Devolo Dlan 200AV USB Extender mains power-line networking device

Using home mains power wiring for computer networking has been around for years but this kit extends it to networking USB connections.

Devolo's Dlan 200AV USB Extender lets multiple users share any USB device with any computer, no matter how far apart in the home the two are located.

The Starter Kit we looked at consists of a Devolo AV Mini adapter that connects to your router using the supplied network cable, and a USB Extender adapter that has a single USB port on it. Each plugs into a mains socket and they communicate over the mains wiring.

Unlike with standard powerline adapters, it's necessary to install the supplied Devolo Cockpit software and a driver on each PC that is going to use the Extender. Any number of PCs can use the software, but only one USB device (printer, scanner, hard disk and so on) can be plugged into the Extender, and a USB hub cannot be used.

The PCs identify the Extender just like any other ordinary USB port. Any PC on the network can use the connected USB device, one PC at a time: if another user wants it they must click on the adapter's icon in the Cockpit software and select ‘Request take control'. The current user will see a message in the notification area and can transfer control by clicking it. Control can also be released manually at any time.

Other USB Extenders can be added around the home if needed.

The kit worked very well. Unlike the USB ports in some more advanced home routers it can be used to share any kind of USB device, including multi-function printers, without losing any of the peripheral's software features. Each PC needs to have the device's drivers installed on it, of course.

However, it did not handle USB hard disks well: performance when copying files was slow, and playing back high-definition videos smoothly was not possible.

This product is a great idea that works well, and will be of interest to anyone puzzling about how to share USB devices around the home with ease.