Devolo HomePlug: dLAN 500 AVmini Review

Much better than a plug-in air freshener

The Devolo dLAN 500 AVmini may have a really boring name (did you even get this far into the sentence? Have a cookie!) but it’s such a clever little thing that you’ll be able to forgive it.

The problem:

Our HomeHub is on the top floor of our house (it was the only working phone socket when we moved in and so that’s the one the BT man used). Our Sky+ box is on the ground floor (the Sky man cursed the BT man and ran a phone line down the outside of our house and into our loving room).

How do we connect the HomeHub to the Sky+ to get Sky Anytime+ without having to run a giant ethernet cable down the outside of our house?

The answer:

The Devolo dLAN 500 AVmini (£94.11 on Amazon)

This power line networking starter kit comes with two HomePlug AV adapters. You take them out of the box, plug in the ethernet cables, plug them into a power socket, and plug them into the device you want to network.

That’s it!

I plugged the other end of the ethernet into the HomeHub and the Sky+ box, restarted the Sky+, and started browsing Anytime+.

The simplicity of it all has made me a bit power-crazed. I can now network up the printer, the games consoles, the hard drive – and anything else that’s got an ethernet port.

If you want to get really carried away, you can install the software supplied and configure your setup to control who has priority on data speeds. So if you work from home, you can give your Skype connection priority over someone streaming HDTV in the living room.

Product not sexy? Try adding a lady's face!

More info about the HomePlug

Suited to all types of bandwidth-intensive transmission. The HomePlug can transmit multiple HDTV streams, including 3D movies, with speeds of up to 500 Mbps.

It has powersave mode when not in use, dropping the plug to 0.5W when in standby.

Full specs for Devolo’s HomePlugs

The downside is the price. There are cheaper options out there – although the slim design, faster connection speeds and ease-of-use make it a tempting prospect nonetheless.

Devolo dLAN 500 AVmini Start Kit – £89.99 from Currys

Devolo dLAN 500 AVmini Start Kit – £89.99 from PC World

Katie Lee

Dork Adore's Editor! Katie started out life as a tech journalist and blog obsessive, launching the UK's first and biggest blog publishing network, Shiny Media. Favourite dork things: knitting, crochet, Press Gang, Buffy, Battlestar, Doctor Who and lifehacks.