Before Mesh WiFi was a thing, powerline was by far the best solution for home users wanting to extend their home network without having to physically wire the house up with Ethernet.
Since the launch of mesh, powerline has fallen out of favour somewhat, and only a handful of company produces hardware feature this technology. However, I know a lot of gamers who still swear by this technology.
Devolo has long been the most reputable company in the business, with TP-Link being the major competitor.
While most companies are now launching WiFi 6 mesh systems, Devolo has only just launched its first WiFi 5 mesh system.
Devolo Mesh WiFi 2 vs Devolo Magic 2 WiFi – Not the same
Devolo doesn't make it very easy to work out what is what and this is made worse by searching on places like Amazon.
I was very confused by the product name devolo Mesh WiFi 2 but most places selling Devolo Magic 2 WiFi.
A quick glance at their product pages proved to be equally confusing, with the Magic 2 WiFi not listed under mesh yet still claiming mesh functionality on the product page. They also offer the same WiFi speeds and powerline technology.
However, they are not the same. The 2-device Magic 2 WiFi uses two different units, the MAGIC 2 LAN Adapter and the MAGIC 2 WiFi next Adapter. The Lan adaptor offers no WiFi. This is instead used to connect your router to the powerline network. So the two pack system won't actually offer mesh WiFi; you would then need to pair it up with another MAGIC 2 WiFi to get mesh functionality.
The MESH WIFI 2, on the other hand, has all its adopters providing WiFI. With the whole point of this being that you switch the WiFi off on your router, then the Devolo does all the WiFi offering seamless roaming as you move around the home.
