Meet the D-Link EAGLE PRO AI R15 Mesh router and first impressions

Main features

The main feature of this new router is its compatibility with WiFi repeaters and Mesh systems from the EAGLE PRO AI family, a new family with very affordable equipment, and with quite good performance for home environments where we need real wireless connections of up to 600Mbps. about. This new range of devices have a large number of configuration options in their firmware, so they are really versatile.

Wireless

The main WiFi features of this wireless router is that it incorporates simultaneous dual band AX1500 class. In the 2.4GHz band we will achieve a speed of up to 300Mbps, thanks to its two external antennas in MIMO 2T2R configuration and the Wi-Fi 4 standard (in this frequency band we have Wi-Fi N or Wi-Fi 4). In the 5GHz band we can achieve a speed of up to 1,201Mbps, in this case we have two external antennas in MU-MIMO 2T2R configuration and the Wi-Fi 6 standard.

In the 5GHz band we have all the technologies of the new Wi-Fi standard, such as MU-MIMO and OFDMA to transfer data at the highest possible speed globally, we also have Beamforming to focus the signal on customers, TWT to save power on connected battery-powered devices, and we even have BSS Coloring to reduce interference with other wireless networks.

This router has “smart wifi«, that is, we have unified the two frequency bands in a single SSID and password, so we have Smart Connect or band-steering, to place clients in the 2.4GHz or 5GHz band depending on the coverage received. We are also going to have Wi-Fi roaming between nodes, with the goal of providing the best possible user experience for customers, so that they never get disconnected from the Wi-Fi wireless network. This router has the standards 802.11k/v, so fully transparent roaming is guaranteed. In terms of security, we have support for WPA3-Personal and we also have WPA2/WPA3-Personal to support older equipment that does not support this new protocol.

This new equipment incorporates AI-based wireless traffic optimizers, Wi-Fi channels and Mesh network optimizers, so that it is continuously verifying and checking if the network configuration is optimal or if there is a problem.

wired

This new wireless router has a Gigabit Ethernet port for the Internet WAN, the firmware has VLANs in the Internet WAN, we also have VLANs per port to provide IPTV services to decoders, we also have the popular Movistar Triple VLAN FTTH, to keep all the services of the operator. Of course, this router has a total of 3 Gigabit Ethernet ports for the LAN, so we can connect several wired devices without problems, in case you need to connect more than 3 devices, our recommendation is that you buy a DGS-105 switch of 5 Gigabit ports or the model DGS-108 of 8 Gigabit ports.

A very important detail is that this router and the rest of the EAGLE PRO AI equipment have compatibility with Ethernet Backhaul, so we will be able to connect the repeater or the M15 nodes via cable to the router, and enjoy the best possible wireless performance. through the wired network.

firmware

The firmware of this new router has the same advanced configuration options as the D-Link EAGLE PRO AI M15 Mesh Wi-Fi system. The graphical user interface has undergone a small change with respect to other manufacturer’s routers, now the menus are on the left side to facilitate access to them, in addition, it can be managed and administered directly from the EAGLE PRO AI mobile app that It is available for Android devices and also iOS.

In this new router we have a very advanced time-based parental control, we can configure different profiles and apply them to different users that we have connected to the wireless or wired network. Of course, we also have advanced QoS to prioritize different devices over others, an L2TP/IPsec VPN server, options to open ports, configure Wi-Fi scheduler, wireless guest network and many other advanced options.

Something that has particularly caught our attention is that we also have the possibility of configuring the DNS over HTTPS (DoH) protocol in the router, so that all DNS requests that come out of the router are completely encrypted and authenticated, a very interesting security measure. . It is also true that other manufacturers have incorporated DNS over TLS instead of DoH, but the latter protocol is more difficult to block because it uses the HTTPS protocol on TCP port 443.

We are going to be able to manage this firmware through HTTP or HTTPS, in addition, we have a new app called EAGLE PRO AI for Android and iOS smartphones, this app is completely free and you can download it from here:

As you can see, this router is very complete, the most remarkable thing without a doubt is the Mesh compatibility with the other models of the family, in addition, it is a really cheap model because we can buy it for less than 60 euros.

Unboxing and first impressions

This new Wi-Fi 6 router has a design similar to the latest router models from the manufacturer, in this case we have a fairly elegant white casing, and with the lower one in light blue. Although we have four external antennas, we must bear in mind that they are not removable, so we cannot change them for others with higher gain. Without a doubt, what we liked the most about this router is the firmware and all the possibilities that we have available, especially Movistar’s triple VLAN and the Mesh support for the E15 repeaters and for the M15 Mesh nodes.

The price of this router is around 60 euros, that is, a real bargain considering the technical specifications and the real performance that we are going to obtain with this model. Also, you should not forget that coverage can be extended using E15 repeaters and also M15 nodes.

In RedesZone we already have with us this new router that has gone on sale a few weeks ago, in the following video you will be able to see all the contents of the box, what this new wireless router is like and also the main features and news.