TP-Link AV200 200Mbps unboxing pics and thoughts.

ultim · 17 Oct 2011 at 19:01

Do you get faster connection if you plug it directly to the wall socket?

bifday2k · 17 Oct 2011 at 19:51

tlrBeta said:
I assume with these, you cable one into the router and plug the device into the wall socket. On the other side, plug the other into the wall socket and cable to device?

I am interested in getting these to access Sky+ on demand service. I don't really fancy paying out for a wireless dongle which will be very poor in signal strength due to the distance from the router.

EDIT...Ignore my ignorance, I didn't bother to check the product page with the simple diagram

Its why i use them, for my HD box upstairs, as well as for net upstairs to. I use a ocuk value switch so that both the computer and the HD box has a connection. Certainly beats wireless for speed and reliability. Iv had mine for 2 years now, so probably the older standard ones, still doing the job well, i'll only upgrade them when i upgrade my TV, as then i'll be streaming over my network.

ultim said:
Do you get faster connection if you plug it directly to the wall socket?

Its recommended to plug them directly into the wall socket for best performance, but many people don't seem to have any performance hit from plugging them into extensions/surge protectors.

PiKe · 17 Oct 2011 at 20:07

Mines plugged into extensions at both ends, says about 40-60% signal which equates to around 80mbps.

Mr.E. · 19 Oct 2011 at 11:05

I've been using 4 85 Mbps plugs for the last couple of years, 1 at router and the other 3 throughout the house with no problems at all.

I'd like to have wireless at one instead of using the plug directly. Can I just plug one into an AP or is there more to it than that ?

PiKe · 19 Oct 2011 at 11:18

Mr.E. said:
I've been using 4 85 Mbps plugs for the last couple of years, 1 at router and the other 3 throughout the house with no problems at all.

I'd like to have wireless at one instead of using the plug directly. Can I just plug one into an AP or is there more to it than that ?

Mines set up like this, absolutely no issue in doing so.

You can get homeplugs with an AP built in too which you might want to consider.

Mr.E. · 19 Oct 2011 at 11:24

I'd rather use what I have at the moment than go for a full set up again.

Would you care to link me what's the best value to go for ? All this networking stuff is pretty daunting to me

HangTime · 19 Oct 2011 at 19:18

I've got the same kit and one word of warning for hardcore gamers who are fussy about ping is they do increase latency a bit compared to standard cat5. I get around 3-4ms ping to my router compared to <1ms using proper cable.

Alexrose1uk · 19 Oct 2011 at 19:36

True, still a hell of a lot better than wireless though.
My experience is homeplugs on average add about 3-4ms ping, and can occasionally spike up to 10-20, wireless on the other hand can often add 10-20, and vary wildly.

This is based off testing with not amazing cabling however where the quality is only reported as 20-40% between the plugs, so a better connection would probably add further stability to the ping increase.

Bry said:
There are 1000mbps ones out now too. Solwise make some good ones

I seem to remember from reading around the 1000 ones are basically the same as the 500Mbps ones and they use the same chipset; they label them 1000 as they've got GbE ethernet connections.

Even the 500's aren't always faster than the AV200; the standard is less mature and whilst it peaks higher, its more susceptible to issues than AV200 kits apparently. Give it a few years and firmware updates for the chipset and it'll probably get better though!