If you’re like me – a freelancer who occasionally works from home and who happens to live in an old, listed or converted flat – you’re no stranger to fluctuating wireless signals, and the headache they can cause when you’re trying to work.
Thick concrete walls, organic (horsehair) insulation and poor telephone infrastructure make working from home in these types of flats something of a struggle. It makes matters worse when the one room in your flat where you get the most work done just happens to be out of range from your wireless router. So, when you run a business that relies heavily on a stable internet connection, what’s a freelancer to do?
That’s exactly the type of problem devolo have identified, and have subsequently created a product that’s nothing short of genius. Consisting of two units that look a lot like two over-sized, cordless plugs, the dLAN® 200 AVeasy Starter Kit taps into your humble abode’s mains electricity network and delivers full speed broadband from your router to your laptop/desktop by piggy-backing the wiring infrastructure already present in your flat.
It shouldn’t matter how old your flat is, or how distant your room/office is from the router’s location – all that matters is that your outlets are on the same wired network (and they usually are). You don’t need to use phone lines even – it’s all through the electrical connections, and is totally harmless and non-damaging.
No more flaky wireless and no more exploring your house to find that wireless ‘sweet spot’; with this setup you can reach maximum productivity simply by plugging in an ethernet cable from your router into the master AVeasy plug unit. Once activated you’ll see a flashing yellow light indicating connectivity. Then retire to your favourite room/office in your flat, plug in the second unit, press the ‘home’ button on the device to identify the signal, and wait for the light to glow a steady yellow. Assuming your mains/electricity outlets are all on the same network, once you’ve connected a standard RJ-45 ethernet cable, you’ll be surfing the information superhighway in no time.
This setup has done wonders for me. When I used to work from home I’d dread having to rely on the wireless which was problematic at the best of times. Now, with my setup using devolo’s AVeasy I rarely think twice about getting online when in my office.
At around £47, I’d recommend this setup to any freelancer or contractor working from home on a full- or part-time basis, and who suffers from an old flat where wireless signals are next to impossible. The AVeasy is easy to setup, easy-to-use, and makes what used to be a huge frustration into a distant memory.
At 200 Mbps you are more than likely doubling the speed of your connection — most wireless routers work at 100 Mbps — and if you have a console or internet connected TV or set-top-box then adding additional plug adapters means you can have fast Internet in any room you choose.
Highly recommended alternative to long wires and flaky wireless. 9/10.
