In the parental home, my parents regularly had a bad internet connection, with stability being the main problem. My parents would like to stream netflix/disneyplus, etc, but this was regularly interrupted by hitches. This is because the house consists of thick concrete walls. The router is also located in the meter cupboard and no network cables have been pulled through the house.
This made me look for many possible solutions to deal with the internet problem. A WiFi repeater/amplifier is a possible solution, although it ensures that the bandwidth of the connection is drastically reduced. After a lot of searching I came across Devolo Magic, which according to many reviews must be the best product to provide large houses with a lot of concrete/steel with internet and that via the power network! This is made possible by the powerline technology as well as the special Devolo G.hn system.
It became the Devolo Magic 1 WiFi starter kit! I also considered the Magic 2 starter kit, but thought it was an expensive purchase, where the extra speed (1200 mbps compared to 2400 mbps with the Magic 2) was not necessary.
After I unpacked the product, the installation started. The installation can be a bit tricky. Only if the manual is followed exactly will everything go well. Once the LAN adapter (plug into the router) and the WiFi adapter are working, the optimization started. Everything can be adjusted via the Devolo app (which is somewhat ugly and often refers to a web page within the app) and cockpit software on the PC. For example, I set up a separate WiFi network and could check the connection speed.
It became clear that the connection was not optimal and even slow. After a lot of searching on the Devolo website and reading the LED lights on the adapters, I came to the solution and also the most important tip when you are going to use this product at home!
When there are 2 wall sockets next to each other, only 1 socket should be used. In this case for the Devolo Magic 1. Since the stability of the Magic power network drops considerably if the wall sockets are both used (so also by other equipment) (an unstable connection is shown on the Magic adapters by the flashing of a red/ white house).
This is also the big plus of the Magic 1 WiFi starter kit compared to the Magic 1 WiFi Mini starter kit. This is because it does not have a built-in socket. As a result, you can no longer use the 2 wall sockets for other equipment, if you want a stable connection. In addition, this starter kit WiFi adapter has 2 network cable connections instead of 1.
The photo shows the correct layout of the wall sockets (1 in use, the other is behind it unused). Where a power strip is in the WiFi adapter and the Apple TV is connected via the black network cable.
All in all, this starter kit is highly recommended for any household with thick concrete walls (almost every new-build house) and where the router cannot be placed in a central place in the house.
A stable and fast internet connection without worries!
