Product: D-Link COVR AX1800 Dual Band Seamless Mesh Wi-Fi 6 System
Type: W-Fi Mesh Router
Price: $399.95
Availability: Out Now
Link: dlink.com.au/home-solutions/COVR-X1872-AX1800

The days of WiFi being a sort of networking luxury item are well and truly over. No matter your service provider, you’ll end up with some sort of box that has wireless built in. That said, having decent WiFi, and being able to answer the age-old question “how’s the WiFi?” with a resounding “oh, it’s great” isn’t all that common. Depending on your residential setup, managing WiFi across multiple rooms with multiple devices can be a bit of a hassle.

Ending up with ‘some sort of box’ that has wireless built in usually means the WiFi signal and quality of the connection isn’t everything it could be. There’s also that sense of complacency, and the idea that setting up new hardware to handle and manage your home network requires in-depth knowledge about IP and MAC addresses, packets, port-forwarding, and other bits and pieces.

This is where the WiFi Mesh System begins to sound like the dream scenario. A collection of one or more devices that act in unison. A single WiFi network, offering full speed without any dead zones or parts of a house where the signal tends to drop out. No need to worry about what router to connect to, or trying to install an extender, it’s an all in one system.

Not only that, but automatically managing multiple devices covering consoles, laptops, smart-phones, and any number of smart TVs where the dedicated Netflix button on the remote gets a regular work-out, becomes a breeze. When it comes to ease of setup, features, quality of service, and all of the other checklist items that crop up when putting a WiFi router through its paces the D-Link COVR AX1800 Dual Band Seamless Mesh Wi-Fi 6 System is simply brilliant.

The Initial Setup

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Being able to set up a new router without typing question after question into Google is a definite plus. With the concept of the WiFi Mesh system being one of no fuss once it’s all up and running, it’s great that the D-Link COVR system applies that to the installation process with what is one of the easiest bits of tech to get going. Through a dedicated smart-phone app the setup process is one with clear steps and on-screen prompts, with the result being fast WiFi minutes after connecting your NBN modem to the first COVR node. Most of it is basically waiting for the COVR to do its backend thing.

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This is where the WiFi Mesh System begins to sound like the dream scenario. A collection of one or more devices that act in unison. A single WiFi network, offering full speed without any dead zones or parts of a house where the signal tends to drop out.

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For this review of the D-Link COVR AX1800 system we installed two nodes (which offers up WiFi 6 coverage of up to 510 square metres) inside a rather long town-house. The sort of home where once you got past the first couple of rooms being able to get a WiFi signal comes down to the quality of the WiFi in the device trying to connect.

It’s worth noting that the difference between the standard WiFi Router supplied by an NBN ISP and even just a single D-Link COVR AX1800 is night and day. Same-room devices will not only make full use of your actual internet speed but by using WiFi 6 the same high-bandwidth covers a wide area. The D-Link COVR AX1800 units also come equipped with 4 Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports so you can plug in a wired device if you’re worried about network latency -- which is perfect for those with a console or gaming rig in the same room.

There’s a lot to be said about having a plug-and-play system that works this well right out of the box.

Net Code

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In terms of looks, what you’re getting with the D-Link COVR system is a router that looks like the sort of smart device that belongs in a, well, smart home. Sleek, white, minimal, and stylish. The polar opposite of the sorts of routers designed to maximise your WiFi for gaming. You know the ones, prongs everywhere and a look that’s more in-line with a Star Wars ship than something you’d call a household appliance.

The look of the D-Link COVR system does come with a drawback, in that a lot of what you have access to via the app and the extended features of each device isn’t really what you’d call robust. No option to setup or manage a file server or in-built NAS. No game specific modes or customisation. The good news though is that out of the box the Wi-Fi 6 speeds and capabilities are uniformly excellent. Again, the no fuss setup and use means diving into Xbox Series S and PlayStation 4 gaming and downloading without issue.

D-Link COVR AX1800 Dual Band Seamless Mesh Wi-Fi 6 System

• NBN/UFB Support: FTTP/FTTC/HFC/Satellite/Fixed Wireless
  
• Wi-Fi Technology: Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)
  
• Wi-Fi Speed: AX1800 (574 + 1200Mbps)
  
• Wave 2 MU-MIMO Wi-Fi : Yes
  
• Wireless Bands: Dual Band
  
• Wi-Fi Security: WPA3
  
• WAN Interface: Gigabit Ethernet (4-Ports)
  
• Smart Home Compatible: Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant
  
• Warranty: 3-Year Limited Warranty

As per the specs above, 1.8 Gbps of Wi-Fi speed is more than enough for most.

Performance and Conclusion

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The best thing you can say about any wireless network is, well, nothing. Noticing a difference in speeds based on your distance from a router or when a number of devices are connected and trying to do their thing means something’s up with the setup. After several hours with the D-Link COVR-X1872 Dual Band Seamless Mesh Wi-Fi 6 System the only issues encountered could be chalked up to NBN congestion, outages, and stability.

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Same-room devices will not only make full use of your actual internet speed but by using WiFi 6 the same high-bandwidth covers a wide area.

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Put to the test with a few gaming devices and streaming services, which is basically most of what our home usage is these days and the D-Link COVR-X system performed flawlessly. So much so that there wasn’t really a need to go the wired route thanks to the excellent Wi-Fi 6 speeds and latency. Going wired reduces network latency and offers more perceived stability, so the addition of gigabit ports here means versatility for any number of uses.

If you’re looking for a one-size fits all wireless home solution, yeah, it’s hard to looks past the D-Link COVR-X system.