Wi-Fi 6 certification standard came out around late 2019 and many hardware manufactures are riding on this new bandwagon and coming out with their own offerings to the masses. D-Link is no exception here and today we bring to you one of their newest Wi-Fi 6 capable smart routers, the D-Link DIR-X1560 Smart AX1500 Wi-Fi 6 Router.

Highlights

Wi-Fi 6 technology provides faster speeds, greater capacity and less network congestion
Speeds up to 1.5 Gbps (1200 Mbps on the 5 GHz band and 300 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band)
Dual-band Wi-Fi with up to 4 simultaneous streams makes 4K streaming, gaming or video chatting a breeze
OFDMA and MU-MIMO technology communicate more data to more devices while simultaneously reducing latency
4 Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports and 1 Gigabit Ethernet WAN port provide optional wired connectivity
Intelligent Quality of Service (QoS) prioritizes network traffic to minimize the impact of busy bandwidth
Backwards compatibility ensures support for previous Wi-Fi standards and all Wi-Fi devices
Increased battery life of connected devices with Target Wake Time (TWT) technology
Supports the latest 128-bit industry-standard Wi-Fi encryption
Voice Control for an even easier home Wi-Fi networking experience
Works with the D-Link Wi-Fi App for easy setup

Mesh System :	Yes
Ethernet Speed :	Gigabit Ethernet
Warranty :	3-Year Limited Warranty
NBN/UFB Support :	FTTP / FTTC/ HFC / Satellite / Fixed Wireless
LAN Port(s) :	4
CD-less Install :	Yes
Guest Network :	Yes
Parental Controls :	Yes
mydlink enabled :	Yes
Wireless Technology :	AX1500 (300 + 1200Mbps)
Wireless Bands :	Dual Band
WAN Interface :	Gigabit Ethernet
VoIP :	No
Wave 2 MU-MIMO Wi-Fi :	Yes
Wi-Fi 6 :	Yes

Unboxing the DIR-X1560

One think D-Link does pretty consistently is provide their products in catchy packaging. The D-Link DIR-X1560 is no exception.

The box is well detailed and provides highlights of its key features on offer. Opening up the box you’re offered a user manual, quick install card (To setup the router via the mydlink app directly), a network cable and power adapter.

The D-Link DIR-X1560 offers 4 Wi-Fi antennas with a gloss outer finish with the center area having a matt finish giving the unit quite a unique look. The router itself is pretty light weight and comes with a 3 year D-Link warranty for your peace of mind.

The rear of the unit offers 1 x Gigabit WAN port and 4 x Gigabit Ethernet ports.

4 bright white LED lights adorn the top of the unit soon after the unit initializes from startup. You have the option of turning the LEDs off from the management console if required, especially if you got the router in your room.

Setup

If you’re less tech savvy, D-Link makes life easy for you. Simply download the mydlink app from Google Playstore or Apple App store and simply scan the QR code offered in the installation card. It’ll connect you directly to the router and configure the router for you.

You can also provide different SSID’s to your 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz Wi-Fi networks if you wanted to allocate certain devices to their specific band, or you can let the router to make the smart decision based on the client.

The D-Link DIR-X1560 offers the latest WPA3-Personal Wi-Fi encryption which gives your Wi-Fi signal 128-bit industry-standard encryption.

Performance

We won’t be touching on the benefits Wi-Fi 6 offers as this topic has been exhaustively been discussed online. While there are good gains to be made, you need to ensure your client devices support Wi-Fi 6. The D-Link DIR-X1560 is backward compatible with older Wi-Fi standards yet it defeats the purpose of purchasing this unit.

In our tests we found the DIR-X1560 to work flawlessly with multiple devices connecting to it. The performance gains may not be evident to all until you have more devices talking on the network. Wireless coverage was good and covered a 28Sq house with ease.

Real world performance was decent for an entry level Wi-Fi 6 router. During our tests the router was able to maintain a speed of ~ 830 Mbps at close range and around ~ 650 Mbps towards the extreme ends of the house. (approx 50-60 feet away)

There are no notable changes in the web interface if you are already familiar with D-Link’s router interface which was released in 2016. This is the common interface they have been using across all their domestic models. Common features such as QOS, Port forwarding, are provided and DDNS are all available.

The VPN Wizard lets you configure LAN-to-LAN and remote access VPN connections while its built-in passthrough feature also allows any devices connected to the router to establish outbound VPN connections.

The DIR-X1560 belongs to D-Link’s EXO family, so if you wanted extra coverage, you can simply get one of their access points to link up with this unit.

Conclusion

For an entry level Wi-Fi 6 capable router, the D-Link DIR-X1560 has performed quite well. Keep in mind that unless you have Wi-Fi 6 capable devices on your network, purchasing this with the expectations of higher speeds will be futile, unless of course you haven’t upgraded your router in the last decade.

You also get D-Link defend cloud service for parental controls, which is a must have if you got kids and want to control their level of internet access. If you’re looking to be an early adopter of Wi-Fi 6 and looking for a router within a reasonable budget, the D-Link DIR-X1560 at AU$ 249.95 will not disappoint.