Devolo dLAN 1200+ Powerline Review

1200Mbps, really?

by Greg Hook
Tech Review

51

Recommended
Devolo dLAN 1200+ Powerline Review
MSRP: £119.99

Devolo dLAN 1200 - What is it?

For a simple home networking solution, it seems you can't go wrong with Powerline Adapters these days. They offer a very cost effective solution of getting network and internet access to areas of the home you previously thought impossible without having unsightly cables all over the place or even worse destroying a few walls to get cables through. Powerline Adapters have been available for several years now which means a basic pair of 200Mbps devices such as Netgear's XAVB1301 can be found for under £15 which offers fantastic value and a gives you a very cheap solution to any networking headaches.

Our latest Powerline Adapter for review is the £119.99 (October 2014) dLAN 1200+ Starter Kit from Devolo, a manufacturer that has featured fairly regularly here at AVForums with reasonable levels of success. Our last review of their dLAN 650 Triple+ Starter Kit found a well performing pair of adapters with AC pass through and the all important Gigabit Ethernet Ports. The dLAN 1200+ Starter Kit includes two identical adapters and as the name suggests offers speeds up to a mouth watering 1200Mbps. With the dLAN 650 kit we reached a speed of 265Mbps in one of our tests and whilst we doubt to get anywhere near 600Mbps here with the dLAN 1200+ kit, we do hope for a significant improvement.

Devolo dLAN 1200 - What about the design and connections?

The Devolo dLAN 1200+ Starter kit includes two Powerline Adapters, a very basic pictorial installation guide and two Ethernet cables. Both adapters are identical in this kit with just one Gigabit Ethernet port per adapter, although given the potential speeds on offer here it's disappointing that we have lost the three Gigabit ports as seen in the dLAN 650 kit. The adapters keep to the same basic design common with the majority of manufacturers, with a hard white plastic shell, although Devolo have continuously improved their devices having removed the air vents and given it a slightly more modern look. The only issue we do have with the design is the top mounted Ethernet ports which makes it slightly unsightly with a cable coming out of the top.

Present again is the excellent AC pass through feature. Whilst this always commands a premium compared to standard Powerline Adapters and they generally do look a bit larger and bulkier, it does save you losing a power socket and for general use is just much more convenient and easier. As these are identical in size to the dLAN 650 adapters, they will not obscure the other socket in a double wall plug but are just too big to fit in a four-way extension lead without taking up another socket, although that's never recommended anyway.

Devolo dLAN 1200+


Unlike the bright triple LED lights seen with the 650+ adapters, here Devolo have tweaked this to just one multi function LED light on the front of each adapter. A steady white light indicates a connection, quick flash for pairing and irregular flash for power saving mode. It will also flash red if there is no dLAN connection and flash slightly slower in red if the dLAN connection is not optimal. A much simplified design for the LED lights compared to previous adapters although a feature similar to Netgear's Pick-a-Plug which gives an instant indication of the speeds you are likely to receive from your chosen socket via differently coloured LED lights would have been a welcome addition here.

Devolo dLAN 1200 - Is it easy to install?

As we've found with all the Powerline Adapters we have reviewed, the setup and installation is a quick and painless process, usually taking no more than a couple of minutes. No software configuration is ever needed and once up and running you never need to do anything again. This thankfully is the case again here with the 1200+ kit. The setup is as difficult as plugging both adapters into your chosen sockets, pressing the encryption button on each adapter, waiting a minute and Robert's your mother's brother.

All these adapters are fully Homeplug compliant so adding additional adapters to the existing Powerline network should create no issues. You can also mix and match different manufacturers. We have tested TP-LINK, Netgear and Devolo Powerline Adapters together on the same network and all paired and connected without issue.

Devolo dLAN 1200+

Devolo dLAN 1200 - How do we test?

Powerline Adapters are open to huge variances in performance due to many factors such as your house wiring, other equipment plugged in and distances between adapters. Our testing process has been designed to create repeatable tests in the same location to compare different adapters against each other.

The testing is carried out in a standard 4 bed detached house. The router is a BT HomeHub5 (located on the ground floor), connected via Gigabit Ethernet to both a PC and one of the dLAN 1200+ adapters at one end, then with a laptop via Gigabit Ethernet to the other 1200+ adapter at the other end. We use a program called LANSpeedTest by Totusoft which is a simple but powerful tool for measuring Local Area Network (LAN) speeds. It does this by building a file in memory, then transfers it both ways (without effects of Windows file caching) while keeping track of the time, and then does the calculations for you. This gives us the results of transferring files from our main PC to the laptop via the Powerline Adapters.

We test in four different locations of the home. (the distances are straight line estimated, not wiring lengths)

1. 2mtrs between adapters, ground floor, same ring main.
2. 9mtrs between adapters, ground floor, same ring main.
3. 5mtrs between adapters, 1st floor, same ring main.
4. 15mtrs from the main adapter in the garage, not the same ring main, a single spur from the main consumer unit.

Our tests are as follows:
1. 2 x 1GB files simultaneously transferred.
2. 2 x 100MB files simultaneously transferred.
3. 2 x 1GB files successively transferred.
4. 10 x 100MB files successively transferred.
5. 100 x 5MB files successively transferred.
6. 1000 x 10KB files successively transferred.
7. 1000 x 1MB files successively transferred.

The simultaneous test results shown are the maximum throughput speed, whilst the successive test results are shown as an average speed.

Devolo dLAN 1200+

Devolo dLAN 1200 - How well does it perform?

Devolo dLAN 1200+

From these results you can see the two top speeds are a peak throughput of 338.61Mbps and the highest average of 271.33Mbps, both from our location 1 test. Even testing in location 4 which is our garage that is not even on the same wiring circuit, we still received an excellent top speed of 169.57Mbps. So if one day the garage is turned into a man cave we have the knowledge that high speed network access is readily available!

With all Powerline Adapters you need to be aware of how the speeds quoted will possibly translate to your actual real world use. The quoted speeds are always the best possible link rate in laboratory conditions and the link rate includes both up and down streams, so in the case here with the 'up to' 1200Mbps speeds, that immediately becomes 600Mbps as the very best you will receive. You then also need to be aware that some adapters (thankfully not the case here with Devolo) only include Fast Ethernet ports, rather than Gigabit ports which are limited to 100Mbps.

Whilst with our last Devolo review of the 650 Triple+ Starter Kit rated at 'up to' 600Mbps, we achieved results very close to the 300Mbps maximum of 264.94Mbps, here with the 1200+ Adapters were unfortunately didn't receive speeds anywhere near the maximum possible 600Mbps. That's not to say the results weren't good as 338.61Mbps peak throughput is superb and is fast enough for any use you care to throw at it such as multiple HD streams for example. With our test location having wiring 40 years old there are many factors that could prevent higher speeds and we could be approaching the maximum speeds that our internal wiring can accomodate.

As with the 650+ adapters, the 1200+ pair also feature Devolo's Range+ technology. Range+ uses all three lines in the electrical circuit compared to other manufacturers which often only use two, being the phase and neutral. The Devolo technology uses the earth wire as well which Devolo claim will maximise the transmission capacity and give a longer range too. Our excellent results in our far away garage test would suggest there is some merit to those claims. Overall our speeds received were excellent and during testing we suffered no issues or dropped connections.

Devolo dLAN 1200 - Is the software useful?

Whilst no software is ever needed to use the Powerline Adapters, Devolo do have a useful free piece of software called dLAN Cockpit. This gives a simple visual display of the Powerline network and the link rates that are currently being achieved. You can also change a few settings such as the security options, updating the adapter's firmware and even change the adapter name and turn off the LED lights if you wish.

Devolo dLAN 1200+

Conclusion

The Good

  • Simple and quick setup
  • AC Pass through
  • Very fast tested speeds
  • Gigabit Ethernet ports
  • Range+ technology

The Bad

  • Not the cheapest
  • Ethernet port comes out of the top

Devolo dLAN 1200+ Powerline Review

Is the Devolo 1200+ Starter Kit worth buying?


Yes, in a nutshell, it is. Taking into account the excellent features such as AC pass through, Gigabit Ethernet ports and record speeds seen in our testing of over 338Mbps it's a product we can easily recommend. The installation and setup is simple, quick and painless with no issues or problems encountered during our testing at all. A typically good quality Devolo product.

What are the alternatives?


At £119.99 it's no minor purchase though. If top speeds are not a requirement for you then there are much cheaper alternatives readily available, including AC pass through such as TP-LINK's TL-PA451 Kit at just £36.95. If you are just looking for bog standard Powerline Adapters then you can go even cheaper at just £14.99 for Netgear's XAVB1301 twin pack. But if you do want the best possible speeds with Gigabit Ethernet ports then the Devolo 1200+ Starter Kit is definitely one to consider. As such it's a worthy winner of our AVForums Recommended Award.

Scores

Build Quality

.
9

Connectivity

.
.
8

Ease of Use

10

Video Quality

.
9

Connection Speed

.
9

Value for Money

.
.
.
7

Verdict

.
.
8
8
AVForumsSCORE
OUT OF
10

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