TP-Link TL-PA551KIT AV550+ Gigabit Powerline Review

Performance

When it comes to testing a powerline setup, there are many different factors that have to be taken in to account with regards to how the system performs at different distances. Naturally the biggest player in this is going to be the wiring system in the environment where the plugs are going to be used. Older electrical systems typically should expect to have a slightly lower performance level to newer installations and then there is also the distance between the plugs – you have to remember as well that this may not be as direct as you may think as most household systems run on a ring and if you’re going between floors then this also means the signal is likely to pass through the main fuse board at some stage.

To test the plugs, I set them up in three locations, the first (as seen below) is with them right beside each other. No of course this is not going to be a real world situation, but what it does give is the best case scenario for them to perform at their best. After this we will put them at a medium range (in this case on the next floor down in our small office) and test the speed. After that the third distance is down yet another floor at the farthest point to the other plug as I can place it.

These three distances and the resulting speeds should give us a good idea as to how the plugs can perform.

LAN Speed Test a a simple free to use application that creates a file of any given size and pushes it across a network to a given destination folder, measuring the maximum speed of throughput during the file transfer. To get a better and more accurate throughput speed, we set the file size to 1GB. To add a variation to the data set, we tested the adaptors at a varying range of distances by plugging in one plug next to our switch and then the other to start right next to it. We will then move the other plug furthest point we can (roughly speaking) and then half way between to see how distance affects throughput.

In a co-located position, the TP-Link Powerline adaptors show that they have strong potential to give good speeds when the conditions are perfect. We do find however that with this kit, that as the distance increases, the speed does take a notable fall, dropping to just under 60MB/s during the long-range test.