D-Link AC5300 MU-MIMO Ultra Wi-Fi Router (DIR-895L) Review

D-Link AC5300 MU-MIMO Ultra Wi-Fi Router (DIR-895L) - Front View — D-Link AC5300 MU-MIMO Ultra Wi-Fi Router (DIR-895L) – Front View

The D-Link DIR-895L, an AC5300 MU-MIMO Ultra Wi-Fi router, has now been released as the successor to the DIR-890 which was a AC3200 based wireless router. Similar in design to their Taipan, the DIR-895L has 2 additional antennas (total of 8) and comes in a glossy red colour.

“The D-Link AC5300 MU-MIMO Ultra Wi-Fi Router (DIR-895L) delivers the ultimate in Wi-Fi performance, with the fastest Wi-Fi speeds for the most demanding tasks like 4K Video Streaming and high speed multiplayer gaming, all across multiple devices simultaneously.” (D-Link, 2016)

From the recent press release, this wireless router promises to deliver incredible performance with the aid of six key features:

Faster processor – the DIR-895L utilises a 1.4Ghz dual core processor for even faster processing of supported features
4×4 – this unit is capable of supporting 4 simultaneous data streams which provide for increased throughput
MU-MIMO – using the latest in MIMO technology, the DIR-895L can provision high-bandwidth wireless signal to multiple devices simultaneously
SmartConnect – dynamic allocation of bandwidth for optimal performance
Advanced AC SmartBeam – provides a more focused and reliable connection
Tri-Band – Uses 2 x 5Ghz and a single 2.4Ghz band to provide more bandwidth for supported devices

D-Link AC5300 MU-MIMO Ultra Wi-Fi Router (DIR-895L) – Right View

D-Link AC5300 MU-MIMO Ultra Wi-Fi Router (DIR-895L) – Left View

D-Link AC5300 MU-MIMO Ultra Wi-Fi Router (DIR-895L) – Front View

D-Link AC5300 MU-MIMO Ultra Wi-Fi Router (DIR-895L) – Rear View

The D-Link DIR-895L specifications:

Device Interfaces	802.11 ac/n/g/b/a Wireless LAN Four 10/100/1000 Gigabit LAN Ports 10/100/1000 Gigabit WAN Port One USB 3.0 Port One USB 2.0 Port
LEDs	Power Internet WLAN 2.4GHz WLAN 5GHz USB 2.0 USB 3.0
Antenna	8 x Detachable
Wireless Operating Frequency	2.4 GHz band 2 x 5 GHz band
Standards	IEEE 802.11ac IEEE 802.11n IEEE 802.11g IEEE 802.11b IEEE 802.11a IEEE 802.3 IEEE 802.3ab IEEE 802.3u IEEE 802.3x
Wireless Security	WPA & WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access) Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) PIN/PBC
Advanced Features	MU-MIMO1 SmartConnect Guest zone mydlink SharePort™ web access Multi-language web setup wizard Advanced AC SmartBeam VPN Passthrough (PPTP/L2TP/IPsec) Advanced QoS QuickVPN - L2TP over IPsec
Advanced Firewall Features	Dual active firewall Network Address Translation (NAT) Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI)
Power	Input: 100 to 240 V AC, 50/60 Hz Output: 12 V DC, 5 A
Dimensions	417.73mm (L) x 262.72mm (W) x 149.6mm (D)

Software

The management software for the DIR-895L is pretty much the same as what we saw with the Taipan minus the ADSL2+ components so I won’t go too much into detail in this review.

D-Link DIR-895L Smart Connect presents both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz as a single network

D-Link DIR-895L SharePort gives you additional application capability via the USB ports

D-Link DIR-895L Guest WiFi is a must for those households that don’t mind sharing their wireless access with guests

D-Link DIR-895L Shipping Firmware — D-Link DIR-895L shipping firmware was the latest one we could find

D-Link DIR-895L QoS Engine — D-Link DIR-895L Drag and drop QoS engine makes the priorisation of traffic child’s play

Performance

Our standard wireless tests were run to assess the performance of the router from 5 different locations:

Same room
Same floor next room separated by a void
Same floor opposite end of house
One floor above
Outside

Same floor as D-Link DIR-895L - Same Room — Same floor as D-Link DIR-895L – Same Room

Same floor as D-Link DIR-895L - Next Room — Same floor as D-Link DIR-895L – Next Room

Same floor as D-Link DIR-895L - Corner Room — Same floor as D-Link DIR-895L – Corner Room

Same floor as D-Link DIR-895L - Outside — Same floor as D-Link DIR-895L – Outside

Floor above D-Link DIR-895L - Corner Room — Floor above D-Link DIR-895L – Corner Room

The signal strength performed better than the Taipan when we tested it. Overall was fairly impressed with it.

Another test we ran was a simple file copy of a 7GB Linux ISO with my Surface Pro 2, firstly with the in-built wireless-N adapter and finally with the Netgear A6210 wireless-AC USB adapter.

D-Link DIR-895L File Copy using Surface Pro 2

D-Link DIR-895L File Copy using a Netgear A6210

Performance was a little disappointing considering the theoretical potential of this router but this was most likely due to the wireless adapters used in testing. This is a fairly important consideration when looking at wireless routers, don’t expect the highest possible speeds from the start if you are not running the exact same wireless standards on your wireless devices.

Final Thoughts

Having reviewed a couple of the new D-Link routers recently, we were fairly excited about getting some hands on time with the DIR-895L and we were not disappointed. Whilst we did experience some slow speeds with file copying on an older device, streaming high definition video to our wireless devices worked as expected.

I love the management interface and made full use of the GUI QoS management tool. Wireless bandwidth contention issues became a thing of the past with the Netflix/YouTube tablets and phones delegated to lower priority.

The unit is large but fortunately can be wall mounted. If you want to make a statement with your router, this shiny red beast is certainly one to consider if you wallet can afford it.