Our Verdict
Powerline connectivity is one of the most recent technologies that has enabled consumers to expand their networks into every corner of the home. It no longer matters how far or how great of a signal you can achieve from your wireless router when you can simply plug in a Powerline adapter and use your home's electrical wiring to energize your network.
In the past few years, we have watched as Powerline technology has grown from its infancy into a viable high-speed solution for today's home networks. With the latest specification, we now have AV1200 devices capable of supporting media streaming, online gaming, and networked storage. The PA8030P is the latest kit to fall under this description from TP-LINK.
This solution is compliant with the HomePlug AV2 standard and features a Powerline speed of 1200Mbps across three built-in Gigabit Ethernet ports and also houses a pass-through power receptacle. The TP-LINK PA8030 achieves its performance by utilizing a 2x2 MIMO setup via Line-Neutral Line-Ground, allowing it to take advantage of beamforming thus long distance connectivity.
Packaging for the 8030 kit carries an image of both adapters to the right while we have a few bits of marketing information to the left.
Upon opening the packaging, it was nice to see each of the adapters placed in their respective cradles keeping them secure during transport.