Edimax HP-2002APn review

Although it’s relatively cheap for a HomePlug AV wireless access point, Edimax has managed to kit out the HP-2002APn with 802.11n. There’s only a single antenna, so speeds are limited to 150Mbit/s rather than the 300Mbit/s of the full 802.11n standard. Still, as HomePlug AV has a maximum throughput of 200Mbit/s, this shouldn’t be that big a drawback.

We tested the Edimax’s HP-2002APn wireless HomePlug AV adaptor with an Edimax HP-2002AC HomePlug adaptor (£36) and an Edimax EW-7718Un wireless adaptor (£23). Although the HP-2002APn’s performance in our Powerline transfer speed test was a relatively unimpressive 48Mbit/s, we were pleased by its fast wireless throughput.

Speeds were particularly good with Edimax’s own EW7718Un 802.11n wireless adaptor (£25), which produced 43.41Mbit/s at 1m and a respectable 33Mbit/s at 10m. Our Centrino 2 laptop’s built-in wireless adaptor wasn’t as fast, but gave us a consistent 33Mbit/s in our 1m and 10m tests. Our 20m test produced a stable 9Mbit/s, which is more than fast enough for web browsing.

Unfortunately, Edimax hasn’t gone out of its way to make the adaptor easy to configure and the wizard on the installation disc couldn’t to locate the HP-2002APn. We had more luck with the web interface, but some users may have to manually change their PC’s IP address to access it. The supplied quick start guide provides no further information on using the web interface, nor does it include the username and password required to access it (admin and 1234).

However, once you’re in, it’s simple and easy to use and we changed the adaptor’s security and network settings without any fuss. The device supports push-button WPS for wireless connections, although this is disabled by default. The WPS button sits next to the HomePlug security push-button, which allows you to establish a secure Powerline network between the HP-2002APn and any compatible HomePlug devices.

The HP-2002APn was stable and reasonably quick in our wireless tests and its Powerline throughput of 46Mbit/s, while unlikely to set any records, is fast enough for anything we can think of. Although wireless configuration was a bit fiddly, the HP-2002APn’s low price makes it the best wireless Powerline adaptor we’ve seen.