The only new dual-band router in D-Link’s range at the time of writing was the low-cost DIR-815. We didn’t realise just how basic it would be, however.
It’s the only router in this Labs to favour 10/100 Ethernet ports over Gigabit, and has no USB port for sharing storage, printers or 3G dongles either. It does offer concurrent dual band, which makes it a little more flexible than the Cisco Linksys E2000 but whichever frequency band we chose, performance was poor.
Over 2.4GHz and 5GHz at close range, the D-Link’s DIR-815 scored an average of 9.2MB/sec and 10.7MB/sec respectively, and at range (despite the antennae) that fell to 1.5MB/sec and 0.3MB/sec. While it is certainly cheaper than the award-winning Asus RT-N56U, it offers poor value for money in comparison.
