D-Link DIR-868L Wireless AC1750 Dual Band Gigabit Cloud Router – Speed Test
| Review At A Glance | |
|---|---|
| Product | D-Link DIR-868L Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Cloud Router [product link] |
| Summary | D-Link's top-of-line draft AC offering of second-generation Broadcom-based AC1750 class router with IPv6 support and USB 3.0 port. |
| Pros | + Excellent wireless throughput on 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz + AC1750 (450 Mbps on 2.4 GHz & 1300 Mbps on 5 GHz) |
| Cons | – Wireless-N 2.4 GHz range – Lack of wireless bridge mode |
The D-Link DIR-868L Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Cloud Router is a second-generation Broadcom-based AC1750 class router with IPv6 support and USB 3.0 port. The DIR-868L is capable of delivering concurrent dual-band 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz speeds up to 1.75 Gbps.
This DIR-868L is D-Link’s top-of-line in its draft 802.11ac offering. It supports link rates up to 450 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band and 1300 Mbps on 5 GHz.
Interested to know whether it is a wireless speed demon? Read on.
Speed test methodology
The tests will be conducted using Iperf. Iperf is a network testing tool that can create TCP and UDP data steams and measure the throughput of a network that is carrying them.
A series of upstream and downstream tests will be conducted on:
- Wired to determine the baseline throughput
- Wireless-N 2.4 GHz (20/40 MHz)
- Wireless-N 5.0 GHz (20/40 MHz)
- Wireless-AC 5 GHz (80 MHz)
Three concurrent data streams will be used to saturate the network link between the test nodes over 60 seconds. Sampling of the speed will be captured at 10 seconds interval.
All speed tests are conducted in a typical residential environment. There will be wireless congestions from other wireless devices in the area so do not expect the speeds to be close to lab results. Well, just take that these are real life speed test results.
The speed tests are conducted from two location within the apartment:
- D-Link DIR-868L and wireless client in the same (living) room with line of sight at 3 metres apart
- D-Link DIR-868L in the living room and the wireless client in the study with no line of sight. They are approximately 10 metres apart with concrete in between
Equipments involved in the test
The equipments used in this speed test are:
- D-Link DIR-868L Gigabit Cloud Router (hardware version A1) on firmware 1.00
- HP EliteBook 2560p
- D-Link DWA-182 Wireless AC1200 Dual Band USB adapter (300 Mbps on 2.4 GHz and 867 Mbps on 5 GHz)
- iMac 27″ on wired LAN
The iMac will be connected to the D-Link DIR-868L using an ethernet patch cord. The HP EliteBook 2560p will wirelessly connect to the D-Link DIR-868L via the DWA-182 during the wireless tests.
The wireless client, D-Link DWA-182, is only capable of handling up to 300 Mbps on 2.4 GHz and 867 Mbps on 5 GHz. Hence, this hardware limitation may impact the results on both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. The impact would be more on the 5 GHz band.
Wired Benchmark (LAN to LAN)
| Direction | Dist. (m) | Wall | Min (Mbps) | Avg (Mbps) | Max (Mbps) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Up | - | - | 921 | 931.7 | 939 |
| Down | - | - | 925 | 934.6 | 939 |
I usually do this wired benchmark to identify and eliminate any hardware or software issues that potentially impacts the subsequent speed test results. With a wired LAN speed of 931.7 Mbps write and 934.6 Mbps read in this test, I would say the hardware and software are good to go for more speed tests.
Wireless-N 2.4 GHz (20/40 MHz)
| Direction | Dist. (m) | Wall | Min (Mbps) | Avg (Mbps) | Max (Mbps) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Up | 3 | No | 54.5 | 72.5 | 78.9 |
| Down | 3 | No | 99.9 | 102.3 | 104 |
| Up | 10 | Yes (1) | 22.7 | 33.8 | 43.9 |
| Down | 10 | Yes (1) | 16.5 | 25.6 | 36.6 |
This test is conducted on the Wireless-N 2.4 GHz band using 20/40 MHz channel width at two different locations within the apartment.
The D-Link DIR-868L and DWA-182 combination managed to achieve an average write and read speed of 72.5 Mbps and 102.3 Mbps respectively in the same (living) room.
The write and read speed drops drastically to 33.8 Mbps and 25.6 Mbps respectively when the wireless client is shifted to the study.
Wireless-N 5 GHz (20/40 MHz)
| Direction | Dist. (m) | Wall | Min (Mbps) | Avg (Mbps) | Max (Mbps) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Up | 3 | No | 128 | 148.6 | 161 |
| Down | 3 | No | 210 | 223.3 | 248 |
| Up | 10 | Yes (1) | 141 | 144 | 146 |
| Down | 10 | Yes (1) | 192 | 196 | 202 |
The speed test was repeated on the Wireless-N 5 GHz band using 20/40 MHz channel width. This time round, the D-Link DIR-868L squeezed an average 148.6 Mbps and 223.3 Mbps for write and read speeds respectively.
When the client is shifted to the study, the average write and read speeds dipped slightly to 144 Mbps and 196 Mbps.
The wireless client, D-Link DWA-182, is only capable of handling up to 867 Mbps. Hence, this hardware limitation may have impacted the results on 5 GHz band.
Wireless-AC 5.0 GHz (80 MHz)
| Direction | Dist. (m) | Wall | Min (Mbps) | Avg (Mbps) | Max (Mbps) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Up | 3 | No | 107 | 147.1 | 168 |
| Down | 3 | No | 98.3 | 127 | 139 |
| Up | 10 | Yes (1) | 142 | 152.4 | 156 |
| Down | 10 | Yes (1) | 66.1 | 119.7 | 136 |
The DIR-868L was set to operate on Wireless-AC 5.0 GHz band for this test. With the D-Link DWA-182, the duo managed an average speed of 147.1 Mbps and 127 Mbps for write and read.
When the wireless client was shifted to the study, the average speed remained at 152.4 Mbps and 119.7 Mbps for write and read.
The wireless client, D-Link DWA-182, is only capable of handling up to 867 Mbps. Hence, this hardware limitation may have impacted the results on 5 GHz band.
Wireless range
| Test | Direction | Living Room | Study | Drop in Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N 2.4 GHz | Up | 72.5 | 33.8 | 53.4% |
| N 2.4 GHz | Down | 102.3 | 25.6 | 75% |
| N 5 GHz | Up | 148.6 | 144 | 3.1% |
| N 5 GHz | Down | 223.3 | 196 | 12.2% |
| AC 5 GHz | Up | 147.1 | 152.4 | 3.6% |
| AC 5 GHz | Down | 127 | 119.7 | 5.7% |
Based on the test results so far, it seems to suggests that DIR-868L does not handle distance well for the 2.4 GHz band. In the 802.11n 2.4 GHz tests, the moving of wireless client from the living room to the study resulted in approximately 64% reduction in wireless speeds.
On the other hand, 5 GHz band speeds for both 802.11n 802.11ac were handled pretty well.
Conclusion
| Test | Direction | Min (Mbps) | Avg (Mbps) | Max (Mbps) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wired | Up | 921 | 931.7 | 939 |
| Wired | Down | 925 | 934.6 | 939 |
| N 2.4 GHz | Up | 54.5 | 72.5 | 78.9 |
| N 2.4 GHz | Down | 99.9 | 102.3 | 104 |
| N 5 GHz | Up | 128 | 148.6 | 161 |
| N 5 GHz | Down | 210 | 223.3 | 248 |
| AC 5 GHz | Up | 107 | 147.1 | 168 |
| AC 5 GHz | Down | 98.3 | 127 | 139 |
The D-Link DIR-868L Dual Band Gigabit Cloud Router delivers quite fantastic results for all the speed tests scenarios.
The lower speed results on 802.11ac (wireless-AC) might be attributed to the DWA-182 wireless USB client’s hardware limitation. The DWA-182 hardware can only manage 867 Mbps on the 5 GHz band while the DIR-868L is capable of handing up to 1300 Mbps. Performance is expected to improve with a better wireless client.
Unlike its competitors, there isn’t a bridge mode to fully utilise the wireless-AC 1300 Mbps link. As of this review, you cannot get 2 sets of DIR-868L and set them in wireless bridge mode. Lets hope future firmware revisions will add this feature.
In terms of wireless range, the test results suggest that the DIR-868L handles range better on the 5 GHz than 2.4 GHz band. The wireless throughput on 5 GHz only dipped slightly by 5% when the wireless client is shifted from the living room to study. On the other hand, wireless throughput on the 2.4 GHz band dropped by 60%.
To close it off, D-Link DIR-868L is one of the best AC1750 router in terms of wireless throughput but do keep on eye on the signal strength.
