D-Link DSL-2890AL Gigabit Cloud ADSL2+ Modem Router review: D-Link hits the sweet spot for modem-router price and performance
The D-Link DSL-2890AL offers everything you need for a very good price.
As an AC1750 modem-router, D-Link's DSL-2890AL poses a problem for the more expensive AC1900 competitors. While you'd expect 802.11n 5GHz and 802.11ac to be the same amongst the two grades, what I didn't expect to see was 2.4GHz performance parity with routers that were significantly more expensive.
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
While the higher-rated AC1900 routers will likely cope with more 2.4GHz devices on the network, for those with only a few devices the 2890AL's AU$219 pricetag represents incredible value.
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Design and ease of use
D-Link's unique cylindrical design puts it at odds with wall mounting, and makes it look more like a NAS than a router. Or perhaps a speaker. Maybe a coffee plunger.
Regardless, it has a wealth of status lights, including power, DSL sync, Internet, WPS, USB 3.0, USB 2.0, 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless and individual lights for all four gigabit Ethernet ports. D-Link receives a huge tick of approval for troubleshooting here.
On the rear are four gigabit Ethernet ports, a USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 port, and physical buttons for both power and Wi-Fi on/off.
The 2890AL still uses D-Link's old web UI, which is straightforward and functional, but could do with a coat of modern paint and a reduction in the number of clicks required to achieve certain tasks. Still, I appreciated the helpful hints D-Link puts down the side that explain options and networking terms, and provides links to extended help stored on the router itself.
Features
On top of standard features like QoS, port forwarding and firewall settings, D-Link offers access to its router via its mydlink app. It's very limited though, allowing you to view and block connected devices, check your Internet and LAN IP, and alter basic Wi-Fi settings.
While there are two USB ports, functionality is limited, only supporting storage. This can be accessed over FTP, SMB, or online using D-Link's Shareport Web Access feature. DLNA is also supported.
Parental control includes blacklist or whitelist support, scheduling across WAN, wireless, virtual server, port forwarding, and network filters.
D-Link offers guest Wi-Fi on 2.4 and 5GHz, and supports DDNS through its own service and DynDNS.org.
Performance
Testing was performed with firmware AU_1.02.06, and I used iPerf to determine the maximum wireless speed at three locations: the next room, immediately upstairs with some furniture in the way, and one room away from immediately upstairs.
The wireless client used was an Asus G550 laptop with a 2x2 Intel AC7260 wireless card, as an indicator of average performance. Each WLAN is set to WPA2 personal encryption and a clear channel is chosen. Where possible, the highest channel bandwidth is chosen, either 40 or 80MHz depending on the wireless standard. Where appropriate, transmission standard is set to 802.11n or 802.11AC only.
Due to the variable nature of wireless and surrounding WLANs, each unit was tested multiple times at various times of day to achieve a best case scenario performance value. Your own environment will see different results.
The AC1750-rated D-Link matches the AC1900 big boys on 2.4GHz, putting in a strong showing.
802.11n 5GHz is equally strong.
802.11ac performance tends to be similar across all premium modem-routers we've tested, although the DSL-2890AL delivered our top results for the first two locations closer to the router.
Storage was tested over gigabit LAN with a SanDisk Extreme NTFS formatted 64GB USB 3.0 drive plugged into the fastest USB slot, transferring a 100MB file via SMB.
There's one word for the USB performance of the D-Link: abysmal. If you've got your heart set on using USB storage, there's better options out there.
Conclusions
D-Link has hit the price-performance jackpot with the DSL-2890AL. While it may not be as featured as some competitors, for a straight up high-performance router, this one would be our choice.