D-Link DIR-890L review

Wireless speeds were respectable if not stratospheric. On the 2.4GHz band with our laptop’s integrated 802.11n adaptor we saw speeds of 46.9Mbit/s at 10m and 7.8Mbit/s at 25m. The drop-off in speed at the greater distance was disappointing. Speeds on the 5GHz band were very respectable at close distance, however, where we saw a huge 195.7Mbit/s at 10m. Again, though, there was a big drop off in speeds at 25m, with our throughput dropping to 58Mbit/s.

Switching to a D-Link 802.11ac DWA-182 USB adaptor (£25 inc VAT from www.cclonline.com) and 802.11ac mode, we saw speeds of 279.6Mbit/s and 219Mbit/s at 10m and 25m; very strong results, but we would have liked to see higher considering the high price of the router. Unlike with the Asus RT-AC3200, there was no performance difference between the router’s two bands.

The DIR-890L’s tri-band specification makes it a good option if you have lots of devices you need to get online at once, and we appreciated its easy-to-use interface. It’s very quick with D-Link’s own USB adaptor but its 802.11n performance with our laptop’s integrated wireless chipset wasn’t brilliant, and it’s very expensive, so misses out on an award. Consider the TP-Link Archer C9 if you’re looking for a more affordable option.