We’re going to check out the D Link DIR 2150 today, and this is quite a simple dual band router, but its performance kind of surprised me, so let’s check it out.
DESIGN
The DIR 2150 looks pretty decent, it is quite compact, and I appreciate the matte finish on it, which won’t get scratched, and it can also be mounted on a wall.
The 4 antennas on the router must be something that you’ve noticed and we also have 4 LED lights that tell you about the status of network and wireless bands, and these are extremely bright, so it’s good to have the option of turning them off in software.
At the back, we have a reset button, 4 gigabit LAN ports, and 1 gigabit WAN port, a WPS button, and the power adapter socket and the power switch button.
FEATURES
The setup is quite simple with the web interface that I used, but it can also be set up quickly with the D-Link Wi-Fi app, which also allows you to control other settings on the device.
The web interface is quite simple, and even though it looks a bit dated, it allows you to quickly reach the settings that you need to, and again, you can access most of these settings with the D Link app on your phone.
We have WPA3 security available on this, which is the strongest version. We have support for VLAN on a router with 4 ports, and you can also enable Guest Wifi for when your neighbours ask you for your password.
Parental controls allow you to restrict access to specific websites on specific devices, and can also schedule these rules.
Then we have quality of service, and the interface for this is quite easy to use as you can just drag and drop different devices according to priority.
We also have a built in feature to test your internet speed powered by Speedtest.
Then we have the usual features like a firewall which will enhance the security, it supports port forwarding, and we also have support for VPN.
The router can also automatically update it’s firmware, and we also have a statistics page to give you an overview of activities, and the system logging features available can also be quite helpful.
You can also use voice commands to control this router, but I had to say the commands a little differently than what is mentioned in the manual, and it also requires you to have a PIN for security which requires the app to be running in the background on your phone so it’s not the most straightforward process.
PERFORMANCE
Now if you look at the price tag on this router, you may find it to be on the higher side for a Wi-Fi 5 router, but it has 4 X 4 MU-MIMO Support, which means that it has 4 streams that it can use simultaneously instead of 2 streams that many of the other routers in this range have, and that can make a big difference.
And the performance that we have on this really surprised me, as with my ROG Phone 3 at a very close distance to router, I got almost 700 mbps, but the really great thing about this was that I also got almost the same speed of 677 Mbps in the room next to the router, and in my company office which requires the signal to go through multiple walls, the figure of 513 Mbps was also really impressive.
Now I have tested some really expensive routers, and even with many of the Wi Fi 6 routers, this competes really well in that specific location. The results on this were so good that I actually had to retake my tests, and then I also compared it to the TP Link AX73, which I will be reviewing soon, and it is a Wi-Fi 6 router with 6 antennas that costs 140 Dollars, or 10,000 Rs., and it was also only able to perform about 4 or 5% faster than the DIR-2150 in that location, so the wall penetration of the D Link router is really good.
This was again tested with my ROG Phone 3 which is a 2 x 2 Wi-Fi 6 client, a 4 x 4 client might have been able to perform even better.
The performance on the 2.4 GHz band was almost the same at around 100 mbps, and changing the distance or number of walls in between didn’t really have any effect on the performance, but this is what you should expect from a 2.4 GHz band at Wi-Fi 5.
The range of this router is also pretty good for a single flat, or medium home, but again, the speed within this range is very good.
CONCLUSION
So overall, the D Link DIR 2150 is a very good performing router, it’s performance at a distance actually turned out to be even better than the budget Wi-Fi 6 routers that I have tested, and this is definitely going to be much better than the budget AC1200 routers that you may be able to find at half the price.
And speaking of price, I am seeing it selling for up to 6,000 Rs. or 80 US Dollars online, but it’s also fluctuating a lot, and it is dropping to 4500 Rs. or 60 US dollars, so assessing its value for money is kind of difficult, as at 4500 it does provide a really great value, while at 6000 Rs. is provides less than a really great value.
For an AC2100 router, this is pretty well priced, as the other AC2100 routers from even brands like Tenda are also at a similar or higher price range, so I can see it as being a good option at its price tag.
So if you’re looking for a high performance dual band router, this D-Link DIR 2150 definitely delivers. I do wish that it had a range extender mode, but the other routers that I’ve tested at its price also lack that, and D Link does offer dedicated range extenders that allow you to create a mesh network.
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