How to use existing home electrical wiring to get wired & wireless internet in any room

The TP-Link TL-PA4010P KIT AV600 Passthrough Powerline Starter Kit consists of 2 receiver / transmitter units, 2 RJ45 leads and a Quick Set Up booklet. (See first photo for box contents). Each of the units has its own male 3 pin-plug on the reverse and a female 3 pin socket on the front with an RJ45 socket at the base.

By plugging one AV600 unit into a mains socket and linking it to the router with the supplied RJ45 lead; plugging the other AV600 unit into a mains socket near to the device you wish to connect to the internet and linking that device by the other RJ45 lead, you may provide a hard-wired link without the hassle of dozens of metres of cable etc. Once the second unit is plugged in 2 of the lights will glow while it finds the first and the third light comes on to show an active connection. It just does it. 

The pass-through socket on each TP Link TL-PA4010P unit allows the continued use of the power socket to plug in other devices should you be short of sockets as most houses are. See second photo of the downstairs unit in place beneath a book case with the power plug for a phone in the pass-through. The third photo shows the general room view below the TV, the TP-Link unit can be seen unobtrusively at the bottom of the picture with its 3 lights glowing confirming an active connection. 

The fourth photo shows the upstairs unit in place behind the filing cabinet with the RJ45 lead to the router hidden around the back. 

The units must be plugged into a mains socket not an extension lead. Although there seems to be no reason that having plugged in the unit you should not use the pass-through for the extension lead to power small items. But beware of it overheating and causing a fire.

You are probably wondering why I did not just use the Smart TV’s built in Wi-Fi to connect to the router? Well, I tried. In older houses the solid walls do not allow the signal to penetrate and although portable items like laptops and tablets can be moved to a Wi-Fi sweet spot, TVs rarely can. However the mains wiring reaches all parts of the house. I believe there are other models of the TP-Link which carry their own Wi-Fi transmitter for those devices without RJ45 sockets. I believe that all the TP-Link units are compatible with each other so in theory it is possible to have one unit with the router and several others through the house receiving that signal, I haven’t tried it yet. 

My personal problem was that, having made up an RJ45 lead out the window, down the side of the house and in alongside the TV aerial lead and used it successfully for 5 years, it failed one day. I tried to revert to Wi-Fi but my TV is particularly difficult to set up and once set up, drops the connection each time you switch off. Left to its own devices it will reconnect but takes over an hour each time. With the hard-wire it is instantaneous. When I factor in my time as a labour cost while searching the web for solutions to the Wi-Fi, the cost of the TP-Link is not significant. 

Review by Bob D