D-Link have released the DSL-2890AL. It is one of the first to support 802.11ac and touted as the new wireless router for gamers. It retails for $299.95AUD
You can set up this router in one of two ways. I primarily use macs in my home office and found it quite easy to set up. You can either set it up by using the provided web interface or use the CD-ROM to register it with D-Link’s cloud service. As my macs don’t have a CD rom I opted to manually set it up initially through the web interface.
You can also set it up using the MyDlink cloud service. Setting it up this way has its advantages. You can monitor your router remotely and see what is being accessed on the computers connected to the modem. You can also enable and disable computers remotely and block certain devices from accessing the network.
The DSL-2890AL is a much nicer router than most others on the market. It’s offers a refreshing design that is tall and cylindrical. All six antenna are internal and all of the ports are located vertical along the back. The top of the unit has a lot of ventilation holes and as expected the signal lights are along the front.
The main problem I had with the design of the router is the length of the power cord. It seemed extremely short for something that could be place in a variety of different spots. Even though it doesn’t have a power brick it still shocked me that the cord was so short.
The DSL-2890AL’s wireless performance is sensational. As soon as I changed it over from my previous Apple Extreme router I noticed a huge speed increase. When transferring files on the local network I received a speed of 10-15mbps on a 2.4ghz network and 12-22 on a 5ghz network. Obviously this will fluctuate depending on your environment and interference but it’s safe to say that this is one of the fastest routers on the market.
Gaming was absolutely incredible with this router. I tested out a ton of gaming on my PS3 and Vita and never faced any issues. My devices never failed to connect and it was always a solid experience without any lag or disconnection.
The best thing I noticed about this router is that it didn’t fluctuate in speed like most others routers. I could always expect a solid similar speed within a reliable distance. The only flaw that I can find in this router is that the distance seemed to be a small problem. I noticed that the wi-fi didn’t travel quite as far as my Apple Extreme without losing speed and reliability.
The only other place I can fault this router is when connecting a printer. This seemed a lot more cumbersome that I would’ve liked. There was no included software for my Mac and finding it on the D-Link website was also a struggle.
Connecting a hard drive and watching videos through the SharePort Mobile app on my iPad was such a great experience. It was extremely simple to set up and easy to access for the whole family.
Overall, the DSL-2890AL is an extremely exciting product for gaming. It’s an extremely futuristic product with a great design and speeds and reliably is something beyond other routers that i’ve recently used. Distance was a small issue but the great speeds far outweighed this. You shouldn’t have any issues setting the router up which makes it a great purchase for any person. You’ll be hard pressed to find a better router on the market.
