

This shows that two tested routers have good antenna design and enough power to transmit 5GHz up to 10-metres. They were very close, and the results are the average of five tests at each distance. Tests were with both the AC3000 tri-band and AX5400 dual band on the 5Ghz band using Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G AX smartphone. ** Note that AX only works with AX devices like the latest Samsung Galaxy S20 or iPhone 12 series. If you are a heavy video streamer in HD/FHD/4K or add 1080p, 2K or 4K Wi-Fi security cameras you automatically need the AC3000 or AX5400.
WI FI 6 ROUTER REVIEW TV
* Device estimatesĭevice support numbers are an estimate only and scale up from 10 – starting at one 4K TV (FHD/4K streaming), two laptops, two mobile phones, two smart speakers/soundbar (music streaming) and three IoT devices. In essence, it comes down to the number of devices you have and if all of those devices are within that 10-metre range.

You may need two or three range extenders to cover the average two level home. Satellites should only ever add adequate speed to black spot coverage – not be relied on for 4K streaming! Connect as much of these as possible via Ethernet to reduce Wi-Fi congestion. You need to get the main router to the ‘circle’ where all the power Wi-Fi users are. If your router is tucked away in a cupboard, garage or at the extremity of a house, it will provide poor Wi-Fi to the rest of the house. The router should be placed at the centre of this house. The router placement (green) is in one of the worst places and creates blackspots (red) and slow speeds (orange). Wi-Fi 5Ghz has a usable transmission range of about 10m from the router (it is a 20-metre diameter circle if the router is in the centre). And a final point – good home W-Fi is all about network design. And that is precisely what D-Link EXO routers are. In our opinion, MESH with a powerful router and satellites that can backhaul (send data back) over dedicated Wi-Fi 5Ghz or Ethernet is closer to real MESH. But more importantly, the Orbi meets the definition of a powerful router in its own right. Well, that line is softening a little with the excellent Orbi Wi-Fi 6 AX6000 tri-band. Further than that distance, they can’t get enough signal strength to keep data transfer rates to respectable, usable levels. In reality, the satellites need to be within 5-7 metres line-of-sight of the main router. Our tests show its no substitute for a powerful router. In short it may eliminate Wi-Fi blackspots, but effective data transfer rates are never quoted!.ĭual-band is MEH-MESH (uninspiring unexceptional), but it has its place in undemanding and smaller spaces. MESH means a router and satellite/s talk to each other to present a single sign-on (SSID) throughout the house. I am a strong believer that MESH rarely works as over-promised. As you will see, later the MESH extender is incredible and works seamlessly with any brand AX or AC router. And on the value front, they did very well. Without exception, they performed brilliantly passing or exceeding every test we could throw at them. Well, over the Xmas break we put the D-Link EXO AX5400 and the D-Link EXO AC3000 through our rigorous router tests.
