TP-Link Powerline WiFi Extender TL-WPA8631P KIT- Includes AV1300 Powerline Network Adapter and AC1200 Dual Band Extender, 2x2 MIMO, 3 Gigabit Ports, Passthrough, Plug & Play

I needed a wireless signal in my detached garage to service a Rain Bird LNK2 WiFi Module. The wireless signal from the house was uselessly weak so an alternative was needed. Since there was electricity from the house, going to the garage, I decided the TP-Link Powerline WiFi Extender(TL-WPA8631P KIT) might work.Although it took two days to discover a setup that worked, it is now working flawlessly, I'm happy to say. I paired the Adapter and the Extender in my home office and placed the Adapter in an outlet closest to the garage that had an Ethernet extension available and plugged the Extender into an outlet in the garage.When I tried to program the Rain Bird Controller, using my iPhone XS I found a drop down list of available networks from which to choose. After some trial and error, I discovered the network that I needed was labeled TP-Link_DOCC; that was the Extender's WiFi output and it had a very strong signal.The network required a Password which can be found on the label on the back of the Extender. On my iPhone, I selected that network and inserted the Password I found on the Extender and it worked perfectly.

This product far exceeded my expectations. First the description indicates the use the adapter and extender on the same circuit. Most people would take that to mean outlets isolated by the same circuit breaker. I contacted customer service and they indicated it should also work across circuit breakers. The customer service response was quick and accurate. My ‘circuit’ includes 4 circuit breakers, and two junction boxes. The kit contains an adapter, plugged into an outlet in one building, which is separated by 110 yards from the extender, plugged into an outlet inside a shipping container. I now have a strong WiFi signal inside that shipping container. Also this DOES work with Starlink, I only needed to buy and Ethernet cable adapter which plugged into my Starlink router and had two ports, one of which connected the ‘Adapter’ in the kit (the unit that receives the WiFi signal) via one of the two Ethernet cables that came in the kit.There was one minor negative, the instruction/information sheet could have been more clear. It offers instructions that in my case were not needed (related to alternative steps to pair up the adapters) since the adapters paired with no problem,,, but it was not clear to me initially that the alternate steps were in case the initial pairing did not work.

I initially set this up with both on the same power strip to pair them and make sure they worked. Then, just to test and see, I plugged the adapter into an office outlet, with a direct 25’ CAT6 to the router, then put the extender out in the pool house. The office outlet on a branch on a circuit, then the pool house on a separate 80A circuit feeding a subpanel that has a 20A going to the outlet where the extender was plugged in. We have 1Gb fiber to the house, typically get about 900Mb to the router. I knew the signal would be degraded, but wondered if the connection was enough to still be usable; short answer, no. I’d get 1-3Mb over the Powerline setup, but it was dropping occasionally. Maybe with fewer jumps it would have been better, but we have a lot of electrical, old house, jumping between panels, etc. But, the concept was proved that it could work.The pool house used to have two 20A lines, but put in the subpanel a couple years ago. Left the old lines going to an empty outlet box with a flat cover, just in case, and glad I did. Installed an outlet on one of those lines, then the other end (inside the house) installed an outlet as well, right next to the inside panel, then ran a short cable from an empty breaker to that outlet. This gave me about a 40’ electrical line, on a dedicated breaker, with only two outlets on it, one for the adapter and one for the extender. Then I ran a new CAT6 from the router to the adapter, probably 25’ long. With a direct connection to the router and a dedicated circuit with only the two outlets, not super long, the connection is great; I’m getting 250-350Mb on Wi-Fi on my cell phone standing outside the pool house, about the same as I get inside the house.The first purchase was a refurb and pretty sure it was defective, the adapter kept shutting off after a few minutes. I disabled power saving (enabled by default and not sure why, have to unplug it to exit power saving) and it continued, returned that one, got a new one, and it’s been on, stable, and reliable since plugging it in.I also initially had trouble getting them on the network by using the buttons, but got on the router UI and went to OneMesh and it showed the device and I was able to easily add it and set it up from there.It’s cool technology and on short dedicated run works just as well as other equipment, but some minor complaints that resulted in 4 stars:- The power saving mode and issues with the first device; whole point of mesh is to be available when needed- The Wi-Fi doesn’t seem to extend as far as other devices; it’s great close by, but move 40’ away and it drops quite a bit- Other devices are managed through the Tether app but this requires a separate tpPLC app; why a separate app?- Have to find and download firmware files, can’t search or auto-update/install through the app or web interface- Both wall units are relatively large, say they need to be installed upright, and the network plug is at the bottom (need clearance)Again, per the title and I saw others say as well, YMMV (your mileage may vary). Due to a wide range of home wiring and equipment/power consumption, there's not going to be a consistent experience for everybody, just need to try it and see how it works for you. I'll add that I view this as a specialty device with unique use-cases. Running a new CAT6 is going to be easier than running new electrical lines, and using Wi-Fi extenders is going to be way easier than setting this up, but if you have electrical lines that will work, then this may be a good option.

My house is quite big so the wifi signals are too weak in some of the rooms. I was using a Trendnet powerline adapter connected to a Netgear wifi extender and they were working ok for several years. Recently the wifi from the extender started to get spotty. It would drop off frequently and got annoying. Not sure why they stopped working, maybe they got too old, so I decided to replace them. I got the TP-Link this morning, followed the installation instructions which were easy and boom! In the room with the router the speed test is like 700. The extender wifi drops to only about 30 but it's strong enough for normal use like streaming video on my laptop. I'll be getting a second extender for another part of my house where the signal is still too weak.