D-Link DSL-2885A

$179 | WWW.DLINK.COM.AU A look at what the standard end of town can deliver...

We decided to include this more-standard router as a nice counterpart to the much more expensive routers on offer. At only $179, including an ADSL/ VDSL modem, it’s a very affordable entry-point for those who need a basic Wi-Fi network. Having said that, there’s obviously been some serious compromises made to hit this price point.

To begin with, the total output of this router is just AC1200; less than quarter of the fastest in the roundup. But hey, some people only need to hook up a PC, phone and laptop, in which case, this is more than enough, especially if you’re relying on ADSL rather than NBN. It will still work with the NBN, but you’ll be flooding the router with more traffic than it can handle.

The interface is just as basic as its much more expensive big brother, with very sparse customisation options and features. It doesn’t even feature QoS, which is why it performed so poorly in our gaming test. In fact, it was the only router that experienced any packet loss, at 4%. In a game of CS:GO, that could be all the difference between your bullet registering on the server or not.

At least it’s easy enough to set up and run; just take it out of the box, plug it in and follow the three-step setup tutorial and you’re good to go. However, you’ll then see just how slow it is, with truly abysmal long-range 2.4GHz speeds.

And yet they’re just right if you’re using a single device with ADSL, where the 24Mbps download speed at range is right on the cusp of the theoretical maximum of today’s copper network.