D-Link’s latest mesh router skips compatibility with its Covr gadgets, but flies with the Eagle, handy if you own any of those.
The times they are a changing, and not just because you might be considering a new phone with some sense of yearly regularity. Every piece of technology is bound to get updated in your life at one point, but one of the gadgets often overlooked is the router.
Even though it handles the wireless transmission for so much of what you rely on, it may be the one area we don’t think about an update for.
And yet it might be the one to turn to when in need of faster internet performance at home. Depending on where you got your router from, it could be the gadget to boost speed where you need it, because some WiFi routers are only made to handle the bare minimum, and not the scores of technology we all have in our lives.
That could mean the WiFi router your internet connection came with gets an update, and there’s a new one of those on the way shortly.
It’s an option from D-Link arriving in the company’s “Eagle” range, one of the mesh networking options that uses several access points to create a sort of Venn diagram of wireless networking range and speed. Rather than rely on a router sending a signal from a central position, mesh creates circles of overlapping network that can improve the wireless range at home, even though you typically need to position a few of these around your home.
In D-Link’s latest, the M32 AX3200 Eagle Pro AI mesh wireless router, the idea is still the same as other mesh devices, but there’s a good 3.2Gbps of wireless bandwidth to work with, alongside improvements to range, as well.
Each device looks to include two Gigabit Ethernet ports to keep wired devices connected to the wireless network, which reminds us of D-Link’s Covr mesh networking gadgets.
But make no mistake, these aren’t the same, with the company advising that D-Link’s Eagle and Covr mesh devices are incompatible, even if they both offer WiFi 6’s 802.11ax in a mesh networking setup.
Rather, Eagle uses AI to bolster its connection, while this model, the M32, attempts to understand the wake time for gadgets connecting to the router for transfers in an attempt to save the battery life of those gadgets. Call it a bit of green technology, this hasn’t been designed to save on power at the router’s end, but more at the end of your phone, tablet, or laptop.
The range, however, doesn’t necessarily come cheap, with the two pack of D-Link AX3200 Eagle mesh network gadgets covering as much as 510 square metres for $449.95, while its three-pack will cost $649.99 and cover up to 740 sqm.
