D-Link DWR-978 5G AC2600 Wi-Fi Router, Super Fast 5G Download Up to 1.6 Gbps, AC2600 Wi-Fi, MU-MIMO, 4 x Gigabit Port, Gigabit Internet Port, Removable External Antennas, Unlocked for All Networks

I've never really been a big fan of D-Link (or some others to be perfectly honest) but that is because my experience has always really been focused on Cisco, Billion and Netgear and such... However on this occasion I was purely looking for value for money alongside ability. I had a job it needed to do and I have to say, this ticks all the right boxes. I weighed up going with a TP-Link offering but the D-Link was my choice in the end.Very good, easy out-of-the-box experience (OOBE); plugged in, switched on and popped in the now old fashioned, large SIM card on a Vodafone Pay As You Go to test, having selected a meaty data bundle for the limited testing. I did have to tweak the mobile settings as the auto-detect, although finding Vodafone (2g and 3g) kept dropping (according to front lights) and didn't want to connect using default APN and user settings (which are usually pretty generic). Having popped in the PAYG ones manually (APN: pp.vodafone.co.uk User: wap Password: wap) I only then had to force the device to use the 4g coverage; else it would insist on only picking out the 3g on auto-detect.Coverage throughout the home is more than adequate. Speed across the LAN is brilliant and multiple devices running in tandem from Alexa, through FireTV, laptops and printers, all working better than I would have expected which is a great bonus. With the Vodafone 4g signal at a good strength where we are now and their data bundles having massively improved, this will also double up as a handy travel companion (signal permitting).Why did we feel the need to try one of these (particularly having used out phones as hot spots thus far)? Well, the hot spot is limiting for the person who is providing it and the number of devices it can manage. Then you have the going out factor. In addition, Vodafone do offer broadband far more competitively priced than most (£20 a month all in) by not insisting on you taking line rental with it, unlike the likes of BT; however, alas not in our area apparently. So, the options having moved were a line and broadband/fibre (if available) with an alternative (in excess of £30 per month with line and service); or with such a good mobile signal,explore the options. Since you can now get a 5g (not massively rolled out yet, certainly not here) unlimited option for £20 a month it makes sense to look at today's alternatives rather than getting stuck, blinkered on past offerings. The questions you ask if you have a good mobile signal are; do I need a landline? If the answer is no, there are reasonably priced alternatives out there, dependant of course on your usage/needs. I admit that some bandwidth/data hungry families may well need the likes of fibre but that's what you have to investigate on an individual basis.This D-Link is perfect for our home use and streaming on a 3g and 4g signal strength, operating consistently between 50% and 75%.

It initially connected to the Three network OK but after about 30 minutes the speed fell from 50mps to 3mps maximum and I couldn't get any improvement even after several full resets. Then I started get an error message saying my new HP ZBook is unable to connect to the Wi-Fi network (my old copper wifi connects fine) so that decided the fate of the unit. Wi-Fi coverage was average, placing it in the hall at the centre of a 4 bed 1930's house gave a pretty reasonable signal everywhere but because it's a 5g router it needed to be at the back of the house to get a fast network connection which left the front rooms without a useable signal. This unit doesn't have mesh technology so you can't add a wireless extender.First thing to note is you need to connect via a cat5 cable to configure it, most laptops don't have this but fortunately my USB C monitor does, you can't use an app to set it up. The admin console is pretty much the same as my 10 year old D-Link ADSL modem/router and takes 30 seconds to process any changes but the firmware seems stuck on V 1.0 and won't upgrade, on such an old model of router seems strange that it's on V1 from the factory. Full system reset both using the console and also the reset button hasn't helped to resolve any of the issues.Also worth noting the sim slot is for a full size, they do provide a carrier for a micro sim but it's pretty rubbish and I'm now struggling to get my sim card out of the device, another annoyance is the power cable is ridiculously short. Although it's 5g it feels really dated, the user interface is clunky and the lack of an app really doesn't help it.

I had used 3G dongles to get internet access and found them quite good and reliable, getting download speeds of between 2 Mbps and 3 Mbps, quite good enough for general internet use although not so good for downloads or streaming services. So, as an experiment, I decided to see how much better 4G might be using the same Smarty SIM but with a Wifi router which could be shared between several devices rather than only be plugged into one at a time. I knew that D-Link manufactured affordable quality hardware and, after reading dozens of reviews online, decided that the D-Link DWR-921/B offered all I needed insofar as a suitable router went.When the device arrived I had it up and running in ten minutes flat, despite the fact that the instruction manual was very sparse, immediately ran an online broadband speed test and found that my download speed had increased ten fold in one fell swoop to over 30 Mbps! As you can see for yourself if you look at the picture associated with this review.IMPORTANT: When you set up your router run through its Wizard to change the devices SSID (so that potential hackers receiving its signal won't know who manufactured it), set the device's wifi key (a password used to connect to the router wirelessly) to something really strong and uncrackable, set a simpler password the web-based interface used to manage the router (so that nobody connected to the router will be able to change any of its settings) and the encryption used by the D-Link to maximum, i.e., WPA2-PSK(AES), so nobody will be able to hack the router or intercept any of your data.Having enjoyed D-Link speed for a good few days now I can't imagine going back to anything slower and have to say that buying this device was one of my best decisions of 2020. Easy to set up, sturdy, reliable, tried and tested if you are looking for a reasonably priced router that can connect to a 4G network and grant internet access using only a SIM look no further. You are very unlikely to be disappointed if you pick the D-Link DWR-921/B.