ASUS PL-AC56 1200Mbps AV2 1200 Wi-Fi Powerline Adapter Kit Review

A Closer Look

We find a couple warranty notices inside the package. Important when needed, but mostly something you’d leave in the box.

There are also two RJ45 cables so you can hook everything up right away.

There are two 3-point antennas with 360-degree rotation included too, which naturally are needed for the range extender.

The kit contains two devices, the first being the PL-E56P which is an AV 1200Mbps power line adapter with outlet pass through. That means that you don’t need to sacrifice the wall plug option for other devices even when this one is plugged in. You simply insert it into this one rather than the wall plug itself.

The two included powerline devices will have plug types depending on where in the world you purchased the kit. Since we’re a UK site, we also have UK plugs on our test devices.

The sides feature air vents to help the device stay cool, after all, these are passively cooled devices so they stay silent.

On the bottom is a Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port, a pinhole to reset the device and a pair button to, you guessed it, pair it with other HomePlug adapters.

The second piece is the PL-AC56 which is a combined HomePlug, wireless range extender, and network switch. It doesn’t feature the outlet pass through as the other part, but it does so much else instead.

We see similar air vents on the side off this part and that’s also where we can connect the included antennas. The plugs are default, so you do have the option to go for aftermarket antennas too, but the included aren’t bad at all and you’d only need that in really large homes with bad reception.

The nother side is similar, but it also features a power button to turn the whole device off, a reset pinhole, and a pair button.

The bottom is simple as it is, but it is awesome at the same time. You get not one, but three RJ45 Gigabit ports on this device. That means you can use the PL-E56P near your router and connect three wired systems and many wireless devices through this PL-AC56 in another part of your home.

The front has LEDs for both WiFi bands, status, LAN, and power. There’s also a clone button which essentially is a WPS button. Press the WPS button on your router and then the clone button here, and the range extender will clone your WiFi settings and let you have a unified setup with a single click.