Like many townhouses built in the days of thick brick walls and stone soundproofing, my place isn’t ideally designed for internet access.
A stock standard NBN modem (TPLink VR1600v) plugged into the wall in the main living space fails to provide a connection in the front room, approximately 25 metres away. It’s a massive problem, and one that is expertly solved by D-Link’s DAP-1610 AC1200 Mesh Wi-Fi Range Extender.
The DAP-1610 plugs directly into the wall, and is a breeze to install, either by cycling through a step-by-step installation that is impossible to misunderstand, or by directly interacting with your router.
Specs-wise, the 1610 offers high-speed, dual-band speeds of up to 1200Mbps, giving 300Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and a generous 900Mbps on the 5GHz band. I found it works best when plugged in rather near your router – unless you live in a palace, you’ll find it eliminates all your dead zones easily, and having the extender near the router helps if ever you need to troubleshoot – which thankfully hasn’t been an issue for me yet. Otherwise, you can check the LED lights for the signal strength, and pick the perfect midway place between your router and your dead zones.
Either way, it works a treat, and is a failsafe way to ensure you can move freely – a necessity now that multiple people are working from the same home.
If you do happen to live in the aforementioned palace, pairing a few of these throughout your house will activate Mesh Smart Roaming, giving you the strongest possible signal as you move from room to room.
It also uses the same Wi-Fi name as your home network – a simple thing, but one that avoids unnecessary complications.
For $129.95, this is an easy and affordable solution to those dead spots in your home, and a lot cheaper than upgrading your modem, too.
SPECS
-High-speed Wi-Fi connectivity for all your devices
-Dual-band with combined speeds up to AC1200 Wi-Fi throughout your home
-Pair with a compatible D-Link Wi-Fi 5 Mesh Router to create a seamless D-Link Wi-Fi Mesh Network
-Supports WPA3™ wireless encryption
-Gigabit Ethernet port for access point mode or to connect a wired device to your network
-IPv6 ready, meeting the demands for the next generation of Internet
-Foldable antennas for maximum wireless coverage and reliability
-Sleek and discreet wall-plug design blends well into any home environment
