INTRODUCTION

   I don't know if any of you have noticed this but although every single person i know has router/modem WiFi connectivity enabled (both at home and at the office) only a handful really have no complaints about the speed and quality of the signal. At the same time however not many people seem to be aware that powerline adapters can be of tremendous help/use since not only do they offer wired connectivity (via the local electrical grid) which in the majority of cases is much more stable and fast but there are also many models available in the market currently that also feature WiFi connectivity at the push of a button. Although we haven't really reviewed every available powerline adapter with WiFi connectivity several models have passed through our labs just like the latest FRITZ!Powerline 1240E WLAN Set by AVM which is what we'll be talking about today.

   AVM offers a wide range of products for high-speed broadband connectivity and smart home networking. With the FRITZ! product family, AVM is a leading manufacturer of broadband devices for ADSL, cable, and LTE as well as Smart Home products for wireless LAN, DECT, and Powerline in Germany and Europe. The FRITZ!Box is the best known brand for wireless routers in Germany. In 2014 the communications specialist had 500 employees and generated a turnover of 340 million euros. Founded in Berlin in 1986, from the outset the company has focused on developing its own secure, innovative products for broadband connections. FRITZ! stands for fast Internet, the networked home and convenient telephony. Millions of satisfied customers and hundreds of award-winning products confirm AVM’s commitment to high-quality FRITZ! products and first-class customer service.

   The 1240E WLAN set consists from a 1000E adapter (we reviewed those a while back) and the 1240E one but AVM also sells the 1240E on its own (for people who just want to expand their powerline network). So just like the 546E powerline adapter which we also reviewed a while back the brand new 1240E model features wireless-N (IEEE 802.11n 300Mbit/s) connectivity (via the 2.4GHz band) at the push of a button. However this is where their similarities end since on one hand the 1240E features 1200Mbit/s (Gigabit LAN) wired data throughput (the 546E only supported wired throughput of up to 500Mbit/s) while on the other it lacks a integrated electrical socket which means you will need to forsake one of your electrical wall outlets. The 1240E can also be used as a repeater and fully supports MIMO (multiple input, multiple output), Eco mode (power saving), QoS (quality of service data prioritization), IPv6 protocol, multicast sessions using IGMP, AES 128-bit encryption and is compatible with IEEE P1901 and HomePlug AV2 powerline adapters. Now i have to admit that after the very good 546E model the lack of a integrated electrical socket is not what i was expecting from AVM but performance is what we care about the most so let's check and see just how fast the brand new FRITZ!Powerline 1240E adapter really is.