ZYXEL PLA5236 AC900 Powerline Extender

ZYXEL's latest power extender expands your networks range with a bit of complexity

​If your Wi-Fi doesn’t go to every corner of your house and you don’t wish to spend large amounts of money on more expensive systems like Google Wi-Fi, then the ZYXEL Powerline Extender may be just what you need. The ZYXEL works on a mesh system extending your current network to make it easier for devices to keep in range with your Wi-Fi network. This extender runs for about 85 US dollars and is much cheaper than other similar systems.

It is important to note that even though ZYXEL is cheaper, the kit can for some be much more complicated to set up then needed and will require time to have everything functioning properly. This kit will include a handful of things need to set up this device in your home. It includes a power line adapter and a power access point. When setting this kit up you will first need to connect the power line adapter to an existing network. Afterwards, you will plug the extender unit into a wall socket. With the connections established, you will need to plug your access point into a far placed socket where your trying to extend your network. Your network will be extended through the electrical wiring at the range of no more than 900 feet.

Sometimes there is a toll to be paid with a cheaper device...

As explained earlier the complexity of the setup of this device is not from the hardware but from the very challenging web interface. The reason for this complexity is that to setup the extender you must connect to it using a web browser. However, only a select few web browsers work with the device and if you do not know this it could make the first-time setup much more complicated.

​Like most extenders, speed plays an important in the consideration of a product and the PLA5236 KIT’s performance can be a little underwhelming, especially since the company claims that two units can connect to create a 1000Mbps connection. Tests show the best sustained speeds being 250Mbps which is much more than a regular ethernet connection, but only a 4th of an actual Gigabit connection which ZYXEL claims to provide and other models produced by ZYXEL do have. It is important to note that this extender does offer three different modes which are: Range mode (2.4 GHz band only), Performance mode (5GHz band only), and Mixed mode (dual band). It is important to also keep in mind that these different modes showed no major changes in speeds and kept a sustained speed of 150Mbps, which is slower than other Wi-Fi systems in the market.

This extender may be cheap but might only want to be considered if you’re not trying to do more than extend a cable or DSL broadband connection.