TP-Link Powerline WiFi Extender - Powerline Adapter, Plug & Play, Power Saving, Ethernet Over Power, Expand Both Wired and WiFi Connections, AV600 (TL-WPA4220 KIT)

My 2 piece kit came in a hurry and installed without incident just as fast.I am detailing the set up I have because I can’t be the only person with odd internet issues. My IP is a local (rural) telecommunications cooperative that provides phone, TV programming, dvr, and internet--dsl. For the most part they are great but one oddity is that it does not seem to play well with wireless routers. For some reason neither I nor technicians who were nice enough to come by and take a look have been able to install any new upgraded router on this internet, and not for want of trying. Of course I am sure if I subscribed to “managed Wi-Fi” at $10/month they would find a way to install their router—but how much management should one person’s internet really need? Since it is the only reliable internet available in the area, I have to work with it. Aside from that, due to a playful rescue kitten and electrical gremlins I am currently without both an Ethernet cable running under the floor and a wireless router until an old-school router that will install arrives and I am able to repair the cable. I found repairing the cable much like herding the kitten, so that hasn’t happened yet. That leaves me with one Ethernet cable on this side of the house currently serving a set box/dvr, said cable refusing to have its signal split by any means I have found and one old router that is dead. Therefore no Wi-Fi and miles of cat 5e cable running from one side of the house to the other in order to get internet to a laptop. But where to install the new router when it arrives with no Ethernet cable where I need it? Enter the TP-Link AV 600 kit.I had no reason to think this thing was going to work in a 100 plus year old house miles from anywhere on a system that doesn’t welcome newcomers and no router, but hey, let’s give it a try, right? So my set up is this: one Ethernet cable running from the modem (really Ethernet switch I think) across the house through the wall and into the TP-link adapter; extender plugged in to a different electrical outlet in the same room; ethernet cable from extender to set box/dvr. No working router anywhere in the set up. Holy Cow! Within three minutes of unboxing, I had working television and screaming Wi-Fi without so much as a wireless router anywhere on the place! It is a miracle! My laptop, smart phone and tablet immediately signed on to the new TP-Link Wi-Fi and grandma is once again online! You will find your device user name and password printed on the extender in very tiny print. Order a magnifying glass when you order your TP-Link—you are going to need it. Wi-Fi speed may be slightly less than it was with a wireless router but it is entirely usable and it is, after all, running through my house wiring sans miles of cable!When the new/old router arrives I will attempt to install it in the remaining Ethernet outlet on the extender, downstream from the TV set box. I will use its signal to reconnect to a smart TV, Roku, wireless printer, security cams, etc. I do not intend to clone anything. If the router signal is degraded I will simply sign all those devices to the TP-Link Wi-Fi and call it good. In that case, I will check to see the router isn’t DOA and put it away for emergency situations should the TP-Link fail. Being in the middle of nowhere with no Wi-Fi is not to be recommended.I did download the TP-Link utility and turn off power save mode in hopes that will preclude any signal dropping that other reviewers have complained about. When you sign on to the utility you will probably use admin/admin for user id and password, so don’t over-think the thing. I noticed that there is even usable Wi-Fi upstairs in this old barn of a house and there has been no interruption of signal for the TV set box or Wi-Fi since installation a day ago. Neither unit is running hot at this point. So far it has been pretty impressive. I will give the TP-Link a little time to fail and then I may order more extenders for better coverage across a two story house with pretty good square footage. For now installation was so easy as to be ridiculous and performance is really good. I am delighted. If there are further developments I will update this review, but my impression is that this is an item to try under any circumstances, and a really cost-effective way to circumvent logistical limitations.Feb 2020: Thought I had an ethernet problem but further troubleshooting found something else. Still all good.

As a professional computer technician, I needed this to satisfy an issue for one of my customers whose wireless signal was just too weak to reach the other end of their home and outside to a workshop. This solved the problem with very little effort. I read many reviews and troubleshooting tips beforehand which helped but here's how I did it and it was fairly simple. First thing, I changed the Linksys wireless router's default IP from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.2.1 and change the DHCP scope to start at 192.168.2.10. I did this because the TP-Link device uses the same default IP of 192.168.1.1 that most routers use so you should change your router first to avoid conflicts. Second, I plugged the small unit into the wall, attached a network cable to it and plugged it into the router. Then I pressed the "Pair" button on it and gave it a few seconds. Then I plugged the larger unit into another outlet in the same room and connected a laptop to it with a network cable. I did this to verify that network connectivity was working. Make sure you turn off wifi on your computer so you're actually using the hardwired ethernet connection. I ran speedtest.net and got the exact same speed as the desktop connected directly to the router. Then I moved the TP-Link device to the building outside that my customer uses his laptop and tablets in. Keep in mind the smaller TP-Link device remains next to the router and plugged in at all times as it is receiving the signal there and transmitting it to the larger TP-Link device. Now that I had the device outside in the workshop, I plugged it in and connected my laptop and the speed had dropped to around 5Mbps. It was about 58Mbps inside so there was a huge loss in speed once I got outside but who knows what the wiring situation was like and it was on a separate circuit in the breaker box and all so I expected that somewhat. Anyway, the device proved we still had connectivity, slower, but it worked so I knew we were in business. Now came the tricky part... I needed to get this thing to clone the router's wifi. This I struggled with. I pressed the WPS button on the router, then the Pairing button the the TP-Link and it never seemed to work. At first I thought it was working but it's easy to get confused because you're still connected to the actual router's wifi. After multiple attempts at cloning the wifi via WPS/Pairing, I went into the router's settings and disabled wifi so I would have an accurate picture and it turned out that the TP-Link had not cloned anything. It created it's own separate wifi network but I needed it to actually clone the existing wifi network which it was not doing. Everyone else reviewing this complained about how hard it was to use the software based tool to setup this thing but I didn't have any problems with it. Per the included instructions, I browsed to[...]#Utility and downloaded the Powerline Scan Utility. Installed it and logged in as admin/admin and presto, I was in. Once in the settings, I went into wireless settings and changed the default SSID to my existing wireless router's SSID and used the same WPA2-PSK password and now it was cloned! As a test, I kept the wifi disabled on the router and only connected to the TP-Link wifi and it worked. I ended up moving the TP-Link device into my customer's garage which worked out well because it was now on the same wiring as the house and the speed remained very high around 40Mbps and as a bonus, the wifi signal it generated was now closer to the workshop outside and it was getting a great signal and still getting speeds around 30Mbps. Then I enabled wifi on the router again and at first, the laptop was showing a weak signal as it was still connected to the TP-Link device way on the other side of the house in the garage but after a few seconds, the laptop realized it was now closer to the main wireless router and it automatically connected to it. So if you're using this for a hardwire connection only, it couldn't be any simpler. Just plug in the small unit first and press Pair on it once it's connected via ethernet to your router, then plug in the larger one wherever you need it and you're connected on both ends. If you need it to clone your wifi use the Powerline scan utility and it's a breeze. Hope this helps!