A home Wi-Fi router bought five years ago and one available today look almost the same. But the technology under the hood has undergone generational change. Today, they have eliminated the three pain points of setting up a home wireless hotspot poor range, frequent breaks in the link and many blind zones. Result: One router doesn’t always cover an entire apartment. You end up buying wireless repeaters.
No router is perfect for all geographies, but the newer models tend to provide faster, more reliable coverage by harnessing some of tomorrow’s technologies. We have been trying D-Link’s AC 2600 (Model DIR 882) and AC 1900 (DR878) WiFi Routers. Most routers these days work in two bands 2.4GHz and 5GHz and these models are no exception. But they also bring in MU-MIMO also known as Massive MIMO. The acronym stands for Multi User-Multiple In Multiple Out. What this means is a wireless network that allows the transmitting and receiving of more than one data signal simultaneously over the same radio channel. Standard MIMO networks tend to use one or two antennas, like the older WiFi routers. Mu-MIMO can use a large number, even hundreds. The two D-Link routers use four antennas.
By using a smart beam technology, the router can use different antennas to reach different devices PC, TV and phones. It can also switch dynamically from the 2.4GHz band to the 5GHz band depending on the wireless conditions. With a superior processor, the AC 2600 pumps out stronger signals that reach all over the house and is designed to sustain heavy 4K-type video streaming without stutter. The rated data speeds for the AC 2600 are between 2.5 GBPS to 1.73 GBPS depending on the band. But let’s face it no service provider offers such speeds today. If you install the D-Link QoS (Quality of Service app), you can control the router from your phone.
The AC1900 has slightly slower data transfers between 1.3Gbps and 600Mbps. It is priced Rs 9,975 (around Rs 7,500 online) and should be okay for a single storey 2-3 bedroom apartment.
— IndiaTechOnline
