailing Ethernet cables around your home. HomePlugs are also much faster than Wi-Fi at transferring data to devices and offer better quality streamed video and smoother web browsing. Normally, you'd use HomePlugs to network devices that don't have Wi-Fi adapters, such as desktop PCs, games consoles and smart TVs, but the TP-Link TL-WPA4220KIT lets you connect wireless devices to your network, too. One of the HomePlugs in this two-adapter kit acts as a network access point. You simply connect to it just as you'd connect to your Wi-Fi router to access the internet and your wider network This means you can use the TL-WPA4220KIT to add Wi-Fi access to upper floors of your house or garage, and any other areas your Wi-Fi router might not reach.
Quick and easy set-up
The kit is comprised of two HomePlugs. One is the eponymous TL-WPA4220 HomePlug, which is the one you connect to wirelessly, and the other is a standard TL-PA4010. The TL-PA4010 has a single Ethernet port and the TL-WPA4220 has two Ethernet ports. To use the kit, you plug the TL-PA4010 into a power socket and connect it to your router via an Ethernet cable. You then plug the TL-WPA4220 into another wall socket and use Ethernet cables to connect your devices to it. The HomePlugs should communicate with each other as soon as they're plugged in, so all that remains is to press the Pair button on each HomePlug to create a secure network between the two. The set-up really is as easy as that so you can connect your PC, Sky HD box or games console to the internet within minutes. Although both HomePlugs conform to the HomePlug AV 500 standard, which means they have a theoretical maximum data transfer speed of 500Mbps, they only have Fast Ethernet ports, which limits their performance. This is disappointing, and we'd much prefer Gigabit Ethernet ports on these devices, so that their bandwidth is exploited to its full potential. Even so, the two HomePlugs provided a data-transfer speed of 932Mbps when plugged into adjacent mains sockets, which is the best speed we've seen over Fast Ethernet At a distance of 10 metres, the transfer speed tailed off with a transfer speed of 43.4Mbps, which is still fast enough to transfer Full HD video, although it's worth bearing in mind that the TL-WPA4220's bandwidth is potentially shared between two devices.
Reliable performance
Connecting to the TL-WPA4220 over Wi-Fi is equally straightforward. Just like a router, the TL-WPA4220 HomePlug broadcasts its own SSID (essentially, its name) by default. This means you can select it from the list of available Wi-Fi access points in Windows and connect to it. Once connected, you can change the default SSID and password to something that better meets your needs. You can even clone the SSID and password of an existing Wi-Fi router, as long as your router has a Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) button. To do this, simply press the WPS button on your router and then the Clone button on the TL-WPA4220. The TL-WPA4220 is compatible with 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi devices, but its a single-band unit, so it only supports connections on the 2.4GHz band. To test the Wi-Fi performance of the TL-WPA4220, we attached it to our test PC via Ethernet and then connected our test laptop to the TL-WPA4220 via Wi-Fi. We achieved a data-transfer speed of 42.9Mbps at one metre, 41.2Mbps at 10 metres and 9.3Mbps at 25 metres. These speeds are pretty good and as fast as some routers we've seen. The speed at 25 metres is a little disappointing, but the Wi-Fi coverage should be good enough to reach most of the top storey of a typical three-bed semi. In order to test the kit's Wi-Fi performance in a typical set-up, we connected the test PC to the TL-PA4010, which was plugged into a router. We then used our test laptop to connect to the TL-WPA4220 via Wi-Fi. This test produced speeds of 45.8Mbps at one metre, 34.3Mbps at 10 metres and a very low 2.5Mbps at 25 metres. These results showed a healthy speed up to the middle distance, followed by a rapid decrease. Even so, the kit should give you good Wi-Fi coverage wherever you are in your home.
Port positioning
We think this is a great HomePlug kit for connecting smart TVs and games consoles to your network, and its ability to provide Wi-Fi access makes it especially convenient for tablets and laptops. However, the failure to provide Gigabit Ethernet ports instead of Fast Ethernet ports is a drawback, and having the Ethernet ports face downwards makes the HomePlugs difficult to use in homes where mains sockets are very close to skirting boards or work surfaces. We'd also prefer the HomePlugs to have pass-through plug sockets, so a wall socket wasn't being occupied for exclusive use by the HomePlug. If you're put off by these drawbacks, you could try the Devolo dLAN 500 AV Wireless + HomePlug kit which does the same thing as the TL-WPA4220 kit, but has top-mounted Ethernet ports and pass-through sockets. Its Wi-Fi-enabled HomePlug also has three Ethernet sockets instead of two. However, the Devolo kit is a lot more expensive. If you don't need Wi-Fi, then a regular HomePlug kit would be better value. However, if you want to provide Wi-Fi access to those parts of your home that your router can't reach, then the TP-Link TL-WPA4220KIT is an excellent buy.
OUR VERDICT
HomePlugs are a great way to connect computers and devices in the furthest corners of your home, but this kit goes one better and adds Wi-Fi, which is perfect for tablets and laptops. The Wi-Fi performance is pretty good, although we would favour using the two Ethernet ports for connecting a bedroom-based smart TV, because they provide better performance than Wi-Fi when streaming video over the internet or from a network-attached storage device (NAS). We'd prefer the HomePlugs to have pass-through sockets and top-mounted Ethernet ports, but otherwise this is a great Wi-Fi HomePlug kit at a good price.
SPECIFICATIONS
2 x HomePlugs
3 x Fast Ethernet ports
2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
WEP, WPA, WPA2 wireless security
94 x 54 x 40mm
FOR
1. Provides Wi-Fi access to blackspots
2. Great for connecting smart TVs and games consoles to your network
3. Easy to set up and use
AGAINST
1. No pass-through sockets to attach other devices
2. Bottom-facing Ethernet ports could cause problems with skirting boards
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