Main features
The main feature of this D-Link EAGLE PRO AI M15 Wi-Fi Mesh system is its compatibility with Wi-Fi routers and repeaters of this same family, something new that we did not have at D-Link until now. In the past we did have compatible Wi-Fi routers and Wi-Fi repeaters to form a Wi-Fi Mesh network, but now they have added Wi-Fi Mesh systems to form a complete high-performance mesh network.
The manufacturer D-Link sells this equipment in its 2-node version (Router and node) and also in its 3-node version (Router and two nodes), in this way, depending on how much space you have to cover, you can choose between a pack and other.
Wireless
The main wireless features of this Wi-Fi mesh system are its simultaneous dual band AX1500 class. In the 2.4GHz band we can achieve a speed of up to 300Mbps, thanks to its two sinternal antennas in MIMO 2T2R configuration, the 40MHz channel width and the Wi-Fi 4 standard (in this frequency band we have Wi-Fi N or WiFi 4). In the 5GHz band we can achieve a speed of up to 1,201Mbps, thanks to its two internal antennas in MU-MIMO 2T2R configuration, the 80MHz channel width and the new Wi-Fi 6 standard.
This new Wi-Fi Mesh system has all the technologies of the standard, such as MU-MIMO and OFDMA to optimize the wireless network to the maximum, in addition, we also have Intelligent Wi-Fi (Smart Connect or also known as band-steering) to have a single Wi-Fi network SSID for the two frequency bands, and that the system takes care of placing us in the best available band. This new model has support for WPA3-Personal, therefore, we will have the best possible wireless security today. On the wireless side, this new device has traffic optimizers, Wi-Fi and the AI-based mesh networkThis way you can continually check if your wireless network settings are optimal, and make some internal changes so that we always get the best possible wireless performance in any circumstance.
Of course, being a Wi-Fi Mesh system we have smart roaming with the 802.11k/v standards, in this way, we will be able to go from one node to another in a completely transparent way with the aim of having the best possible user experience. In addition, Smart Connect is mandatory if we want Wi-Fi mesh, we cannot separate the frequency bands with different SSIDs.
wired
This new Wi-Fi mesh system has a Gigabit Ethernet port for the WAN/LAN and another dedicated Gigabit Ethernet port for the LAN. The firmware has support for VLANs on the Internet WAN, and also has VLANs per port to provide IPTV services. The node that acts as the main router has a WAN port and another LAN port, however, the nodes have both ports for the LAN, as we have verified in the tests, even if D-Link has designated one of these ports as “Internet”.
Thanks to the Wi-Fi 6 connectivity and the Gigabit Ethernet ports, we will be able to connect different wired equipment and connect to the local network and even to the Internet with great speed. The firmware supports the possibility of configuring it in bridge mode to keep our operator’s router, it also supports Ethernet backhaul in order to interconnect the nodes via cable instead of via Wi-Fi.
firmware
The firmware of this new Wi-Fi Mesh system has undergone a change in the graphical user interface, now the different menus are on the left side instead of at the top. We are going to have the same configuration options as always that we have available in the manufacturer’s Wi-Fi routers and Wi-Fi mesh systems, but D-Link in this new family has incorporated a much more advanced time-based parental control than that of before, now we will be able to configure in detail the Internet connection schedule of any device, in addition, we will be able to configure different profiles for different users that we have connected to the wireless or wired network, since this also affects the wired network and not only the WiFi.
Another important feature is that we can now configure DNS over HTTPS in the router, in this way, all the DNS requests that we make in the local network will travel to the DNS servers with end-to-end encryption, a very interesting security feature. Other manufacturers have decided to incorporate DNS over TLS (DoT) into their routers instead of DNS over HTTPS, but D-Link has chosen the latter protocol to make it more difficult for operators to block encrypted DNS traffic, since this protocol works over HTTPS on port 443.
The firmware from the manufacturer D-Link can be managed through the web, either HTTP or HTTPS, but we also have a new application called EAGLE PRO AI for Android and iOS smartphones, this app will allow us to configure the Wi-Fi Mesh system from scratch and it will also allow us to manage it from the cloud and locally, ideal for knowing the status of our home Internet connection at all times.
Unboxing and first impressions
This new Wi-Fi Mesh system is physically the same as other models such as the COVR-1103 with Wi-Fi 5 and even the same as the COVR-X1863, but this model includes something that the others did not have: interoperability with Wi-Fi routers and repeaters. -Fi Mesh from the manufacturer, as long as they are from the new EAGLE PRO AI family. This feature is the most important because it will provide us with great versatility, if for example we only need a router we can buy the EAGLE PRO AI router, and later if we need to buy the WiFi Mesh to expand the wireless coverage in our home.
The price of this Wi-Fi Mesh system is around 200 euros approximately, that is, about 65 euros for each of the three nodes included in the M15-3 pack that we have presented to you. This price is quite competitive if we take into account its technical specifications, since it has simultaneous dual band Wi-Fi AX1500 in addition to Gigabit Ethernet ports for WAN and LAN.
At RedesZone we have recorded a complete video where you can see all the contents of the box, what this new Wi-Fi Mesh system is like and also its main features and news:
Soon we are going to offer you a complete analysis where you will be able to see the technical characteristics in detail, the real performance that we have achieved in the wired tests and also in the wireless tests, finally we will tell you about our user experience with the Wi-Fi mesh that we have in this device.
