D-Link DIR-890L (AC3200) Ultra WiFi Router Review

High-end routers opens a budding market for the continuous demands of multi-user and fast network speeds. D-Link is pitching the modern home and office set-up to "more connected" with the AC3200 Ultra WiFi Router. Up front, the AC3200 (DIR 890L) promises everything we expect from a beefy router. But let’s see what else it could offer on the table aside from the insanely fast speed in this review.
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The D-Link AC3200 (DIR-890L) Ultra WiFi Router

Design

This triangular prismatoid-shaped device resembles a futuristic take on a household router. It comes striking in its shiny reddish appeal with the main body surrounded by three pairs of antennas. At home, it's definitely an eye catcher; which means that it's hard to ignore. It also take a bigger footprint anywhere it settled.

Underneath its glossy reddish tint, the top registers with a vertical white area which doubles as the device's lighting panel for the internet connection, WiFi and USB status. It's easily the biggest router I've seen in my entire techie life. But surprisingly, its weight is lighter than it looks with 38.7 x 24.7 x 11.9cm dimensions.

Hardware, Connectivity

And speaking of hardware, the D-Link A3200 is also serious in giving chills when it comes to its internals. It ticks with a Broadcom 1GHz dual-core processor. Likewise, it's also very generous when it comes to ports. The DIR-890L has four Gigabit Ethernet ports, a USB 3.0, a USB 2.0 and a WiFi Protected Setup button - all housed at the back panel of the router. It supports 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands which covers A, B, G, N and AC devices.

The router boasts a total bandwidth of 3200 Mbps which covers three Access Points (AP) for supporting all device types. One AP comes with 600 Mbps bandwidth which supports all devices running under 2.4GHz (802.11 b/g/n) and two APs with 1300Mbps bandwidth for devices running 5GHz (802.11 a/n/ac). With three APs, you can connect a wide range of device generations (older or newer device) and run them in their fastest speed without one affecting the other.

There's also a Smart Connect mode which allows you to use the D-Link DIR-890L as a combined SSID for three networks which is the router's default setting, by the way. However, you can also opt to use these three different WiFi networks at the same time.

The Web Interface

The D-Link  AC3200 DIR-890L's web interface is pretty straightforward. The initial setup is pretty simple. All you have to do is connect the router to an internet source, connect a device in the network and pull up a browser to launch the configuration wizard. 

You will have a pre-configured passkey but you'll also have the option to change it along the way while running the wizard. You can go back anytime to the Web Interface by typing the router's iP address: 192.168.0.1.

The interface's dashboard is divided into tabs - Home, Settings, Features and Management. All of the tabs are easy to get around, even if you're a first time user. The QoS (Quality of Service) feature is also worth-noting. It allows you to set your clients (devices) in terms of highest to low priority. However, you can only put one in the top priority. The interface also lacks the ability to prioritize clients in terms of categories (say, for example, downloads, games, streaming, etc.)

The Wrap

The D-Link DIR-890L Ultra WiFi wireless router has its own fair share of pros and cons. If we talk about the basic functions of a router, the DIR-890L aces most of the essential checkpoints. It offers reliable performance, super fast speed and tri-band functionality which is appealing to a most of the users. Plus it also offers a great number of unique features like QoS and client categorization.

The web interface is also welcoming to first time users. Should you get the D-Link AC3200 DIR-890L router? Probably yes, but there are other closer alternatives in the market which offers better client handling and faster in terms of speed. But for those who love something that standout visually and have very audacious router design, this is for you.