

Longer bars indicate better performance.ĭespite being the fastest power-line kit on the market, the D-Link PowerLine AV2 2000 Gigabit Network Extender Kit (DHP-701AV) can't live up to its 2,000Mbps claim. PerformanceĬonsidering its support for the HomePlug AV2 2000, I was hoping that the DHP-701AV would deliver close to a real Gigabit connection speed. If there's no signal or the signal is really bad, the light won't turn on at all. The power-line LED changes its color to red, amber, or green, indicating the quality of the power-line link as OK, good or excellent, respectively. On top, the DHP-700AV has three little LED status lights for the power, the power-line network and the Ethernet connection. Keep in mind that once the security is turned on, the adapter won't work with power-line adapters from other vendors. Making the connection secure is only necessary if you live in a multiple-home building where others can tap into your home network by using a power-line adapter of their own. The former is what creates a secure connection between the adapters, while the latter will restore the adapter's settings to the factory defaults. Next to the Gigabit port, the DHP-700AV has a Simple Connect Button and a recessed Reset button. This is also the case of this D-Link kit - more on this below. In real-world testing, however, I've never seen any power-line adapter that could get even close to the speed of a Gigabit connection. On the paper, this standard has a cap speed of 2,000Mbps. The logic behind D-Link's claim, however, is because the adapter features the latest top-tier Powerline AV2 2000 standard. The DHP-700AV adapter has a Gigabit network port on one side, capping out at 1,000Mbps, which is why there's no way the kit can deliver the 2,000Mbps D-Link claims. It's also compatible with other existing power-line adapters, but for top speed it's recommended that you use adapters of the same speed standard. Like most recent power-line adapters, the D-Link kit lets you add up to 16 wired devices to an existing network.
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So generally, 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. After that, you'll just need another adapter for each additional device that you want to add to the power-line network. Note that you need only two power-line adapters to create the first connection. Since power-line adapters need to be plugged directly into the wall to work well, be prepared to sacrifice one or two power outlets nearby should you choose to use this DHP-700AV adapter.

Thus, the larger it is, the more likely it will block adjacent wall sockets when in use, and the harder it will be to find a good spot to plug it in. The size is important, because the adapter uses a popular snap-in design, resembling a three-prong power adapter for an electronic device. Measuring 3.89 x 2.86 x 1.34 inches, the DHP-700AV is about 50 percent larger than the Netgear PL1200S and is the largest power-line adapter I've seen that doesn't feature a pass-though socket. As it turned out, the two included adapters (model DHP-700AV) are much larger than the photo printed on the box suggests. I was very excited to get my hands on D-Link's PowerLine DHP-701AV power-line adapter kit but was immediately taken aback upon opening the box. The DHP-701AV kit includes two identical adapters.
