Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) is changing the landscape of wireless network connectivity with improvements on all counts over previous standards and manufacturers are taking advantage of it, especially when combined with complete mesh networking solutions and the latest technologies available.
This is the EAGLE PRO AI AX3200 that D-Link has just introduced and that is an improved revision of a solution that we recently analyzed and liked for its potential and moderate price.
The new version presents several novelties, starting with improved performance, reaching speeds of up to 3.2Gbps using simultaneous dual band over Wi-Fi 6. Another improvement comes from the increased coverage, up to 510 and 740 M2 respectively using the packages available with two or three nodes, and that can be expanded with others as needed.
Mesh nodes have slightly changed the design over the previous version, although they keep their size contained to place them anywhere in homes or offices. They have four internal antennas, two for each 2.4 and 5 GHz band and in addition to expanding the wireless mesh network, they have two Ethernet connectors, one of them labeled Internet reserved to connect to the router and another in case you want to connect by cable some device and improve the flexibility of use.
Otherwise, they offer the set of features and technologies that D-Link has brought together in its ecosystem EAGLE PRO AI and that we can summarize in:
- Wi-Fi 6: For maximum performance in wireless networks.
- Mesh Optimizer by AI: technology of Beamforming through AI that guarantees power and reliability in meshed Wi-Fi networks.
- OFDMA: simultaneous transmission of information packets from different applications to reduce latency.
- Voice control: integration with assistants such as Google Assistant or Alexa.
- Parental controls: improve the management of your children’s Internet access.
- Security: Compatibility with the WPA3 standard and 128-bit encryption.
- AI Assistant: Weekly reports analyzing network performance or intrusion attempts.
- Traffic Optimizer: Intelligently prioritizes traffic for high-demand applications.
- Control App: Complete network and device management from a free mobile app for iOS and Android.
Certainly, mesh networks are in fashion and are a good solution to improve the performance of wireless networks, since they allow it to be extended throughout all the dependencies of a home efficiently, increase coverage and yield, and minimize the usual black spots and signal losses. And about a standard with great potential like Wi-Fi 6.
This EAGLE PRO AI AX3200 looks good, which, of course, you can use in your own network with routers from D-Link or from any other manufacturer. We do not know the price, but it is surely quite attractive considering the previous model that we analyzed. If you can get by with 1.5 Gbps speeds (plenty for a typical digital home) you should know that the older version is selling for a very good price in the usual retail channels: 132 euros for the pack of two extenders and 188 euros for the pack of three nodes.
