D-Link R15 Eagle Pro AI review: Affordable Wi-Fi 6 router

The D-Hyperlink R15 is an affordable Wi-Fi 6 router which affords consumers a house Wi-Fi improve for much less – it prices round $50/£650/AU$200.

It’s a reasonably commonplace dual-band 802.11ax (aka Wi-Fi 6) AX1500 router with 4 posable antennae, which signifies that most fashionable gadgets will be capable to get good speeds on the 5GHz radio band. Theoretically, because it’s an AX1500 gadget, this implies speeds of as much as 1201Mbps (when linked through 5GHz) however, in the actual world, you’ll discover speeds are significantly beneath that.

Even so, the R15 could also be all it’s essential to improve a really previous router. In any case, not many individuals have Gigabit broadband simply but.

Fortunately, the R15 has an ace up its sleeve, It’s a part of D-Hyperlink’s Eagle Professional AI vary, which implies it may be simply paired with D-Hyperlink M15 mesh Wi-Fi models and the D-Hyperlink E15 Wi-Fi extender, which will be dotted round your own home to kind a mesh community and supply a lot broader Wi-Fi protection.

The entire system is competitively priced, so consumers on a finances might choose up the R15 router first, then some mesh models or Wi-Fi extenders afterward, and progressively develop protection over time. 

Apart from the head-turning value and further configurability, let’s see what else the D-Hyperlink R15 router has to supply. 

Design & Construct

• Low-profile and light-weight router 
• 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports (one WAN, three LAN)
• 4 exterior antennas

The D-Hyperlink R15 is a typical-looking router with 4 exterior antennae, one on both facet, and two flanking the ports on the rear, a WPS button, reset pinhole, and the mains energy connector. 

Toes with rubberised suggestions and a pair of screw mounts on the underside means you may have the D-Hyperlink R15 sat on a shelf someplace in your front room, or mounted on the wall if you happen to desire. Weighing simply 300 grams and measuring 252 x 166 x 194mm, with the antennas 170mm tall, discovering house for it’s hardly going to be an issue. 

Design-wise, it’s similar to final yr’s D-Hyperlink DIR-X1560, though the R15 options three gigabit Ethernet LAN ports, whereas the DIR-X1560 gave you 4. One motive for the low value, then.

As with the the DIR-X1560, the WAN port, the one you’ll use to attach the R15 to your modem, is yellow to distinguish it from the black LAN ports, which you’ll use to attach issues like your TV set prime packing containers, video games consoles, and, if you need extra wired connections, a community hub. 

There’s no USB port right here, which is pretty widespread on gadgets at this value, and there’s additionally no built-in modem (once more, given the value, completely tremendous), so that you’ll must have a separate modem, or change your ISP-supplied router in order that it’s in ‘modem solely’ mode. 

Thomas Newton / Foundry

Setup

• Eagle Professional AI cellular app and QR codes makes set-up easy
• Preliminary set-up course of takes 5-10 minutes
• It’s simple to pair M15 satellites to make an affordable mesh Wi-Fi community

Organising the D-Hyperlink R15 is easy. These much less accustomed to house networking can use the D-Hyperlink Eagle Professional AI app (iOS, Android), which takes you thru each step of the set-up course of, from powering the router on, to connecting it your modem, to altering the default community and admin passwords as soon as a connection to the Web is established. 

It’s pretty typical to see house networking methods lately providing this sort of step-by-step service, even higher that you simply get it with a finances router, too. 

In the event you don’t need to use the app to speak you thru the method, establishing is an easy case of powering every part on, connecting to the router utilizing the default login and URL that are printed on the underside of the gadget. 

Contemplating that the Eagle Professional AI app additionally acts as a distant management panel to your house community, you could as nicely make use of it, even when this isn’t your first router rodeo. 

Thomas Newton / Foundry

When the R15 is about up for the primary time, there’ll possible be firmware updates to put in, however these don’t take quite a lot of time to obtain. The preliminary set-up course of ought to take not more than ten minutes, relying in your Web service, and the variety of updates that want putting in. 

You’re then capable of arrange and pair D-Hyperlink M15 mesh satellites or E15 Wi-Fi Extenders. This course of is made simple, thanks once more to the Eagle Professional AI app. Simply open the app, faucet on the router icon, after which faucet the plus image within the top-right nook, then choose ‘Lengthen My Community’, scan the QR code that’s printed on the underside of the satellite tv for pc gadget, after which comply with the directions like earlier than.

You might have to manually replace the firmware on every gadget to ensure that this to work – as with the D-Hyperlink M15 mesh system, if all of the gadgets aren’t operating the identical firmware after they’re first being paired, you could run into issues. 

The app will suggest locations inside the house to place these further gadgets, recommending that gadgets aren’t positioned greater than 5 metres aside, aren’t locations with too many partitions or floorboards between them, and if they’re positioned on separate flooring, to not have gadgets sitting immediately above each other if you happen to may also help it, to keep away from interference. That is fairly widespread house networking information, however good to know if you happen to didn’t already. 

Thomas Newton / Foundry

Options

• Eagle Professional AI app permits for restricted distant administration 
• Visitor Wi-Fi, parental management time-out characteristic, Ookla-powered pace take a look at instrument
• WPA2-WPA3 and WPA3 is supported

The D-Hyperlink R15 comes with the entire commonplace options you’d anticipate from an entry-level router – there’s the choice to create a Visitor Wi-Fi SSID, prioritise and de-prioritise particular gadgets on the community, and make use of some restricted parental controls, and actioning these options by the Eagle Professional AI app is simple sufficient.

There’s additionally assist for WPA2 and the newer WPA3 encryption commonplace, and a hybrid WPA2-WPA3 mode, in case you have a mix of gadgets assist both of those. 

Visitor Wi-Fi is simple to allow. You merely go to the ‘Wi-Fi’ menu from the primary display, and hit the Visitor Wi-Fi toggle, and the gadget will restart, which takes about 2-3 minutes. If you wish to change the Visitor Wi-Fi credentials, you’ll must hit the cog icon within the prime proper. 

Tapping on the ‘Purchasers’ checklist on the primary app web page will provide you with a fast overview of which gadgets are linked to your community, and from there you may select whether or not gadgets are ‘excessive’ or ‘low’ precedence. You too can select to have gadgets be prioritised for the strongest connections for various hours, a day, or continuously – helpful if you happen to’re working from house and also you want your work laptop computer and telephone to have the very best connections attainable always.

The free parental management instrument enables you to create profiles for relations, add particular gadgets to those profiles (e.g. ‘Thomas’s iPhone’, and ‘Thomas’s MacBook’). As soon as finished, you may set a schedule for community availability, if you wish to implement homework/playtime hours, or there’s a guide management which limits entry to gadgets on an as and when foundation.

The app additionally enables you to add a web site filter to every profile, however it’s extraordinarily restricted – you may add as much as 24 URLs or key phrases to the checklist. I’m going to exit on a limb and say that there are greater than 24 web sites internet hosting grownup content material on the web.

There’s some integration with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, however for the second, voice management assist is proscribed to rebooting the router, asking to activate Visitor Wi-Fi, and asking for the Visitor Wi-Fi password to be learn aloud – helpful, however not an exhaustive checklist of instructions.

There’s additionally a pace take a look at instrument, which is powered by Ookla’s Speedtest software program. That is helpful for configuring the QoS (High quality of Service) settings, in addition to simply usually seeing how briskly your Web service is. 

It’s been a short time since I reviewed the M15 mesh Wi-Fi system and I used to be critically upset to search out that the Eagle Professional AI Android app nonetheless wants critical enchancment. 

It’s nonetheless liable to crashing, sometimes being unresponsive and, usually, it’s simply slower in its primary operations when put next with its iOS counterpart, which is way extra steady. Hopefully it’s only a matter of time earlier than updates begin rolling out to the Google Play app retailer.

The desktop management panel provides entry to extra superior options, together with WPA3 encryption, which will be enabled by heading to the ‘Wi-fi’ menu, deciding on ‘Wi-fi’, after which ‘Safety mode’, in addition to port forwarding, a digital server instrument which routes visitors to particular purchasers, DNS and firewall settings, which you’ll be able to’t entry by the cellular app. 

You possibly can, in a pinch, entry the desktop management panel by your telephone’s browser, so you possibly can in idea do the entire above from the identical gadget. There’s even a shortcut to this baked into the Eagle Professional AI app, hidden below an  ‘Superior Mode’ tab on the primary web page, which basically simply opens a brand new tab and factors you in direction of http://dlinkrouter.native. 

Thomas Newton / Foundry

Efficiency

• 300-500Mbps up shut, 100-200Mbps additional away 
• Vary just isn’t nice, so most properties will need one or two further nodes
• AI Optimizer auto-selects radio channels for the router and bands for purchasers 

Speeds are enough and in keeping with what you’d anticipate from an entry-level Wi-Fi 6 router. And that’s precisely what the R15 is. Vary, by which we imply Wi-Fi protection, isn’t nice, but when your finances can accommodate some further D-Hyperlink M15 mesh Wi-Fi satellites, this turns into much less of an issue.

Certainly, when paired with two D-Hyperlink M15 nodes, the efficiency was broadly much like a 3-pack D-Hyperlink M15 mesh community. 

I ran a sequence of exams utilizing the NetSpot Android app and a Google Pixel 6 in a two-up, two-down terraced home in London. 

I arrange the D-Hyperlink R15 up in my front room, near the place my Virgin Media Tremendous Hub 3, performing as a modem, is linked to the grasp socket, and ran a sequence of exams on each flooring, to show the attain of the R15 router by itself. I ran the identical exams once more with two M15 nodes paired with the R15, so you may see the distinction that having some further entry factors makes. 

I popped an M15 unit within the kitchen, in direction of the again of the home, which is roughly 15 metres (45 toes) away from the place the R15 unit sits. The opposite M15 unit was positioned on the primary flooring, roughly 12 metres away in a visitor bed room/workplace. 

You possibly can see from the heatmaps, the place cool colors point out poor sign power, and sizzling colors a robust sign, the distinction in protection between utilizing the R15 alone and including the M15 satellites.

Right here’s the protection of the R15 by itself.

Thomas Newton / Foundry

And right here is the protection with two M15 models added, one upstairs and one downstairs in direction of the rear of the home (prime of the picture):

Thomas Newton / Foundry

Within the kitchen on the bottom flooring, I’d wrestle to get a connection that might be generously known as ‘quick’, however with further nodes, protection was rather more uniform and speeds have been balanced in all places in the home. 

D-Hyperlink’s AI Wi-Fi Optimizer software program, which is turned on by default, robotically scans for the least congested radio channels, and sends you a weekly house community visitors report. 

It’s not attainable, nevertheless, to manually choose which radio channel the router makes use of – and this stays the case even whenever you dive into the settings and switch the AI Wi-Fi Optimizer off.

If, for instance, you occur to know that Channel 100 is perfect to your front room, and Channel 48 isn’t, this isn’t nice, as there’s no manner of telling the R15 that, and subsequently no manner of adjusting issues to swimsuit. You simply must hope that the optimisation algorithms will determine it out for you.

Along with utilizing NetSpot, I additionally ran some easy exams with the WiFi Pace Take a look at Professional Android app, as I did for the assessment of the D-Hyperlink M15. Curiously, the quickest pace I recorded, even when stood a metre away from the R15, was 538Mbps, which is slower than what I recorded elsewhere. 

Worth & availability

The D-Hyperlink R15 Eagle Professional AI router is that can be purchased now. 

Consumers in the US can choose up an R15 router straight from D-Hyperlink’s U.S. web site, the place it may be purchased for £49.99, which stays the very best place to get it. 

If D-Hyperlink occurs to be out of inventory, attempt Compsource which is at present promoting D-Hyperlink R15s, for $66.71, and if they’re out of inventory, you possibly can choose one up from Amazon, however notice that it’s at present priced at $72.57. 

Whereas there’s an inventory for the router on D-Hyperlink’s UK web site, it’s not that can be purchased immediately.

One of the best value we might discover was Comms Categorical, which lists the D-Hyperlink R15 for £53.48, however it was out of inventory.

Elsewhere, you should buy an R15 from Amazon UK for £55.90, whereas Box has it for £57.99. 

In Australia, you should buy R15 Eagle Professional AI routers immediately from D-Hyperlink, for AU$199.95. 

Officeworks has the R15 going for much less at AU$197, whereas The Good Guys additionally promote it for AU$199. 

Thomas Newton / Foundry

Verdict 

It’s simple to assume any Wi-Fi 6 router goes to be quick. However sadly, issues aren’t that easy. You get what you pay for with networking gear, on the entire, and the finances R15 isn’t significantly quick and doesn’t supply significantly nice protection.

The 2 large benefits are that it is vitally low-cost, and will be simply paired with M15 satellites or E15 extenders makes it a cheap choice for whole-home Wi-Fi protection – you may choose up an R-15 router and two M15 nodes for below £200, which is sweet worth for cash. 

For consumers on a decent finances who’ve but to improve to Wi-Fi 6, the D-Hyperlink R15 and D-Hyperlink’s AI Sequence ecosystem is a gorgeous alternative, however know which you could choose up quicker routers like D-Hyperlink’s personal R32 router and the Linksys Hydra Professional 6, in addition to extra succesful mesh Wi-Fi methods, just like the Devolo Magic 2 WiFi 6 or the Eero 6, for somewhat bit extra.

For extra alternate options, see our roundups of the very best routers and greatest mesh Wi-Fi methods.