D-Link always up the ante in their home mesh router range, and today we bring to you the D-Link COVR-X1873 AX1800 Dual Band Seamless Mesh Wi-Fi 6 System. Depending on your budget and coverage requirement you have the option to choose from just a single, double or three mesh units with the COVR -X1870 series.

Highlights and Specifications

Wi-Fi 6 technology provides faster speeds, greater capacity and less network congestion
Speeds up to 1.8 Gbps (574 + 1200) built for the modern device-dense smart home
Coverage up to 740 sqm
4 Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports provide optional wired connectivity (per unit)
D-Link Wi-Fi Mesh offers one unified network experience that auto connects you to the strongest signal
OFDMA and MU-MIMO technology communicate more data to more devices while simultaneously reducing latency
BSS colouring helps organise data packets, making your network more efficient and improving Wi-Fi 6 performance
Increased battery life of connected devices with Target Wake Time (TWT) technology
Supports the latest WPA3™ encryption
Built-in Speedtest® powered by Ookla®
Voice Control for an even easier home Wi-Fi networking experience

Wi-Fi Speed :	AX1800 (574 + 1200Mbps)
Warranty :	3-Year Limited Warranty
Ethernet Speed :	Gigabit Ethernet
NBN/UFB Support :	FTTP / FTTC/ HFC / Satellite / Fixed Wireless
Ethernet Ports :	4
Guest Network :	Yes
Parental Controls :	Yes\|Schedule
Wireless Bands :	Dual Band
WAN Interface :	Gigabit Ethernet
Wave 2 MU-MIMO Wi-Fi :	Yes
Mesh Standard :	COVR Series
Wi-Fi Technology :	Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)
Smart Home Compatible :	Amazon Alexa\|Google Assistant
Internet Protocols :	IPv4\|IPv6
Wi-Fi Security :	WPS\|WPA/WPA2-Personal\|WPA3-Personal
Firmware Upgrade :	Yes\|OTA Firmware Upgrade
SpeedTest Powered :	Yes
App Support :	D-Link Wi-Fi

Closer look

Since there are 3 units, the COVR-X1873 comes in a fairly large box which covers it’s product features well from the outside.

Opening up the box, you find 3 neatly packed COVR-X1870 units and D-Link inlcudes the required power adapters and a single network cable to get you going.

The units themselves are quite sleek and only have a LED light at the front along with a vented mesh appearance on top. At the rear you’re offered 4 x 1 GB Ethernet ports, 1 x internet port, WPS button and a power button. It’s great to have 4 Ethernet ports on each device as that effectively gives you the option to hard wire 12 LAN devices.

With the COVR-X1873 you also have the option to connect the backhaul network via Ethernet connectivity if you had your internal wiring to support. This would be ideal if you wanted coverage over a greater distance or where there’s significant wireless interference.

D-Link COVR-X1873 Setup and Features

Setting up the D-Link COVR-X1873 couldn’t be any simpler. You have the option of configuring the unit via your mobile through the D-Link Wi-Fi app or simply connecting to the router via its web interface.

On initial login, the router will prompt for the type of operation mode you require the device to be in.

Once the primary unit is configured, all you need to do is turn on the remaining D-Link COVR-X1870 units at their respective locations. Give them around a minute to automatically sync up with the primary which happens seamlessly.

The router home page will show you a summary of your network map and soon as the secondary devices are detected, it’ll show up under Extenders.

You have basic options such as removing an extended device or rebooting one of them should the need arise.

Going a level deeper the interface shows you the connectivity of the 2 extenders to the primary COVR-X1870 unit as well as showing details around the backhaul connectivity which in this case is via it’s 5Ghz spectrum.

The Wi-Fi connectivity between devices is seamless and you don’t need to keep changing SSIDs from different locations in the home. Note that if you want to have separate Wi-Fi SSID’s for 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz, then you’d loose out on the mesh single SSID option between devices.

D-Link offers basic parental controls via the interface as well, however it’s not as comprehensive as the D-Fend application they used to offer in their previous generation routers.

Performance and Conclusion

A key differentiation from previous mesh systems from D-Link is that the COVR-X1873’s backhaul can be setup to use either the 5GHz Wi-Fi channel or connected directly via Ethernet. If you’re doing large file transfers between devices on your LAN, a wired Ethernet backhaul will certainly provide greater performance and stability than the 5Ghz Wi-Fi channel.

The D-Link COVR-X1873 is the first Wi-Fi 6 mesh system we have reviewed and I must say its proved to be very impressive. Streaming 4K movies or gaming over the LAN/WAN has been seamless throughout the whole home, thanks to its 1200mbps 5Ghz speeds. The unit proved to be very robust amidst high demand situations and did not show any performance impacts with multiple devices connecting to it. We had 4 devices streaming 4k movies and another 4 on gaming for testing; surprisingly the COVR-X1873 didn’t seem to even flinch when more resources were requested from it. Sadly in Australia most of us are limited to 100 Mbps internet connections, so if there was any bottleneck, it would turn out to be your internet connection.

At a price tag of AU$549.95 the D-Link COVR-X1873 is priced well to compete with its competition and offers a massive 740 sqm coverage with its 3 mesh devices. You also get the added benefit of Wi-Fi 6 speeds which extends towards its backhaul system as well. For even greater stability the backhaul can be hardwired. Overall another well rounded product by a trusted industry giant. Apart from having basic parental controls, you can’t fault the COVR-X1873 as it offers everything you’d expect from a mid-high end Wi-Fi 6 mesh system.