Hi, I bought TP-Link TL-PA211KIT (pair) several days ago, to connect STB at ground floor to TP-Link TD-W8960N ADSL/AP/Router at 1st floor. Yes, I am using the TD-W8960N as the stock DIR615 replacement. I configured it to channel IPTV (Vlan 600) to port 4 of the router, and connects it to the HomePlug.

Unifi --> RG -> TD-W8960N --> HP1 *****> HPg --> STB --> TV

HP1 : First floor HomePlug
HPg : Ground floor HomePlug

It works great, but, sometime got frame freeze. Previously I tried using 2 WiFi N APs in Repeater Bridge mode, but it is worse.. It is due to Multicast UDP stream which carries the video stream. It is a well know problem for WiFi to stream Multicast , eventhough the stream is just at 5Mb/s (Megabit/s).

At least with HomePlug, YouTube stream is working flawless, where it use standard HTTP/TCP.

BTW, my house is using 3 phase electrical wiring I read somewhere that HomePlug may not working properly, but, it just works. I tried using it at several places, and the worst case senaria is it works at least, at 2Mbps (HP1@1st floor living room and HPg@kitchen). without ANY packet loss. Not try to put STB at kitchen yet, but, I may try it someday..

Ping responds are betewen 3-10 ms based on the location or distance. But, the most important thing is, NO packet loss, compared to WiFi N, which may get a very good ping respond around 1-2 ms, but, lots of packets loss, and this is the main problem for realtime streaming or gaming.

Oya, 1 more thing, I also read that HomePlug cannot be use on extensions + multiplier, but guess what, the HP1 is on 2 chained 10+2+2 m extension and multipliers!.

Wall plug --> 2m, 6 ports multiplier -> 10m 2 ports extentions --> 2m, 4 ports multiplier <-- HP1

Yeah, that is bad... but, it works... I plan to simplify the connections, if I have time, and hoping to get better performance....

Typically I got average working speed rate at 36 Mbps with the current setups.

Conclusion : I am qute happy with the TP-Link TL-PA211KIT (MYR155) even though there is a time to time frame freeze problem with multcast streaming TV channels. but, it works on multipliers, extension and 3 phases wiring! But, I am not saying that HomePlug will works at your place/setup.

Thank you.

This post has been edited by bahathir: Aug 30 2012, 05:26 AM