Who Is The Devolo Magic 2 WiFi Next Powerline Kit For?

  • The Devolo Magic 2 WiFi Next Powerline kit is perfect for anyone who wants to improve the WiFi quality of their home
  • The Magic 2 WiFi Next kit is very easy to set up and doesn't cause any disruptions to internet service
  • The starter kit comes with one WiFi adapter while the Whole Home kit includes two adapters, and additional adapters can be purchased separately
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The Devolo Magic 2 WiFi Next Powerline kit makes it easy to bring internet access to all corners of a home

Anyone who has been in an environment with poor WiFi service knows just how important a strong WiFi connection is. This has been made all the more obvious over the past few years, as work has rapidly shifted towards a work-from-home system. While the ideal WiFi solution is to put a router right in the middle of a living space, that is often not realistic with how a home is wired. That said, Devolo has found a way to use the wires in a home to turn any area into a WiFi powerhouse with the Devolo Magic 2 WiFi Next Powerline kit.

How Does The Devolo Magic 2 WiFi Next Powerline Kit Work?

First off, the Devolo Magic 2 WiFi Next Powerline kit is an insanely long name. We're just going to refer to it as the Magic 2 kit from here on out.

Second, the Magic 2 kit enhances a WiFi connection almost magically. Sorry, I had to do it. The kit comes with a base station and at least one WiFi adapter. The base station plugs into a home's modem or router, and then is plugged into a wall electrical outlet. The base station can then transmit an internet signal through the electrical wires already in a home to the WiFi adapters, which are plugged into outlets in other rooms.

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The Magic 2 kit's base station is plugged into a router via an Ethernet cable

While that sounds insane, the Magic 2 kit actually works. What is even more crazy is that the WiFi adapters aren't just to boost wireless signals. Devices can plug into the adapters with Ethernet cables to have a hardwired connection. This means people don't need to snake cables through their entire home if a desktop PC doesn't have a WiFi antenna. It also allows gamers to hardwire their consoles for a faster, more reliable connection.

It should be noted that the Magic 2 kit does not increase internet speeds, nor does it improve performance. The kit takes the already existing signal, and brings it to other areas of a home. If someone has slow internet, the Magic 2 kit will make it easier to access that same slow internet from elsewhere in a home. If someone has blazing fast internet, the Magic 2 kit will make sure all areas of a home can use it.

Insanely Easy Setup

After opening up the Devolo Magic 2 kit, I was a little nervous. The included instruction booklet doesn't have many words and instead relies on vague pictures to show the setup process. Thankfully, the Devolo app is more clear and walks users through the setup process in a much easier way.

Once I had the app downloaded, the only real hurdle I faced was finding an appropriate outlet. The thing Devolo really hammers home is that all of the Magic 2 kit's components need to be plugged into wall outlets all by themselves. In other words, if the outlet has two or more slots to plug in devices, only the Devolo devices can be plugged in. While that is pretty darn limiting, especially in an apartment that is already running low on wall outlets, it is made a little easier by the fact that the Devolo devices have a plug on them for something else to be connected. Ultimately, this still takes away one outlet slot from a home.

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Setting up the Magic 2 WiFi adapters is easy, but finding a free outlet can be a little challenging

Once everything is plugged in, the app really handles the heavy lifting. All I had to do was enter my home's WiFi information into the app, and it did the rest in regards to setting up the devices. Once all set up, the app allows users to rename the devices to help with remembering which one is which.

While the app is helpful, it does have a few little hiccups of its own. The biggest one is when it comes to updating the firmware of the Magic 2 kit's devices. This can be done through the app, and once started, brings up a message about how users can't switch to a different app until the update has been completed. This also starts a 10 minute timer, and then shows the update progress of all the devices getting firmware upgrades.

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The Devolo app showing that my Magic 2 kit is up and running

Every time, the update runs for the entire 10 minutes, and then says the update has failed. However, when I go back to the update feature in the app, it shows that the update actually did get installed properly. While it's great to see the devices work and get updated, the process could probably be improved to run a little faster, or at least actually say that the update was successfully installed instead of making me check back again. When everything else is so seamless, this just seems like an odd sticking point.

It Actually Works

I know it sounds a little obvious to say, but the Devolo Magic 2 kit actually works. I live in a smaller apartment, so I didn't really notice the boost in WiFi connectivity all that much. However, to really test out the Magic 2's capabilities, I plugged a PS4 into one of the WiFi adapters using an ethernet cable. I made sure to set up the PS4's internet settings with a wired connection, and ran the tests.

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My PS4 is wired into this WiFi adapter and is working perfectly

The console immediately went through the internet connection process and then started downloading and installing updates at a rate much faster than it would if it was using wireless internet. It really opens up the possibilities of having a computer that requires a wired connection in a room far away from a router without having to run a cable through an entire home.

Final Thoughts

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The Devolo Magic 2 WiFi Next Powerline kit is a very easy way to extend the reach of a WiFi signal in a home. Even more impressive, the Magic 2 kit allows for devices to be plugged in with an ethernet cable, allowing devices without WiFi to connect to the internet without running a cable all the way across a home to a router.

It is annoying that the Magic 2 components require taking up so much outlet space, but someone with a big enough home to require better WiFi coverage can probably make something work out. It also allows for much more flexibility, as devices that need a direct connection no longer need to be all located around a single router.