Testing
Setting up Wi-Fi Smart Plug is simple whether it is configured via WPS or manually. Using WPS is as easy as pressing a button on Wi-Fi Smart Plug, and another on your router. Within a minute or less, Wi-Fi Smart Plug will successfully connect to your wireless network without the need to pick networks or enter passwords. If your router doesn’t support WPS, a manual setup option is available. Manual setup includes the user directly connecting to Wi-Fi Smart Plug, picking a wireless network and inputting the password. Manual configuration was painless, but it took a bit more time than WPS.
Once Wi-Fi Smart Plug is configured, the next step is to add Wi-Fi Smart Plug to D-Link’s companion app named mydlink Home. mydlink Home is responsible for all of the cool features of Wi-Fi Smart Plug. D-Link does require an account to be created in mydlink Home before Wi-Fi Smart Plug can be controlled. Creating an account doesn’t serve much of a purpose other than the ability to control devices in your home from anywhere there is internet access. D-Link has an older companion app named SmartPlug which doesn’t a require an account to use, but they are discontinuing support for it in 2015.
Anyways, once all of the dust has settled, mydlink Home allows you to turn anything on/off that is connected to Wi-Fi Smart Plug, view current power usage, current temperature of Wi-Fi Smart Plug’s internals, create, set, or edit a schedule, and get basic information about the device such as firmware version, IP, and MAC address. mydlink Home also has the ability to create groups. A group can be created for ‘Bedroom Lights’, so scrolling through long lists can be avoided if there are a lot of Connected Home devices on a network. Beyond groups there are actions. Actions allow something to be done if a certain pre-configured requirement is met. For example, if Wi-Fi Smart Plug reaches a particular internal temperature, it can be set to turn off, or send a notification. The same two actions are applicable to power meter conditions like kWh/month limit reached.
Overall mydlink Home and Wi-Fi Smart Plug responded as expected, whether Wi-Fi Smart Plug was accessed directly on the local network, or from outside of the local network. One bug in mydlink Home is kWh limits cannot be set to decimals. I tried to set a value of 0.5 kWh/Month, but mydlink Home set it to 0 and disabled Power Management.
Lastly, Wi-Fi Smart Plug is not compatible with Amazon Echo. That might change in the future, but currently only Belkin and Philips Connected Home devices are compatible with Amazon Echo. Keep an eye on this link for any updates.