A Performance Powerhouse

D-Link has been pushing their Cloud feature on all their products including IP cameras and NAS Boxes lately – with the ability to managed all of them through the comfort of a PC, smartphone or tablet. Now how does this work with their latest router offering, the D-Link DIR865L router.

Important Things!

  • 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac wireless LAN
  • Four 10/100/1000 Gigabit LAN ports
  • USB 2.0 port

Out of the box, you receive the usual unit, power adapter and Ethernet cable plus some manuals. The design of the DIR865L is very simplistic and slim – nothing overly bulky. On the back, you’ll see 4x Gigabit LAN Ports, the Internet Port, reset/power button and the USB 2.0 Port.

 

Setting up the DIR865L is quick but only if you’re experienced. There’s no inclusion of a setup CD which will make it harder for users who lack networking knowledge. Setup requires access through the router’s IP on a web browser. I had a few issues at the start with gaining access, mostly because the browsers I’ve used timed out. So Internet Explorer becomes useful for once. It’s a minimal thing to look at but you need to cater for the overall audience, beginner and experienced.

After gaining access, the web interface looks similar to other D-Link routers I’ve used before. It’s easy to navigate and offers plenty of options for router customisation like Guest networking, port forwarding and QOS etc. Each option includes a short help context explaining what each functions do just in case you forget what it does.

The DIR865L uses the new 802.11ac technology so overall it’s blazingly fast. Transferring data across your network works tremendously. I had the DIR865L connected to my home theatre setup like the Xbox 360, so push media streamed without hassles. Testing the distance of the signal with a laptop, I was able to utilise the speeds within the far reaches of my house (3 stories) with a solid speed of 150Mbps.  It works incredibly well but only if you have a 802.11AC Adapter.

QoS is important to gamers and the DIR865L does it well. I had routers with QoS issues before where it fails to provide the right bandwidth for certain programs. With the DIR865L, I was able to play online video games while having skype or a download running on another PC.

Being a Cloud router, you can connect the DIR865L using the available iPhone and Android apps. The myDlink could app helps you monitor your router/network activities from your smartphone – like how many users are on the network, bandwidth and history. It’s great to keep an eye on your network with this app and also helps parents monitor their child’s internet browsing.

The other app available is Shareport but somehow we couldn’t get it working properly. The idea of remotely accessing your USB drive connected device would be awesome if the app actually supports it fully. There was countless issues where the app will refuse to play some video files yet play another. Works but only when it wants to.

Overall the D-Link DIR865L is a fast router and something that Gamers or heavy bandwidth users should look into. The Cloud side is a little of a let-down as most of the functions didn’t work adequately all the time but when it does, it’s brilliant. If you can forget that, the D-Link DIR865L is a performance powerhouse on all fronts.

 PROS

• Performance and Speed
• Sleek Minimalistic Design
• Sharing Compatibilities

CONS 

• No Simplified Setup for Beginners
• Only One USB Port
• Buggy Apps

This review unit was provided by D-Link Australia. The router was reviewed in the mindset of the general consumers.