Question 1

Does Mesh go over WiFi or powerline? Hopefully it’s smart enough to use powerline? For low latency and high speed. I have the magic 1 home kit, 1200mb

Accepted Answer

Whilst MESH is a Wi-fi technology, I’m assuming your question relates to this product.

MESH works by providing what looks like a single Wi-fi network across your home, with nodes on the network intelligently talking to each other to “hand over” Wi-fi devices to the mesh node with the strongest signal. This is different from simply having multiple access points with the same name where you can find your phone is still connected to an access point in the lounge when you’re now standing next to an alternate network point in your bedroom for example.

The problem with mesh is that despite its cleverness, in most installations it still requires the Wi-fi signal to be bounced around the home from mesh node to mesh node and that’s not the most efficient. This also means that each node needs to be relatively near the previous node so if you have a large home and want Wi-fi in two opposite ends of the house, you may need multiple nodes to relay the signal (and may find you can’t get a signal down to your home office garden shed for example as you can’t put a node between the house and shed as it’d be outside.

What this kit adds is “backhaul” over powerline: essentially the idea being that the internet signal is broadcast along the power lines in your house to the mesh node, and then broadcast from that node as part of a single “cross house” mesh network. This not only had the advantage of creating a virtual “wired” connection between the router and each node, but also allows you to put a broadcasting node anywhere where you have mains power - so this could include out in your garage or in your garden shed.

I’m a huge fan of Devolo kit and have used their stuff for years but must admit I’ve not tried this particular product yet, but thought the answer may help :-)

Ps powerlines are generally very good but you can run into problems where you have separate consumer breakers units / fuse boards in a house or where you’re running long extension cables etc but I’ve still always found them reliable

Question 2

Maybe this is a stupid question, but, how can this ever achieve 2,400 Mbit (2.4 Gbit?) speed if the ethernet cable to the router is only 1 Gbit?

Accepted Answer

Simple answer is it can't because powerline only ever get a fraction of the stated speed. I'm not sure how they test but possibly it is with 2 adapters next door to each other or some theoretical calculation. The best I can get is around 900 for two units on the same circuit. Speed drops with distance and different circuits. But the speeds are higher than I got with an earlier 500 pair of units, so overall I am pleased as wifi drops in connection speed due to distance & brick walls in my house

Question 3

Does the Magic 2 system cope better than the older dLan system with the two Devolo units being on different ring mains?

Accepted Answer

I'm not an electrician or engineer, but speaking from my own personal experience, I have it working across 2 ring mains, one downstairs the other upstairs.

Question 4

What’s the consistency/stability like?

Accepted Answer

I have 3 units on my network. The single port unit is connected to a gigabyte switch to access main LAN and internet with 2x 3 port units connected to TVs. They are on different mains rings in a mid sized house.
In brief, the system seems stable. 
I don't lose connection unless there is a power cut or one of the rings is turned off.
I can stream 4K BBC Blue Planet on BBC iPlayer for an hour or more to a 4K TV without any noticeable problem. (Not using the other TV connection). I haven't tried a load test beyond normal use as described.
The old TV in the back room could not use HD iPlayer in that location using my old powerline blocks but it can with the new Devolo ones.
I can also hook up an apple TV+ box and a Blueray player to same module.
Easy to install, no problems to date.

Brand	Devolo
Package Dimensions	27.5 x 23.6 x 9.2 cm; 860 g
Item model number	8512
Manufacturer	Devolo
Colour	White
Operating System	Windows, Mac , Linux
Are Batteries Included	No
Item Weight	860 g
Guaranteed software updates until	unknown

devolo Magic 2-2400 Lan Triple Starter Kit: (Up To 2400 Mbps For Your Powerline Home Network, 3x GB Lan Ports, Ideal For Online Gaming, 4k/8k Uhd Streaming, Stable Home Working)

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