Our homes might be getting smarter, but it all falls down if your home network is straining at streaming.
If your Wi-fi signal is weak in parts of your house, we recommend you buy either Powerline or Mesh kits to beef up your home network and download movies and boxset or multi-player game at top speeds.
Powerline uses the electrical cables in your home to zip data around without the environmental limitations of Wi-Fi. Installation is as easy as plugging one adapter into the wall near your router and another in the room where you need the faster connection. See our explainer on what is Powerline, and our list of recommended Powerline adapter kits.
Mesh is a sophisticated network of boosted Wi-Fi; see our roundup of the best Mesh Wi-Fi systems.
Here, we’ve scoured the internet for the best Powerline and Mesh Wi-Fi deals this Cyber Monday. The best deals we found were mostly for TP-Link products, which we’re happy with as this company makes our top-rated Powerline products.
One of our favourite Powerline systems is the TP-ink AV2000. While the top-end model with pass-through power sockets isn’t in any of the sales, the less-expensive TP-Link TL-PA9020KIT Starter Kit with two Gigabit Ethernet ports is available for just £54.98, down from £74.99 – a saving of £20 or 27%.
Read our TP-Link AV2000 Powerline Starter Kit review.
A cheaper Starter Kit, with one Ethernet port to attach your home network to your Sky box or TV, is TP-Link’s TL-PA7010PKIT 1-Port Gigabit Passthrough Powerline Starter Kit. Normally, selling for £59.99, this is on offer for £44,99, saving you £15.
TP-Link also sells the Deco Mesh Wi-Fi system, and there’s £30 off this kit from Amazon – selling for £169.99 for the three-pack system covering 3-5 bedrooms. This combines the best of Mesh with connected Powerline technology. As we said in our TP-Link Deco review, “If you’re after a mesh Wi-Fi system in a large home with thick walls where Wi-Fi cannot penetrate, the P7 could be exactly what you need.”
BT’s Mini Whole Home Wi-Fi Mesh Wi-Fi three-pack is also on offer for £99.99, down from £129.99. This system should eliminate any dead spots in your home.
Author: Simon Jary, Contributing writer
Simon was Editor of Macworld from the dark days of 1995 to the triumphant return of Steve Jobs and the launch of the iPhone. His desk is a test bench for tech accessories, from USB-C and Thunderbolt docks to chargers, batteries, Powerline adaptors and Fitbits.