D-Link Unified Home Wi-Fi Network Kit

D-Link Unified Home Wi-Fi Network Kit

The D-Link Unified Home Wi-Fi Network Kit is an interesting concept that consists of a Wi-Fi router and a range extender -- specifically the AC4200 Tri-Band MU-MIMO Wi-Fi Router (model DIR-891L) and the AC1300 Gigabit Wi-Fi Extender (DAP-1655). The kit will be available in the second quarter of 2016 with an estimated price of $400.

D-Link is hitting CES 2016 with a new product it claims will help make sure Wi-Fi coverage reaches every corner of your home, even a large one. A router and a range extender sold together, it's called the Unified Home Wi-Fi Network Kit.

The router used in the kit is an all-new AC4200 Tri-Band MU-MIMO Wi-Fi Router (model DIR-891L). It's a souped-up version of the AC3200 router, the racy DIR-890L/R. The two share the same radical red design, but the DIR-891L is a more powerful model. It's a quad-stream router with the top speed of each of its two 5GHz bands hitting up to 1,733Mbps, and on the 2.4GHz band, up to 800Mbps. The router also features MU-MIMO for better Wi-Fi efficiency.

The range extender of the kit is also a new device, called the AC1300 Gigabit Wi-Fi Extender (DAP-1655), with up to 867Mbps on the 5GHz band and 450Mbps on the 2.4GHz band. It looks similar, although is significantly smaller.