With a powerline adapter you can turn a socket into a network connection. D-Link promises a speed of up to 1900 Mbit/s with the DHP-701. That seems exaggerated to us, so what's the real deal?
D-Link DHP-701AV
Average price
€ 99,95
Connections
10/100/1000 network connection
Dimensions
82 x 65 x 40mm
Energy consumption
Up to 5.2 watts per adapter
8 Score 80- Pros
- Speed
- Compact adapters
- Negatives
- Marketing Number 2000
D-Links PowerLine AV2 2000 or DHP-701AV is one of the newest and fastest generation of powerline adapters. These combine HomePlug AV2 with MIMO (multiple input, multiple output). In this case, the ground pin is used for a second data connection, which increases the overall throughput. Also read: Everything you need to know about Powerline adapters
Confusion: 1200 or 2000?
Confusingly, the MIMO adapters are available both under the designation 1200 Mbit/s or AV2 1200 and 2000 Mbit/s or AV2 2000. This is due to the chipset manufacturer. Adapters with the designation 1200 use a cip from Qualcomm Atheros while adapters with the designation 2000 contain a chip from Broadcom. Qualcomm Atheros uses higher modulation while Broadcom uses more frequency space, but not the very best modulation. This set from D-Link is the first MIMO set that we test with a chip from Broadcom.
Performance
We tested this set in a practical situation in which we also tested Devolo's dLAN 1200+, the best performing set with a Qualcomm Atheros chipset. In a single group test condition, D-Link achieves 277 Mbit/s, while Devolo achieves 267 Mbit/s in the same condition. In our opinion, this speed is the highest practical speed that you can achieve at home, faster only on wall sockets that are almost together. In our two-group test condition, D-Link achieves 90 Mbit/s while Devolo achieves 109 Mbit/s. Although the speeds are somewhat slower over two groups, in short, the speeds are comparable and both the approach of Quallcomm Atheros and Broadcom seem to lead to approximately the same results.
Conclusion
D-Links PowerLine AV2 2000 or DHP-701AV is the first powerline set we tested with Broadcom's HomePlug AV2 chipset with MIMO. In terms of performance, this set is comparable to the adapters that have been available for some time with Qualcomm Atheros' AV2 chipset with MIMO, which are indicated by the number 1200. That is fine in itself, it is only a pity that the difference between the number 2000 on the box and the net speed has increased even further.
