NETGEAR Powerline 1000 WiFi 2020 Latest Updated Review

NETGEAR Powerline 1000 WiFi 2020 Latest Updated Review.

The Netgear Powerline 1200 (PLP1200) makes it easy to bring wired gigabit Ethernet connectivity to any room in the house. Its Pick A Plug feature provides a quick and painless way to test the signal strength of each outlet

Overview

Similar to other Netgear products we have already reviewed, this WN1000RP WiFi Booster for Mobile is another one that just does what it says on the tin.

The product comes in the typical finger cutting armoured plastic, but thankfully Netgear have made it easy to open, so you won’t destroy product trying to get it out of the packaging.

No installation of software is required and setting up takes literally a couple of minutes at the most.

You just plug it in, follow a few simple instructions and you will find yourself with a much extended Wi-Fi range.

Any wireless capable device such as an iPhone, iPad or Laptop will now have a stable Wi-Fi signal in areas where previously you may have had a very poor intermittent signal or none at all.

Performance

As stated earlier don’t expect 1,000Mbps speeds from the Netgear 1000. But the same can be said for all Powerline adapters, no matter who the manufacturer is.

In our real-world tests  the Netgear Powerline 1000 performed well, although not as fast as the 1,200Mbps-rated or faster Powerlines we’ve tested.

In our same-room test, we got 186Mbps, which is great but not a real indicator of what you’ll get in the second room.

We do this test to see what each Powerline can do with less limiting factors such as distance.

Once connected two floors down in the house the Netgear 1000 achieved 91Mbps – about half what it got when both adapters were in the same room.

You will almost certainly get different speeds as so much is determined by your house’s wiring and other devices taking power from wall sockets.

Features

The Netgear Powerline 1000 is a fairly basic set of Powerline adapters.

Each adapter has just the one Ethernet port. We prefer at least two such ports on the second adapter as most of us have more than the one Internet-hungry device that needs connecting.

In my house, I have the smart TV, Sky Q box and a Tado thermostat that are gasping for a wired connection.

You can add a cheap Ethernet Switch to add more Ethernet ports, or look to Powerline adapters with two or three Ethernet ports – see our roundup of our recommended Powerline adapters.

Both are Gigabit Ethernet ports, so there’s no speed-limiting you get with Powerlines that use the slower 10/100 Ethernet, which pegs back speeds at a maximum 100Mbps.

With Gigabit Ethernet you’ll get whatever the Powerline can give and your home wiring allows.

The Netgear PLP1000 does boast pass-through sockets on each adapter.

These pass-through sockets can be handy if you’re short of power sockets as they allow you to plug in other devices to the same socket as the Powerline adapter.

Never plug a Powerline into a power extender block as you’ll sacrifice performance.

Installation

After Unlike the other extenders we tested, the Netgear comes with a preset pair of encryption keys, so the data flowing between the two units in the extender kit is always secure.

You can change the encryption keys to a random set by pressing the Security button for a few

On the other hand, the PLP2000 lacks the Quality of Service  software and monitoring dashboard offered on the TP-Link TL-PA9020P.

While Netgear offers tips, security help and an excellent manual, it falls short with a 1-year warranty and 90-days of technical support; competitors include up to three years of support and warranty on their extender kits.

For the PLP2000, you’ll need to pay more to extend the coverage.

Pros

• Top performance
• AC passthrough outlet
• Two Ethernet ports
• Low power use

Cons

• Expensive
• No monitoring utility
• 90-days of support
• Setup and software

Whats More

Two Ethernet cables are included in the box so you won’t need to provide your own to get set up.

After plugging one adaptor into your wireless router and the mains, and the second next to the device you want to connect to your network, pairing is simply a matter of turning on each plug and pressing the security button.

It takes less than a minute and doesn’t need any messing around with software or browser-based interfaces.

The Pick a Plug LED on the top changes colour to indicate your link rate; green is best, suggesting 80Mbps or greater, amber indicates a rate between 50Mbit/s and 80Mbit/s, and Red means your connection is under 50Mbit/s.

The LED will also flash if you’ve placed your adapters too far away from each other

Styling and Design

The WN1000RP Wi-Fi Booster for Mobile follows the same design as Netgear’s Powerline Homeplug adaptors and because of this the build quality and feel are the same high quality that you would expect.

Made from a hard white plastic and barely any larger than a standard plug it will fit in a standard wall socket or extension socket without obstructing neighbouring sockets.

To the bottom we have the small pin hole for performing a factory reset and to the left side is the On/Off button and the button to connect with WPS

At the top and bottom we have slots for ventilation although this does not get very warm in use.

To the front of the Wi-Fi Booster we have three LED indicator lights. The first being the Link Rate between the booster and your router – green shows the best performance, amber is a good and workable connection and red indicates a poor connection or none at all.