I just purchased and installed a second one; I now have 5 bar signal strength on three 2.4Ghz channels and three 5Ghz channels on all three floors of my house.
My D-Link DIR-825 Dual Band router (installed in the basement) could barely transmit the 5Ghz signal to the second floor; so I rarely had any of my mobile devices using the wide open 5Ghz channels. In addition, the 2.4Ghz signal strength was not that impressive (largely due to the metal heating ducts and tile kitchen floor the signal had to pass through); so I only had a few areas in my house where I could enjoy streaming videos and fast web browsing.
Last year I installed a Securifi Almond range extender (ran an Ethernet wire to the family room and configured it as a wired Access Point with the same SSID and password as the DIR-825 router in the basement). While that gave me full 2.4Ghz coverage on all three floors of the house, it did not have 5Ghz capability. Using the WiFi Analyzer Android app, I could see there were up to 12 other routers (from the nearby neighbors) transmitting on the 3 main 2.4Ghz channels (1, 6, 11). So at times, my internet speed slowed down because of the same-channel 2.4Ghz traffic. However, there were none detected on any of the 5Ghz channels.
So when I found the DAP-1650 range extender was released (I believe the only simultaneous dual-band, access-point configurable, range extender available), I quickly ordered one. It worked so well, I purchased a second one.
I now have the DIR-825 router in the basement configured with channel 11 (2.4Ghz) and channel 40 (5Ghz).
The first DAP-1650 installed in the family room configured with channel 1 (2.4Ghz) and channel 161 (5Ghz).
The second DAP-1650 is installed in a second floor bedroom configured with channel 6 (2.4Ghz) and channel 153 (5Ghz).
The three 2.4Ghz channels are under one SSID/password and the three 5Ghz channels are on a different SSID/password (The two SSIDs have 2G or 5G in the name to tell them apart). All mobile devices automatically switch channels to lock on the strongest one at any given time; I only have to manually select between the 2.4 or 5 Ghz SSIDs.
I changed the second DAP-1650's device ID to dlinkap2 (vs the default of the first one: dlinkap), so I can monitor/configure each DAP-1650 separately.
I now have 5 bars of 2.4Ghz coverage anywhere in the house, driveway, and yard (usually at my Comcast maximum 30MB/sec download speed). The 5Ghz signal is 4-5 bars anywhere inside the house (consistent 30MB/sec speed); outside the signal drops considerably, so the mobile devices jump over to the 2.4Ghz channels. Inside the house, I primarily stay attached to the 5Ghz channels because they have no competing traffic from the neighbors. Speed is faster and does not drop off at any time.
I will probably disable two of the 2.4Ghz channels and just use the one DAP-1650 in the family room to support the three older tablets/laptops that only have 2.4Ghz channels.
BTW - On the DAP-1650 in the family room, I have a PlayStation, TV, and Blu Ray player attached to the three available Ethernet ports (Ethernet port 1 is attached to the DIR-825 in the basement); so I was able to remove the small D-Link 4-port switch (DGS-1005G) I was using with the Almond.
I wanted to connect several computers and an Xbox together by ethernet and then have them all connect to the existing WiFi network in our house, which is old (1907) construction with plaster walls, etc., and about 3600 sf. The WiFi router is downstairs and the units to be connected are upstairs. I didn't want to generate a new extended WiFi signal upstairs because I had previously tried using an extender and it seemed to interfere with our TV system, which uses WiFi to send programming throughout the house. So I wanted a bridge, not an extender.
This unit was easy to install, received strong 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz signals from our downstairs router, and now provides 40 Mbps download and 11 Mbps upload speeds, which is the maximum promised by our ISP (CenturyLink in Seattle). The devices connected together by ethernet can now communicate with one another at a much higher speed, which was the point of the exercise.
My only complaint is that the instructions that came with the Dlink unit were totally focused on its use as an extender. To configure it as a bridge or wireless access point (the other two possibilities), you first need to connect to it by WiFi and run their installation wizard in your browser.. Instructions on how to run the wizard are pretty clear but I think they should have said explicitly how to configure a bridge or WAP.
Connected the D-Link AC1200 to my Asus AC68U router through a switch. The purpose was to use the D-Link as a hard wired access point in the lower level of my house to provide high performance WIFI coverage throughout. I have the NETGEAR GS108E 8-Port switch that I use to run hard wire to each bedroom, living room and basement. I essentially have it set up: Internet to Modem to Router to Switch to D-Link Access Point. I set up both 2.5G and 5G SSIDs with the exact name and pw as my Asus router. This enable my devices to switch between the Asus and D-Link automatically. The setup took a solid 15-30 minutes and now I have full bar wireless coverage in every area of my house and yard. I've included a quick diagram of how I set it up. Note that the D-Link also has 4 ports that can be used for additional hardwire access if needed.
A Bridge is NOT an extender. It can do that, but it is actually a converter of wireless signal to a wired signal. The back has four Cat-6 cable ports, so it is also a Switch. You put it up high where you get a good signal from your Wi-Fi transmitter and it provides a strong signal to you via the Ethernet wires. It uses its larger antennas to make a strong connection with your transmitter, and sends back a strong signal to the transmitter.
This model works with AC Wi-Fi transmitters, but also is back compatible with previous versions. For maximal throughput you need to have all your devices set the fastest protocol or it slows down the entire system. That seven-year-old laptop still using protocol G will reduce everybody's speed since the Wi-Fi transmitter needs to pace it self to the slowest receiver.
This device actually solves that. You turn off the slow Wi-Fi in the older device, run a wire to this unit and it communicates with your main Wi-Fi transmitter using the fastest (current) protocol. It then sends down the wire a very fast signal to the ancient computer which is plugged into it.
I use mine to send and receive Wi-Fi across the house and the D-Link Wireless AC1200 switch has wires that go to my TV, Blu-Ray, Roku and a small computer at that end of the house. They all talk to the Internet at about 50 Meg. They all think they are hard-wired to the Internet. I do not tell them otherwise.
Like all computer devices it comes with a default password for the screen that sets them up. Please change this so that you are not a target for bad guys. I advise writing your unit's and Wi-Fi transmitter's passwords on a piece of paper that you tape to the bottom of each unit. Years later you will be thankful, and it is not a security risk. If a stranger is in your house looking at the passwords at the bottom of your Bridge, your problem is not the password.
Delighted with the performance on this.
Setup is simple.
How I used it:
it's in an Ethernet wired household that also has wifi. I'm plugging this into Ethernet and using 3 of these as APs to extend wifi everywhere.
Because it also has 5 gigabit (others products have 100mbit, beware) ports it serves as a good hub near the entertainment system, near the pc/office, etc.
Net result: I have gigabit eithernet everywhere and wifi that runs full speed all the way to the edges of my property outside.
How I set it up:
Didn't use WAP but that's an option. Plugged an Ethernet cable in, browsed to the dlink.local website (it's printed along with MAC address and such on a sticker on the bottom as well as a convenient "business card' that comes with it).
I flipped it to AP mode, set the wifi SSID and password to match the wireless router I was already using. I set each to a separate channel (see complaint below)
I went ahead and hard set the local IPs and renamed the APs - only done because I have 3 of them and it makes it easier to open a browser to just one.
Only complaint:
This may not apply to you: It has automatic channel selection. It will find and empty 2.4 and 5ghz wifi band and choose that. Per a wifi scanning/metering app I use it appears to do this well. However: I have 3 of these plus the main router and a few "leaks" from neighbor's wifi. At the end of the day all 4 of them couldn't sort out clear channels and it took some human intervention to hard set the channels on clear bands.
Would buy again. Would recommend.
Feature Product
- DUAL BAND WIFI CONNECTIVITY - Greater flexibility and reduced interference. The device has the utility built-in to a ROM chip in the device itself.
- WIRELESS EXTENDER AC1200 - High-speed wireless connectivity to devices
- GIGABIT ETHERNET PORTS - High-speed wired connection up to 4 devices
- Wi-Fi PROTECTED SETUP - Push button for easy connection to a wireless network
- FLEXIBILITY - Compatible with any wireless router brand
- BACKWARD COMPATIBLE - Wireless 802.11n/g/b/a backward compatibility
- SECURE WIRELESS ENCRYPTION - Offers WPA or WPA2 security
- AC1200 Wi-Fi speed (up to 867Mbps and 300Mbps)
- Range Extender, Access Point and Media Bridge Modes
- 4 Gigabit Ethernet Ports
- Easy Setup using the QRS Mobile app
- Works with Wi-Fi certified routers and devices
Description
The DAP-1650 Wireless AC1200 Gigabit Range Extender is the ideal solution for improving the wifi coverage and wireless signal strength of any wireless network. Delivering the next generation 802.11ac wireless connectivity and four gigabit Ethernet ports the D-Link DAP-1650 provides high-speed connectivity to stream HD video and connect multiple devices to your home network. Easy to setup with the push of the WPS button or use the QRS Mobile app on your iOS or Android mobile device. The DAP-1650 is designed to operate as a Wifi Range Extender, Access Point or Media Bridge providing flexible operation modes for any network environment.
Update 10/5/2017
I found the issue. It turns out the problem was that my router was dropping the connection and blacklisting
the bridge so it was unable to connect afterward. What I did to fix this was to put the router on an
electrical timer so it reboots every night and its cache is cleared. The bridge connection issue has since
gone away.
ORIGINAL REVIEW
It takes a very long time to connect to the internet. After I re-boot it, it's hit or miss. I use it as a WiFi bridge.
After the DHCP lease expiration (the Motorola router is the DHCP server), it does not always connect back to
the router. The 3 devices I have connected to it via ethernet are left without a connection. I'm not sure
why it takes so long for it to boot and find the internet and also why it's so hit-and-miss after a DHCP lease
expiration. It seems that assigning a static IP on the router side by using the MAC address of the D-Link
may hold some promise of reliability. When it works, it works. When it doesn't, it takes a lot of troubleshooting
to get it to work.
Started work in a building which had insanely terrible cellular connection and the company would not let me use my personal laptop on the corporate network. Was able to utilize this device from a window to connect to a public wifi outside (that was not reachable from my desk), onto a separately named WPA2 network that this created. Connection is fine and unit has not crashed in over 3 weeks of using the device.
I had tried these two extenders previously that had their own issues that I'll mention below:
D-Link DAP-1520 Wifi Extender First was this lower level D-Link which would actually be able to do the same bridging as this unit but unfortunately would overheat and crash every 2-3 days. I would have to walk over to the unit to unplug and plug it back in for it to start working again.
NETGEAR Nighthawk Mesh X4S (EX7500) Next was this Netgear. This one had a superior interface as well as having this Fastlane technology which would maintain a separate wifi band to bridge the connections thereby removing the 50% speed penalty found on all other extenders (including this D-Link). The problem was that no matter what I tried, my Iphone 8 and my coworker's Iphone 7 would not be able to connect to the extender's network. My laptop would be able to connect fine so there was something up with the firmware. I tried 2 of these units before moving onto this D-Link.
I’ve had this extender installed for about a month now. It’s located in my basement, with the main modem in an area directly above it on the floor above. Although I moved it around my entire basement for testing signals, this particular spot resulted in the best connection to the modem (2 bars lit of the 3 total…could never get all 3 bars lit). I have Comcast Xfinity service that gets between 200mbps and 250mpbs speed from the wifi-modem on the main floor. Connected to this extender, given the time of day, I’ve seen speeds up to 175mpbs…not bad at all if you ask me! That said, the item is consistently in the 2-bar signal strength range (saw it drop to 1 on 2 occasions) and I have never lost connection to the modem. Set up was very simple…press the WPS button on your router then with a couple of minutes press the same on the extender and within a few minutes the connection is made. I’m very pleased with the purchase and recommend it to all as well.
I bought this as a replacement for multiple TP-LINK TL-WA901ND access points, which both died about 1 year after purchase and warranty ran out, and a Netgear WAC104-100NAS which was difficult to setup and had to be rebooted every 24 to remain functional.
This D-Link was very easy to setup and so far has remained stable. Just plug it in to your router using long run CAT 5 cables built into the walls, look at your router's DHCP table and figure out which address your router assigned to it, and connect to that address via your favorite web browser. Make sure you upgrade to the latest firmware. It has a very nice capability to auto update over the network through the web interface. It could not connect to the download server automatically but I downloaded the update onto my PC and did the upgrade manually. After that, the auto update seemed to function properly.
Dead spots are a thing of the past now.
I will post any changes in reliability, but so far, this seems to be the best of the three I have tried.
I was struggling to get adequate wireless coverage into the far reaches of our upstairs and basement. Though our Comcast router nicely transmits across our main floor, I have not been overly happy with speeds and signal in these far flung places. So, I did some research into what I needed....and quickly started reading reviews/pros/cons of installing additional routers, extenders and access points (APs). One article I found helpful was: http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-wi-fi-extender/
So after I did this initial research, I decided to go the AP route because of what I read about extenders and how they are essentially "sharing" the bandwidth from the main router. Extenders are a great product, I just decided to go down the AP path. If you decide to go down the extender path, I would have gone with the NETGEAR AC1200 High Power 700mW Dual Band because I could use one band to communicate to the main router and then broadcast the other. Now on to my story....
We recently built the house we are living in and although the house was wired with cat5e, they only wired the jacks to be phone lines (i.e., only used 2 of the 8 connections within the cat5e cable. Does anyone still use land lines? :) I decided to fix this and redo all of these jacks in the house to ethernet lines. I spent a couple hours one night watching some YouTube videos and was ready to go. I have learned more about punch downs, cable testers, switches, etc than I ever wanted to, but I just finished my project and connected this D-link AP about 7 days ago.
I followed the instructions and it worked like a charm. The user interface was very easy to use and configure as an AP....the only thing I would recommend is that you think ahead what SSIDs and passwords (one each for the separate 2.4 and 5GHz bands) you want to use because I took a moment in this step and was sent back to the beginning for taking too long. Other than that, I honestly could not believe how easy it was and how closely it matched the instruction booklet. Well done, D-link!!
I have had the AP plugged into my network for about a week now, and have had no problems with dropped connections as some others have indicated in the posts. As for speeds, I am getting a respectable 126 Mbps on the 5GHz band, which is exactly what I get on the main floor of the house with the main router. This is good considering we pay for up to 105 Mbps....which is the maximum I can get in my area.
I went ahead and ordered another one of these for the upstairs because I am so happy with it....
