INTRODUCTION

   We all knew that wireless technology would eventually become mainstream and surpass the classic wired one in terms of popularity but judging by the number of WiFi compatible products that come out each day the time it actually took for that to happen was quite faster than what we'd imagined. Personally i admit that wireless freedom can't be compared to wires but at the same time the exact opposite can be said about security since wireless signals can be hacked much easier compared to wired connectivity. Of course most people use WiFi for everyday tasks that don't really involve sensitive information but the few people that do need to take extra security measures that regular consumers simply can't afford or just don't have access to. That being said today on our test bench we have a very useful product that combines the best of both worlds (Wired and Wireless connectivity) the dLAN 500 WiFi Powerline Network Kit by devolo.

   devolo AG is the leading European company on the market in Powerline communication solutions. The company's core product is dLAN®, a technology that allows flexible networks over existing wiring such as electrical and coaxial lines. Powerline solutions are employed in private households as well as commercial environments and they lead the way in future-oriented energy data distribution and home automation. devolo invests its development resources into improving dLAN® technology through its own patented solutions. The globally operating company has been the world market leader in the Powerline segment since 2009. Numerous top-product test reviews and awards, not to mention over 20 million sold adapters, demonstrate devolo's success. Through sustainable market practices, devolo upholds its responsibility to customers, employees and the environment.

   devolo decided to provide everything consumers would ever need to expand their wireless networks to effectively cover a very large area so unlike previous starter kits their dLAN 500 WiFi network kit includes three powerline adapters, one dLAN 500 Duo (acts like the source by injecting the signal it gets from the router into the electrical wiring) and two dLAN 500 WiFi ones (they receive and broadcast the signal). The dLAN 500 WiFi powerline adapter can output the received signal both wired (Rj45 LAN Port) and wirelessly (802.11/b/g/n - 2.4GHz/Single Antenna) but unfortunately unlike the AVPlus adapter due to size restrictions (this adapter is one of the smallest ones we've ever seen) it just doesn't offer the a power outlet and so you can't use the power socket you plug it into with another device. Now as many of you know it's been a while since we last tested a powerline adapter so we're all quite interested to see if anything has changed for the best (or not).

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The box has the usual product pictures at the front along with the devolo logo, main product features and of course a very cute face.

Some of the features are also mentioned at the left side right above the part number and barcode of the kit.

At the bottom we see the bundle contents list and a picture used to showcase the various parts and buttons of the adapter while at the top we see a few of the devices one can use with these adapters.

The features list is also printed at the rear in 11 languages.

All three adapters are placed in a piece of formed cardboard so they can't really move around during shipping.

Along with the 3 adapters you will also get a software CD, Ethernet cable, installation instructions and a warranty information paper.

THE DLAN 500 WIFI NETWORK KIT

The dLAN 500 WiFi adapters feature a nice glossy plastic exterior and measure just 68mm in height, 68mm in width and 41mm in thickness (without the plug).

Both adapters feature two buttons at the front, one that enables/disables WiFi and one that enables/disables LAN AES 128bit encryption.

The 10/100mbps Ethernet port is placed at the base of the adapter along with the reset button.

I was surprised to see that the main adapter was of the dLAN 500 Duo line since the WiFi ones are better looking and smaller but this is not large either and measures just 81mm in height, 65mm in width and 29mm in thickness (without the plug).

Since this is the main adapter the only thing we see at the front is the power/activity LED.

At the base we see two Ethernet 10/100mbps ports and the pairing button.

We decided to place the tiny ASOKA powerline adapter we've been using in the lab for quite some time now next to the powerline adapters of the dLAN 500 WiFi Network Kit.

DLAN COCKPIT SOFTWARE

As always prior to using the adapters i strongly recommend heading over to the official Devolo product page to download the latest firmware and software versions.

The firmware update takes just a minute and then you're good to go.

The DLAN Cockpit software indicates (and updates continuously) the connection speed between the main adapter and the two WiFi adapters and in our scenario (15m range between both) it's 108 Mbit/s for the first and 173 Mbit/s for the second (this is roughly 9m away from the router).

From within the DLAN Cockpit program you can also perform firmware updates (as a matter of fact some you can only perform through here) and check the state of the adapters.

You can also access the web interface of the adapters and from the very first tab you can check their state, the number of connected devices and the available networks.

Through the device configuration tab devolo allows you to set a password for the settings area, adjust the IP address manually or via DHCP, use a password to secure the wired network, setup the date and time and enable/disable the activity LEDs.

You can change the access point name, enable/disable guest accounts, adjust filters and parental controls and configure the WPS and WiFi Move technology settings from within the WLAN configuration page.

In the Management page you can reset the device configuration, save/restore the current configuration, check the product license and update the firmware.

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   As already mentioned plenty of times in the past the performance of Powerline adapters is directly linked to the quality of the buildings electrical grid/wiring so the output speeds from such devices will most probably vary between new and old structures. Still the results recorded when testing Powerline adapters inside the same building should easily point out the best one and so to that end we used the well-known Passmark Performance Test to measure the data transfer rate in wired, wireless and Powerline modes with a fixed (for every test) distance of 15 meters between our Netgear DGN3500 Gigabit modem/router and the primary and secondary systems (30m in total between both systems). For Wi-Fi capable powerline adapters we left the secondary adapter at the same spot as with the other tests and used it with an 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac compatible Toshiba Qosmio Laptop placed roughly 5 meters away.

   The network data transfer test was set to duration of 40 seconds and was repeated a total of 7 times after which the average numbers were recorded into our charts. As a secondary test we are also using QCheck by Ixia which is considered amongst the top measuring tools of its kind. Tests are performed 7 times at throuput mode with a data size of 1000Kb and in the end the average numbers once again get recorded into our charts.

TEST RESULTS

CONCLUSION

   When we finished testing the dLAN 500 WiFi Network Kit we were all very skeptical since as you can clearly see in our charts it didn't meet our expectations especially since we're talking about one of the latest powerline kits to hit the market. After using the kit for about two weeks however we now see that we made a mistake back then. True performance is not very good but what we failed to realize was that the dLAN 500 WiFi Network Kit is not really about performance but ease of use/versatility and so you can easily cover a very large area and if you feel that the signal is not strong enough where you're located you can just take one of the adapters (from wherever you have it plugged), plug it near you and you're done. That's it, you don't have to do anything more and things get even better since it just takes a few seconds from the moment you plug it into the power socket until it can broadcast the received signal. Of course since our lab is located in a structure that has old electrical wiring (roughly 25 years old) chances are that you will get better performance levels (if you use it in a newly built office or house) but still the job of our charts is to showcase which powerline is faster so if performance is what you're looking for then we recommend taking a look at one of the other products in the devolo range like for example the dLAN AV Wireless+.

   Right now the devolo dLAN 500 WiFi Network Kit retails for USD238.03 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 115Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) and although i can't really agree with the overpriced tag on the other side of the Atlantic we all believe that the price inside the EU is right on the spot for a kit that contains 3 powerline adapters that also feature WiFi. Of course as stated earlier if you place performance above size and you care not about cost then devolo has better solutions in their product line (including some upcoming ones) but if you want to expand your network both wired and wirelessly without breaking the bank the dLAN 500 WiFi Network Kit is your way out and that's why we're giving it our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Size & Design
- 3 Powerline Adapters (1xdLAN 500 Duo/2xdLAN 500 WiFi)
- 500Mbit/s Compatible
- Wi-Fi a/b/g/n Capable
- AES 128bit Encryption
- devolo Cockpit Software
- Price (EU)

CONS

- Price (USA)
- Wired & Wireless Performance Levels