D-Link DIR 956 router
A 4G router to support a mobile office or ropey NBN connection.
Last year we reviewed TP-Link’s diminutive Archer MR600 4G router, which was designed to share 4G-internet across mobile offices. It worked so well that we ended up using it ourselves – as a full-time office telecoms hub – running three IP phones, a conference phone, a dozen Macbooks and 20 other devices. We resorted to such a setup because the only available internet connection in Manly (which is near the centre of Sydney) was ADSL or a silly-money, private cable service for several hundred dollars per month.
Indeed, we were also given a tip by tech journo Duro Sen, that 4G routers can be a lifesaver to those cursed with poor NBN connections. Sick of the unreliability and poor performance of his ‘high speed’ wired NBN line, he stopped wasting money by signing up to the cheapest NBN deal he could find and instead relied upon a 500GB 4G plan from Optus-reseller, Ovo, for $110 per month, to do the heavy lifting. While not cheap, when the internet is essential to your home or work, that’s dramatically cheaper than relying on data plans from the main networks. Note, at the time of going to press, Ovo is only offering a 250GB plan due to coronavirus rationing.
With that in mind, we were keen to see D-Link’s latest DWR-956 Router which offers 4G (in addition to Ethernet) WAN. There’s also an RJ-11 phone port so you can directly connect a SIP phone – something that the TP-Link didn’t have. Set-up is rather old-school; unlike TP-Link there’s no phone app or mobile-optimised settings. You’re first expected to use a browserbased wizard that walks you through setting up names and passwords for the 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks. It also asks you to enter all the manual details for the 4G WAN, which is disappointing as we expect automatic configuration nowadays. It’s a theme that runs deep through the router’s firmware; while there’s the full array of consumer-grade features, many of them come with old-school, networkingengineer-grade jargon. QoS, for example, eschews the usual ‘Gaming,’ ‘Streaming’ and ‘VoIP’ settings for hardcore DSCP (Differentiated Services Code Point) code numbers. However, the most annoying UX aspect is that loading pages of the firmware takes almost 10 seconds each.
But what of its performance? Much will depend on the 4G network you’re using, but we ran our standard speed tests across its dual-band, AC1200-rated (1,200 Mbps maximum theoretical speed) LAN anyway; transferring files from our Synology DS1019+ NAS to a Wi-Fi-6-equipped
Dell XPS 15 OLED laptop. Up close it managed an impressive 417Mbps (5GHz) and 105Mbps (2.4GHz). One floor up these plummeted to 32Mbps and 8.5Mbps respectively while no connection was possible two floors up.
To be honest, we’re rather disappointed by the DWR-956. While TP-Link’s Archer MR600 also has limited range, it’s $70 cheaper than the $350 D-Link, much easier to use (thanks to excellent phone app and firmware) and has some nifty monitoring tools too. Unless you absolutely need the SIP port, TP-Link’s MR600 kicks its backside in almost every way.
“4G routers can be a lifesaver to those cursed with poor NBN connections”.