D-Link TalkBox2800 (DVA-2800)

THERE ARE FAR BETTER VOIP ROUTERS AROUND.

WHEN IT COMES to VoIP-enabled routers, AVM’s now venerable Fritz!Box 7490 remains the benchmark against which every other VoIP router has to be measured. So how does the TalkBox2800 from D-Link stack up?

Not particularly well, we’re afraid — at least with respect to VoIP functions. The Fritz!Box is a powerhouse with integrated DECT base station and a lot of message taking, phone menu, wake up call and mobile call routing options. The more expensive D-Link TalkBox2800 is about as vanilla as they come. It has two ports for phone handsets and no PSTN failover, and it handles only the most basic call functions.

As for the rest of the router, it’s roughly on par with the Fritz!Box, supporting AC1600 wireless and four Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports. It has a dedicated WAN port on top of the modem port, so it can function as a broadband router if needs be.

Setup was a challenge. We could find no mobile app that supported it, so it had to be configured via the Web UI. D-Link’s web UI is much improved from earlier generations of products, but VoIP configuration in particular was still a trial. The whole thing seems to be built on older tech, and it does not support D-Link’s Whole Home Wi-Fi mesh networking system.

These days, VoIP is a pretty niche technology. Unlimited call plans on mobiles and landlines, as well as mobile apps like WhatsApp, have largely killed the consumer VoIP business. As a result, there are slim pickings when it comes to VoIP routers. Even so, there are better and cheaper options than the TalkBox.