Why You Can Trust CNET Extollo LANSocket 1500 Powerline Adapter Kit review: The fastest way to extend your network
Looking to extend your wired network without having to sweat about the cables? The Extello's LANSocket 1500 kit might just be what you want. Here's CNET's full review.
The Extollo LANSocket 1500 Powerline Adapter kit has everything one would look for in power-line networking. It delivers top performance, requires no networking know-how to use, and at the current cost of just $90 (with two adapters included), is among the least expensive Powerline AV2 adapter kits. What's more, the adapters feature a pass-through electrical outlet, allowing you to plug other devices into it. This frees up any outlet it's actually plugged into.
Extollo LANSocket 1500 Powerline Adapter Kit
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
In all, other than the bulky size and the fact that it doesn't deliver close to the top speed of the Powerline AV2 standard (a drawback shared by all other current power-line adapters), there's not much else to complain about.
For those in the market for an effective way to extend their wired network without having to run a bunch of network cables around the house, the LANSocket 1500 is an easy recommendation. If you don't need a pass-through socket and want something a bit more compact, the Netgear Powerline 1200 kit is also a great choice. Or you can check out this list of top power-line adapters for one that fits your budget and needs more closely.
The LANSocket 1500 kit includes two identical power-line adapters.
Practical design
The Extollo LANSocket 1500 kit is both similar to and different from the rest of high-end power-line adapters I reviewed in the past few months.
Similar because the kit includes two identical adapters, each using the popular three-prong snap-in design, looking just like a regular power adapter. The adapters themselves are bulky, measuring 2.5 by 1.5 by 4.5 inches. By comparison, the LAN Socket adapter is a tad longer and thicker than the D-Link DHP-700AV adapter but also noticeably narrower. It's definitely larger than than the Netgear Powerline 1200. This means you will have slightly easier time finding a wall socket to plug it into than with the D-Link, yet a bit harder to work with than the Netgear. Generally, with an adapter of this size, you can't help feeling concerned about the amount of space it takes up at the power outlet panel.
What makes the LANSocket different from the rest, however, is even when it obstructs a surrounding socket, it doesn't stop you from plugging in another device, thanks to a built-in pass-though electrical outlet on its face. And since power-line adapters need to be plugged directly into the wall to work well, this extra outlet means the LANSocket can be useful even at the place where there's only one wall outlet. You then can plug another device in on top of it, or even use a power-strip and share that single wall socket with multiple other devices. Generally, power-line adapters need to be plugged directly into the wall to work well.
It's also worth noting that while the LANSocket adapter is big, it's actually still quite compact for one that features a pass-through socket. The Netgear Powerline AV+ 500, which came out four years ago and shares a similar design, for example, is almost double this size.
Easy setup
The Extollo LANSocket 1500 kit includes two adapters and two short network cables. Generally, you need two to create the first power-line connection. There's a well-illustrated setup poster on how to do this, but chances are you won't need it. The process is dead simple. First, you hook up one of the adapters to your existing router, then connect a second adapter to almost any device that has a network port, such as a desktop computer, a printer, a game console or even a Wi-Fi access point. After that, plug each adapter into a 110v wall socket and you're done. The adapters turn the electrical wiring in between them into a network cable and extend the computer network from one to the other. Note that power-line adapters tend to work the better the shorter the length of the electrical wiring in between them. The maximum supported length is 985 feet.
After the first connection is established, you'll need need just one more adapter for each additional device that you want to add to your power-line network. For the most part, the rule of power-line networking is you buy the number of adapters equal to the number of wired clients you want to connect, plus one. The Extollo LANSocket 1500 allows for adding up to 16 devices to an existing network. Currently you can only purchase it as a kit of two, but this kit will also works with power-line adapters form other vendors as long as you don't turn on the security feature.
With the pass-though electrical outlet, the LANSocket 1500 adapter won't hog the wall socket all to itself.
Features
The LANSocket adapter has a Sync button on its right side that you can use to creates a private network between the adapters. All you have to do is press and hold this button for 3 seconds on the first adapter, then, within two minutes, do the same on any other adapters. This security feature is intended only for multiple-home buildings, such as a condo, to keep others from tapping into your home network by using a power-line adapter of their own. Keep in mind that once the security is turned on, the LANSocket adapters won't work with those from other vendors anymore so you need to choose between security and compatibility. To revert the adapters back to the factory-default setting, just press and hold the Sync button on each adapter for 10 seconds.
On top LANSocket adapter has three indicator lights for power, the power line and the LAN port. The power line light changes its color to indicate the quality of the power-line connection: green, amber and red, indicating excellent, medium or low, respectively. You can use this light to figure out what wall socket is the best to plug into.
Similar to the D-Link DHP-701AV, the Extollo LANSocket 1500 support the latest Powerline AV2 standard, which means that on paper, it should have a top speed of close to 2,000Mbps. However, since each adapter comes with a Gigabit network port, the top speed, in theory, is 1,000Mbps.
Performance
Like the rest of the high-end power-line adapters I've reviewed, in reality the Extollo LANSocket 1500 doesn't deliver the true speed of Gigabit Ethernet -- but it did inch closer in my tests. This is the fourth time in a row, starting with the Comtrend G.hn, that the newest adapter kit I've reviewed performed better than the one that preceded it.
I tested the LANSocket 1500 kit in a near optimal conditions, using two two sockets just about 10 feet from each other and got a sustained copy speed of 404Mbps, topping the chart by a small margin. This is about half the real-world speed of a Gigabit Ethernet connection, and many times faster than a regular Ethernet connection. At this speed, you can basically perform any heavy networking tasks, including streaming 4K video, with ease.
Note, however, that the speed of a power-line connection depends a lot on the condition of the home's electrical wiring. If you live in an old home, you will likely experience slower performance. In most cases, though, the LANSocket will still be fast enough even when you don't experience its top performance.
CNET Labs' power-line networking performance
Conclusion
With the LANSocket 1500 Powerline Adapter kit, Extollo manages to ease the pain of a common fact: Power-line adapters are huge and will likely eat up more space on your wall socket area than you'd prefer. The pass-through socket not only makes the adapter's bulkiness forgivable, it also means you can use them when there's only one wall socket without unplugging another device.
This is the power-line adapter to get, and it's only buoyed by its friendly price. At just $90 for a kit of two units, it's significantly cheaper than the D-Link DHP-701AV, which is not as fast as the Extollo, and even bulkier. However, if you don't need the pass-through socket, and want to save a bit more, the Netgear Powerline 1200 and the Trendnet TPL-408E2K are also excellent choices that are slightly slower but cost just $80 and $60, respectively.