MSRP: £69.99
What is the TP-LINK TL-WPA4530 KIT?
If there is one product we would recommend without hesitation, it’s the Powerline Adapter. They provide the simplest and often most cost effective way of getting both wired and wireless network access to all areas of the home, including those pesky hard to reach places. A basic pair of 500Mbps adapters can be had for just £25 and a pair with wireless from just £35. There really is no easier - or cheaper - way of fixing your home network woes.
Back in January 2016 we reviewed TP-LINK’s top spec £79.99 TL-PA0380P 1200Mbps adapters which saw a new record speed tested and it was a worthy winner of our Highly Recommended Award. About the only feature lacking from those was wireless which our next set for review from TP-LINK, the TL-WPA4530 Kit includes. Whilst only rated at 500Mbps, it includes a pair of adapters of which one has AC750 Wi-Fi for a very reasonable £69.99. Read on to see how it performs in our tests…..
Back in January 2016 we reviewed TP-LINK’s top spec £79.99 TL-PA0380P 1200Mbps adapters which saw a new record speed tested and it was a worthy winner of our Highly Recommended Award. About the only feature lacking from those was wireless which our next set for review from TP-LINK, the TL-WPA4530 Kit includes. Whilst only rated at 500Mbps, it includes a pair of adapters of which one has AC750 Wi-Fi for a very reasonable £69.99. Read on to see how it performs in our tests…..
Design and Connections
The WPA4530 Kit includes two 500Mbps rated adapters, a TL-PA4020P with AC pass-through and the TL-WPA4530 which includes both 2.4Ghz 802.11 b/g/n and 5Ghz 802.11ac wireless access. Both follow the familiar mold of a standard hard white plastic, fairly chunky but with a well-built feel to them. TP-LINK appear to have mixed two generations of adapters together here as the non-wireless 4020P has a harder edged design similar to the older generation adapters, whereas the 4530 is the more modern rounded edge design. Strangely the standalone TL-PA4020P adapter is rated at 600Mbps whereas the one included in this set has been dropped to 500Mbps.
Disappointingly, whilst both adapters include a decent amount of Ethernet ports (2 on the 4020 and 3 on the 4530), they are only Fast Ethernet ports, which are limited to 100Mbps. We haven’t seen Fast Ethernet ports on powerline adapters for a long time, TP-LINK have really dug out some old tech with this set, but to be fair that is probably to keep the price point as low as they have managed to do. Our gripe with most powerline adapters is also present here with the top mounted ports, with several cables sprouting out of the top it looks very unsightly. Quite why they don’t move the ports to the bottom we have no idea.
The LED lights are to be found on the front of each adapter. On the non-wireless 4020 adapter we get a simple array of three LED lights signalling the power is connected, powerline network is connected and an Ethernet LED which illuminates when you have an Ethernet cable connected. The wireless 4530 adapter includes 5 LED lights, which thankfully if you have this in a bedroom can be turned off by a switch on the side. The lights follow a similar theme with Power LED, Powerline LED which when green signifies a good signal strength and red for a poor one, Ethernet LED and 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz wireless LED to signify the wireless networks are enabled.
Disappointingly, whilst both adapters include a decent amount of Ethernet ports (2 on the 4020 and 3 on the 4530), they are only Fast Ethernet ports, which are limited to 100Mbps. We haven’t seen Fast Ethernet ports on powerline adapters for a long time, TP-LINK have really dug out some old tech with this set, but to be fair that is probably to keep the price point as low as they have managed to do. Our gripe with most powerline adapters is also present here with the top mounted ports, with several cables sprouting out of the top it looks very unsightly. Quite why they don’t move the ports to the bottom we have no idea.
Is it easy to install? (Yes it is!)
There really is nothing easier to setup than a Powerline Adapter. Plug one in near your router and connect with the supplied Ethernet cable, plug the other one in wherever you like, press the pair button on each adapter, wait a few seconds and away you go. There are no options to be configured and nothing to setup. It’s really that easy. Even with this set with the addition of Wi-Fi it’s still child’s play. Unlike with a range extender you don’t need to clone the existing wireless or change any settings, you get a simple wireless access point wherever you can find a wall outlet.
All these Powerline Adapters are HomePlug compliant, which means additional adapters can be added very easily and you aren’t restricted to one manufacturer either. So far we have tested Netgear, Devolo and TP-LINK all on the same network and all work without issue together. It is worth remembering though that a Powerline network will only work as fast as the slowest adapter, so if you have an old 200Mbps adapter alongside these 500Mbps adapters, you'll be restricted to the fastest speeds that 200Mbps adapter can supply.
All these Powerline Adapters are HomePlug compliant, which means additional adapters can be added very easily and you aren’t restricted to one manufacturer either. So far we have tested Netgear, Devolo and TP-LINK all on the same network and all work without issue together. It is worth remembering though that a Powerline network will only work as fast as the slowest adapter, so if you have an old 200Mbps adapter alongside these 500Mbps adapters, you'll be restricted to the fastest speeds that 200Mbps adapter can supply.
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 (Microwaves seem to be a particular offender) and distances between adapters. Our testing process has been designed to create repeatable real world 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 the TP-LINK PA4020P Adapter at one end, then with a laptop via Fast Ethernet to the TP-LINK WPA4530 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 the 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 tests results are shown as an average speed.
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 the TP-LINK PA4020P Adapter at one end, then with a laptop via Fast Ethernet to the TP-LINK WPA4530 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 the 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 tests results are shown as an average speed.
TP-LINK TL-WPA4530 performance
From these results you can see the top speeds are far lower than we have come to enjoy with the latest 1200Mbps adapters, but as these are just a pair of 500Mbps with Fast Ethernet Ports it’s no surprise to see the speeds max out at just above 100Mbps. The results across the board were encouraging with our garage test giving a pretty decent 66Mbps top speed.
As we continue to state in all our Powerline Adapter reviews, you need to be fully aware of the speeds quoted by the manufacturers and how they relate to speeds you might see during your real world use. The quoted speeds are the maximum speeds the chips in the adapters could achieve in laboratory conditions, but, even then, that includes both the up and down streams, so is immediately halved. Take the 500Mbps speeds quoted by TP-LINK, that immediately becomes 250Mbps as the very best you will receive but don't expect to get anywhere near that as Fast Ethernet ports again restrict this to 100Mbps.
As a general rule of thumb we have found 200Mbps adapters to achieve around 50Mbps, 500-600Mbps adapters to reach around 150-200Mbps (providing they have Gigabit Ethernet ports of course) and then the latest 1000-1200Mbps adapters to reach speeds above 400Mbps.
We also carried out the same suite of tests using the wireless access point on the WPA4530 adapter in Location 3 and found the results very encouraging. On a few of the Powerline Adapter’s with WiFi that we have reviewed in the past we have occasionally found the wireless performance to be very poor and drop off significantly in comparison to the wired results, but here we only received minor drops in performance and generally good results all round.
As we continue to state in all our Powerline Adapter reviews, you need to be fully aware of the speeds quoted by the manufacturers and how they relate to speeds you might see during your real world use. The quoted speeds are the maximum speeds the chips in the adapters could achieve in laboratory conditions, but, even then, that includes both the up and down streams, so is immediately halved. Take the 500Mbps speeds quoted by TP-LINK, that immediately becomes 250Mbps as the very best you will receive but don't expect to get anywhere near that as Fast Ethernet ports again restrict this to 100Mbps.
As a general rule of thumb we have found 200Mbps adapters to achieve around 50Mbps, 500-600Mbps adapters to reach around 150-200Mbps (providing they have Gigabit Ethernet ports of course) and then the latest 1000-1200Mbps adapters to reach speeds above 400Mbps.
We also carried out the same suite of tests using the wireless access point on the WPA4530 adapter in Location 3 and found the results very encouraging. On a few of the Powerline Adapter’s with WiFi that we have reviewed in the past we have occasionally found the wireless performance to be very poor and drop off significantly in comparison to the wired results, but here we only received minor drops in performance and generally good results all round.
Software Utility
These Powerline Adapters will work fully without any additional software, but if you would like to delve deeper into some of the settings then available free from the TP-LINK website is their tpPLC Utility. This easy to use software gives you an overview of the powerline network and will show the link rate and give options to change the wireless password, rename the devices and even turn the LED lights off. The Utility is also available for iOS and Android devices.
Conclusion
Pros
- Very easy to install
- Excellent value
- AC-Passthrough
- 5 Ethernet ports in total
Cons
- Only 'Fast Ethernet' ports
- You won't get 500Mbps, ever
- Unsightly top mounted Ethernet ports
TP-LINK TL-WPA4530 Powerline Wi-Fi Kit Review
Is the TP-LINK TL-WPA4530 Kit worth buying?
At just £69.99 this set certainly ticks a lot of boxes with AC pass-through on the main adapter and dual band AC750 Wi-Fi on the other, plus plenty of Ethernet ports to boot. It’s not going to break any speed records due to both adapters being 500Mbps and only having Fast Ethernet ports, but the speeds we received during our testing were decent enough.With a top peak speed of 102.87Mbps and highest average of 65.90Mbps it’s up to the job for HD streaming and even 4K streaming. If you are looking to have multiple users and HD streams at once, then it could be a step to far for this set and you may have to look at the latest 1200Mbps rated adapters.
What are the alternatives?
The powerline adapter market is a very crowded one, yet with the features on offer here this £70 set from TP-LINK looks a very promising buy. A pair of TP-LINK 500Mbps rated adapters with WiFi can be had from just £44.99 but this doesn’t include as many Ethernet ports and lacks the very useful AC pass-through feature. Netgear’s 500Mbps set with WiFi comes out at over £80 for example with Devolo’s coming in at almost £100.Given the features available with the WPA4530 set, the speeds tested and the excellent value we are happy to give this our AVForums Recommended Award.
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