D-Link DIR-865L Cloud Gigabit Router AC1750 review

STREAMING MEDIA

To make the most of the DIR-865L’s 802.11ac speeds, you can download the D-Link SharePort Mobile app from the Apple App Store or Google Play. SharePort Mobile lets you access media and files stored on drives attached to the DIR-865L’s single USB port. The app’s simple, and is all the better for it.

SharePort Mobile’s main menu is comprised of six icons that denote different categories, such as music, movies and files. Select a category and you’re presented with a list of all the files stored on the attached USB drive within that category. You can also search by folder and mark specific files as favourites. SharePort Mobile even lets you set up Dynamic DNS so that you can access attached USB storage when you’re away from your home or office.

The D-Link DIR-865L’s web interface is fairly well organised

We used SharePort Mobile on our iPad and had no problem watching MPEG4 and H.264 videos, but couldn’t watch Xvid, DivX, MKV or WMV videos. We had no problem viewing JPG or PNG photos, opening PDF files or listening to MP3 music, but we couldn’t open docx files. This limited file format support may annoy some users, especially if you’re used to Synology’s excellent DS series of apps that let you browse and interact with documents and media on Synology NAS devices.

The DIR-865L is a good unit that’s easy to set up and maintain. It also has all the high-level features we expect from a high-end router, such as port forwarding, guest access, DLNA media streaming and Dynamic DNS support. The D-Link DIR-865L might not be as fast as other 802.11ac routers, but it’s considerably cheaper. However, we’d rather spend the extra and buy the faster Netgear R6300 .