Asus PL-AC56 AV2 1200 Wi-Fi Powerline Extender Kit

1. Introduction2. Asus PL-N123. Asus PL-N12 Setup4. Results5. Closing Thoughts6. View All Pages

With the Asus PL-AC56 Kit, you're getting just about the best speeds possible with AV2. Unfortunately, that's not especially fast compared with some of the blistering performance we've seen from the best wireless routers, but this is a different type of product.

Some people might not want to rely on wireless, or want both as an option.

With the Asus PL-AC56 kit, you're getting excellent wireless performance from the adapter, and reasonable wired power line speeds. It could be useful in a number of situations. A media streaming device or games console might be placed in a room that's just out of reach of a good wireless signal, for example, and they would get a significant boost from being connected over AV2 power line. Or you might keep a NAS further away from your router.

Perhaps when it comes to bringing wireless where it couldn't reach before, attaining better speeds is sufficient, rather than the best possible, record-breaking transfer times.

It's also worth noting that if you still have an 802.11n router, and are getting crappy wireless performance, the 2×2 antenna in the PL-AC56 Kit might outperform it, and therefore you might get better results by using its wireless capability for all your device.

And of course, while £159.99 might seem like a lot, when bog-standard AV1 kits can be found for £50, it's much cheaper than buying a 4×4 router and a bridge, or having to buy 802.11ac wireless dongle.

So while Asus cannot push the PL-AC56 Kit to speeds that aren't possible with the technology, the product has great software, outputs a strong wireless signal, and is most certainly worth a recommendation, if you think you can benefit from AV2 hardware.

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Pros:

• Delivers good speeds over power line at close range, far better than AV1 hardware.
• Flexible, with options of wired or wireless, guest networks and cloning.
• Three ethernet ports to share connection.

Cons:

• Investing in a faster router might be a simple option.
• Speeds with AV2 still drop off significantly in far room.

Kitguru Says: AV2 is a specialised product, and may not be of particular benefit to some people, but the fast 2×2 wireless performance here, along with reasonably good wired power line performance, go a long way to justifying the cost of the PL-AC56.

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