Need your WiFi to reach a little further in your home? Depending on what you’re running, D-Link’s latest might help.
While we can always hope our wireless networks at home and in the home office are going to be the best they can be, sometimes they just might need a little help. Even the best WiFi routers might need a boost, especially if the rack doesn’t quite go where you need it, such as at the back of a home or out in the shed where you still need it.
Fortunately, there are ways to extend the reach of wireless networks, which is where a range extender comes in. Able to be dropped into a network, these devices boost the range of a network and increase the reach, though they mightn’t do much to improve the speed.
They’re typically made to boost the range of any network, meaning if you rely on one centralised wireless router, they might be able to extend that network to places where the range starts to drop off, like the back of the house.
D-Link has a new model for this, the DAP-1900, that relies on the 802.11ac WiFi 5 connection and delivers up to 1900Mbps of speed, complete with four Gigabit ports at the back for plugging things in. It might be suitable for the TV room, for instance, and could connect wired connections on gaming consoles to a wireless connection, or even to wired computers and printers if you rely on those.
“More connected devices means a greater need for a strong reliable connection covering the entire home,” said Graeme Reardon, Managing Director for D-Link in Australia and New Zealand.
“The new DAP-1900 AC1900 Mesh Wi-Fi Desktop Range Extender helps guarantee this allowing users to place devices anywhere in their home without having to worry about slow or intermittent Wi-Fi connections,” he said.
Reardon mentions that this newbie is also a mesh range extender, though it’s one designed to work specifically with D-Link’s mesh networks, boosting the mesh network in supported networks. That said, in talking to D-Link Australia, we’ve confirmed while the mesh capability only works with D-Link’s mesh network devices and not others from Google or even the EasyMesh standard, the range extender capability can work with any wireless router of any other brand, provided it’s not specifically made for mesh.
That may just boost the number of people this network gadget can work for, while also giving D-Link mesh owners a bit of a boost if they need it.
You’ll find it in stores across Australia shortly for a recommended retail price of $229.95.
