TP-LINK TL-WPA4530 Powerline Wi-Fi Kit Review

Great value, feature rich set from TP-LINK!

by Greg Hook
Tech Review

10

Recommended
TP-LINK TL-WPA4530 Powerline Wi-Fi Kit Review
MSRP: £69.99

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.

TP-LINK TL-WPA4530 KIT
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.

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.


TP-LINK TL-WPA4530 KIT

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.

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.

TP-LINK TL-WPA4530 KIT

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.

Scores

Build Quality

.
9

Connectivity

.
.
8

Ease of Use

10

Connection Speed

.
.
8

Value for Money

.
9

Verdict

.
.
8
8
AVForumsSCORE
OUT OF
10

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