TalkTalk Launch New Wi-Fi Extender and Gigabit Powerline Device

Residential broadband ISP TalkTalk has launched a new combined WiFi Extender and Powerline adapter device, which is being offered at a discount of £55 to their existing UK subscribers (using the voucher code EXTENDTT18) or £85 as the regular price.

At the time of writing we don’t know the full specification of this adapter (e.g. WiFi spec/speed or Powerline standard) and the product page doesn’t fully answer our question (we’ve been told that it supports the “latest” wireless and powerline technology), although it appears to be a more modern or similar variant of a product that they’ve sold before (example).

Apparently the new adaptor also features a zero touch install process (easy setup and integration with existing Wi-Fi). We have asked for some more details on the specification and hope to report back soon. Admittedly one problem here is that it’s already possible to buy a combined WiFi/Powerline extender via Amazon (examples) and for a lot less than £55 but TalkTalk’s kit may be superior.

NOTE: Powerline adapters are able to turn the electrical cables inside your house into a LAN style wired Ethernet connection, which can also help to spread the WiFi signal and / or deliver a good wired connection. One caveat here is that you usually need two adapters to take full advantage of Powerline side and they must both be on the same circuit (cable) inside your home.

UPDATE 3pm

We found some more details on the order page. Apparently it’s a D-Link based adapter.

Wireless

• Wi-Fi 867 + 300Mbps
• 2 x 2 antenna array
• Dual-band 2.4GHz & 5GHz
• 802.11a/b/g/n and latest 801.11ac Wi-Fi standard

Connections

• Built-in power supply
• Latest powerline AV2 standard (up to 1000Mbps)
• 2x Gigabit Ethernet ports
• Pass-through power functionality