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D-Link Mainstreams Wi-Fi 6 and 5G at CES 2020

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Home and small-business networking solutions major D-Link brought a constellation of 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) products to CES 2020, making the standard's mainstreaming. The company's new lineup includes everything from affordable mainstream Wi-Fi 6 routers to high-end routers for gaming, home mesh kits, and plug-in range extenders. The company also unveiled innovative new 5G routers. These are Wi-Fi 6 routers in which instead of just a 1 GbE wired WAN uplink, you connect to the Internet over 5G mobile networks. This makes your Internet access extremely portable and convenient.

The DWR-2010, DWP-1020, and DWR-978 are D-Link's first 5G-to-802.11ax solutions. The DWR-2010 is a 5G NR "Enhanced Gateway," supporting up to 4 Gbps 5G downlink over 5G NR sub-6 GHz, 802.11ax downstream, and a wired switch that features one 2.5 GbE and three 1 GbE LAN downlinks, and a 1 GbE WAN uplink. The DWR-978 is a 5G gateway with up to 1 Gbps 5G downlink, 802.11ac (up to 2600 Mbps) downlink Wi-Fi, four 1 GbE LAN, and one 1 GbE WAN. There's also an outdoor gateway for your lawn, which supports 5G NR Sub-6 GHz, a stellar 5 GbE LAN port, and can withstand a temperature range from -45°C to 55°C, and offers IP45 water resistance. The three will initially only be available through mobile network service providers and not off-the-shelf.



Next up, D-Link shows us their COVR AX1800 whole-home Wi-Fi 6 mesh kit. With an ability to cover a home with up to 6,000 sq ft (550 m²) area, the COVR AX1800 consists of two components, a router, and a repeater/range-extender. You can pair additional repeaters to extend the coverage area (build the mesh). The router unit features a 1 GbE WAN port, and four 1 GbE LAN ports. Software-side features include IoT support for Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, in-built Ookla SpeedTest, and the D-Link app for iOS/Android. The set that includes the router and repeater is priced at $270, additional repeaters are priced at $130 a pop.



We now move on to the interesting stuff, standalone Wi-Fi 6 routers. While all routers since the beginning of time allow you to add range-extenders, D-Link's new Wi-Fi 6 router range are being marketed as "Mesh routers" even though they are standalone (single piece) units. This is because they support easy Wi-Fi mesh setup with any industry standard mesh repeater. The DIR-X5460 leads the pack with dual-band (574 Mbps + 4800 Mbps) Wi-Fi over 4 simultaneous streams, 7.5 dBi antennae, 1 GbE WAN, and 4-port GbE LAN. Available from later in Q1, it will be priced at $280.

The DIR-X2460 is positioned a notch below, with dual-band (574 Mbps + 1800 Mbps) WLAN, 1 GbE WAN and 4-port GbE LAN, and the easy mesh setup feature. This box commands a $160 price, and will be available in Q3-2020. We enter mainstream territory with the DIR-X1860, with its dual-band (574 Mbps + 1200 Mbps) WLAN, 1 GbE WAN, 4-port 1 GbE LAN, and easy mesh setup. Available from Q2-2020, it will be priced at $140. The DIR-X1560 is at the tail-end of the dual-bank AX series, with 300 Mbps + 1200 Mbps WLAN, high-gain 7.5 dBi antennae, 1 GbE WAN + 4-port 1 GbE LAN, and easy mesh setup. Available from later in Q1-2020, it will go for $120.


On our way out, we spotted the DAP-X1870, a delightful and convenient, pluggable Wi-Fi 6 range-extender with 574 + 1800 Mbps WLAN, and a single 1 GbE port that either works as uplink to your router, ISP (in AP mode), or a LAN downlink. Available from Q2-2020, the DAP-X1870 will be priced at $130.

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How on earth that last thing will not pop out of the US mains socket?

Duct tape?
 
How on earth that last thing will not pop out of the US mains socket?

Duct tape?

I have something similar from TP-Link and they stay quite nicely in the socket. Obviously not as well as they would in a schuko socket, but they don't fall out.

How someone would even consider buying D-Link on the other hand...
 
Meanwhile, I'm still on wifi N, waiting for home internet speeds to get anywhere close to wifi speeds.
 
I have a WIFI 6 adapter in my current rig and it is faster than the 9260 in every regard. I wish I could buy a WIFI 6 router for these prices from Asus or Netgear. I have had too many bad experiences to trust my money to Dlink for networking.
 
Wouldn't work with D-Link myself, but I have to say WiFi 6 is nice indeed.

After tinkering with the TP-Link AX3000 (for fun, do not recommend at all) I picked up the Asus RT-AU88x on the last Black Friday Sale, added the Merlin firmware, and changing a few settings only accessible by SSH directly like disabling pinging of Microsoft servers every few seconds, it's a pretty good router.
 
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Meanwhile, I'm still on wifi N, waiting for home internet speeds to get anywhere close to wifi speeds.
It's not just about internet speeds though, as some of technology advancements from 802.11n makes Wi-Fi more responsive and more power efficient. You also have a lot of new security additions, especially if you have an old router that doesn't get updated or doesn't run a third party firmware.
That said, no point jumping on 802.11ax yet, as it's pretty much a live beta test at this point in time.
 
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