![]() For more on Web interfaces and default IP addresses, check out this post on how to set up a home router. The good news is that many existing routers' default address is 192.168.1.1, so you might not run into any problem at all. If no,t you might need to temporarily change the router's IP afdress to 192.168.1.1 before you can set up the ZyXel PLA4231. But this only works if your existing router also belongs to the same subnet, meaning if it has an IP address in the 192.168.1.x format. This is because the ZyXel PLA4231 comes with a default IP address of 192.168.1.2 and you can get to its Web interface by pointing a Web browser from a connected computer to this IP address. However, if the existing router doesn't support WPS, or is not a Wi-Fi router, things will be a bit harder. ZyXel also has a Powerline AV 500+ adapter of its own, the PLA4205, that will be reviewed later. Most existing power-line adapters come in a kit of two, however. I tried the new ZyXel with a few power-line adapters from different vendors, including the Actiontec PWR511K01, and it worked with all of them. You can get basically any power-line adapter on the market but it's better if you get that supports the same standard, such as one on this list. For this reason, first-time power-line users need to purchase another power-line adapter with the ZyXel PLA4231. This means it's useless just by itself, as you need at least two adapters to create the first power-line connection. Unlike the Netgear XAVNB2001, which comes in a kit that includes a second power-line adapter, the ZyXEL is a single unit. I wish it supported dual-band to also offer a Wi-Fi signal on the faster 5GHz band. For this reason, the real-world output speed is also much lower than 300Mbps. The ZyXel PLA4231's built-in Wi-Fi supports the 300Mbps dual-stream single-band 802.11n standard and works only in the 2.4GHz frequency. In its defense, the Actiontec PWR511K01 doesn't support Gigabit Ethernet either. The situation would improve a great deal if the PLA4231 supported Gigabit Ethernet, instead. This means that at most a wired connection using it will have a speed of 100Mbps, not 500Mbps. In reality, however, the ZyXel PLA4231 is not much faster than the older Netgear XAVNB2001 because its network ports are regular Ethernet, which is capped at 100Mbps. ![]()
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March 2023
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