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Switzerland, Bern
1 Level
730 Review
25 Karma

Review on πŸ”Œ TRENDnet Wi-Fi Everywhere Powerline 1200 AV2 Dual-Band AC1200 Wireless Access Point Kit, TPL-430APK, with 1 x TPL-430AP and 1 x TPL-423E, Dual-Band Wireless AC1200 Access Point, 3 x Gigabit Ports by Antonio Lofton

Revainrating 1 out of 5

Excellent performance, mediocre reliability, not very good troubleshooting

The best I can say about them is that they work great when they work! The problem is "if they work". I got two of these sets to get two WiFi extenders (I didn't realize at the time they sold that separately), one for the bottom floor that connects to my Linux box (which also acts as my internet router ) and one for the top floor on the opposite side of the house. They have replaced several older AV600 and AV1000 units and have definitely improved the overall network speed throughout my house! (I think part of this has to do with the three phase connection you get with the ground pin included in the wall plug). Despite being on different circuits and in opposite corners of the house, I get download speeds of around 70-80Mbps and upload speeds of 40Mbps (the latter being limited by my internet connection). Sometimes the WiFi connection on the downstairs device would drop. The powerline signal would still be active, so I would still have the WiFi signal upstairs through the second extender, but to restore the signal downstairs I had to disconnect/reconnect the first device. To make matters worse, the web UI is pretty useless, offering only a basic setup page with little or no troubleshooting information. (This is in stark contrast to the previous Zyxel device I replaced, where I could control every aspect of the PowerLine network, including the master node, other available nodes, network speed, etc.). I ended up solving the problem the same way a typical field engineer swaps the top and bottom blocks. That was about two months ago and I haven't had any dropouts since (fingers crossed for that).

Pros
  • Fingers crossed
Cons
  • Annoying