D-Link DIR-882 AC2600 MU-MIMO Wi-Fi Router Reviewed

[e38BimmerFN]

Enjoy.

Thanks, I was lucky to pick up an used DIR-882 for cheap this past Saturday. Tested it against my R7000 and WRT1900AC, the simple way since I have a blind spot for 5G at a corner of my house.

Tested it with my HTC-M8 cellphone.

WRT1900AC v.2 with Openwrt (lede) firmware, can connect to 5G but will drop connection.
R7000 with latest DDWRT (Kong's build), can see the 5G but could not obtain an ip address.

Dir-882 with latest DDWRT, connected to 5G and speed test about 38mbps/9mbps with my 50/10 internet connection.

You are right, it is worth the upgrade, thanks again.

 

[apvm]

Enjoy.

DDWRT run stable but too bad when I fast forward a movie via my plex server, it will crash the router and cause it to reboot. Back to my WRT1900AC with Lede firmware, no problem. Have to find out the cause of it.

 

[sfx2000]

WRT1900AC v.2 with Openwrt (lede) firmware, can connect to 5G but will drop connection.
R7000 with latest DDWRT (Kong's build), can see the 5G but could not obtain an ip address.

Nothing against DDWRT or Kong's build, much less the efforts on OpenWRT...

OpenWRT on the WRT1200/1900 line/WRT3200 series - very fast on routing and storage.

The NDA/Commercial WLAN drivers on Linksys stock - the WRT1900ac line is pretty awesome range wise, just that Linksys SmartWifi isn't friendly for folks that need to do a bit more...

The Marvell FOSS drivers on the WRT's have been a pain in the ***....

 

[apvm]

Nothing against DDWRT or Kong's build, much less the efforts on OpenWRT...

OpenWRT on the WRT1200/1900 line/WRT3200 series - very fast on routing and storage.

The NDA/Commercial WLAN drivers on Linksys stock - the WRT1900ac line is pretty awesome range wise, just that Linksys SmartWifi isn't friendly for folks that need to do a bit more...

The Marvell FOSS drivers on the WRT's have been a pain in the ***....

The Dir-882 with latest stock 1.11 firmware don't crash the router while using plex so it is a DDWRT bug, too bad the stock firmware don't have some of the settings that I required.

The WRT1900AC works well with David's Lede builds and can stream 4K without problem from my plex server which is connected to an ea6900 with ddwrt as client bridge in the basement. to my Mi Box upstairs which is also connected with AC wifi.

The R7000 is my back up router and I like the fact that it support quite a few third party firmware.

Both range and signal strength of the Dir-882 is better than the other two routers above, too bad stock firmware is not my cup of tea.

Nonetheless after testing the DIR-882, I don't think I need to upgrade anytime soon, at least not until I upgrade my internet connection to gigabit.

Thanks again, much appreciate your comments.

 

[e38BimmerFN]

Sounds like WRT is the problem if Stock FW doesn't cause a problem.

If you can use the WRT1900AC as your main host router, hook up the DIR router as the main AP in AP mode and let the WRT be the main host router if the works for your needs.

DDWRT run stable but too bad when I fast forward a movie via my plex server, it will crash the router and cause it to reboot. Back to my WRT1900AC with Lede firmware, no problem. Have to find out the cause of it.

 

[apvm]

Sounds like WRT is the problem if Stock FW doesn't cause a problem.

If you can use the WRT1900AC as your main host router, hook up the DIR router as the main AP in AP mode and let the WRT be the main host router if the works for your needs.

Actually do not have time to test stock FW, just revert back to WRT1900AC at this moment and thinking if I should keep the 882.

 

[apvm]

Sold my 882 and here are my findings of this router :

1) Both range and connectivity are better than my R7000 and WRT1900AC v2
2) Stock firmware not perfect but enough.
3) DDWRT is not stable at all, random reboot.

If you are presently using stock firmware with wireless N only router or low end wireless AC router, this is worth upgrading to (only if you are planning to use stock firmware). If you are planning to use DDWRT with it, I would hold off since DDWRT is not stable with this router, random reboot and I suspect it is wifi driver related.

Everything that the review stated are accurate with stock firmware, a good buy for the money especially if you have upgraded to gigabit internet and your old router can not handle the speed.

One last thing is that I read some foreign review and they indicated that the 882 flash memory for firmware is only 16mb not sure if that is accurate.

 

[e38BimmerFN]

HW specs here for the 882:
https://wikidevi.com/wiki/D-Link_DIR-882_rev_A1

Sold my 882 and here are my findings of this router :

1) Both range and connectivity are better than my R7000 and WRT1900AC v2
2) Stock firmware not perfect but enough.
3) DDWRT is not stable at all, random reboot.

If you are presently using stock firmware with wireless N only router or low end wireless AC router, this is worth upgrading to (only if you are planning to use stock firmware). If you are planning to use DDWRT with it, I would hold off since DDWRT is not stable with this router, random reboot and I suspect it is wifi driver related.

Everything that the review stated are accurate with stock firmware, a good buy for the money especially if you have upgraded to gigabit internet and your old router can not handle the speed.

One last thing is that I read some foreign review and they indicated that the 882 flash memory for firmware is only 16mb not sure if that is accurate.

 

[Sachb]

I have this router (DIR-882) and as per my experience it's pretty good for the price but not the best. The router seems to have issues reaching speeds above 230 when it's run on channel 48 or lower on 5 GHz Wifi.

The other thing is that the NAS only provides write speed on an USB 3.0 NTFS USB at around 7 - 8 MB/sec. D-link has confirmed that this is an Hardware limitation. Read speeds are good tho.

 

[e38BimmerFN]

What version of FW are you using?
Others are seeing high speeds over 5Ghz:
http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=75541.msg306625#msg306625

Yes the 882 has a known issue with USB drives:
http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=75307.msg305324#msg305324

I have this router (DIR-882) and as per my experience it's pretty good for the price but not the best. The router seems to have issues reaching speeds above 230 when it's run on channel 48 or lower on 5 GHz Wifi.

The other thing is that the NAS only provides write speed on an USB 3.0 NTFS USB at around 7 - 8 MB/sec. D-link has confirmed that this is an Hardware limitation. Read speeds are good tho.

 

[Sachb]

What version of FW are you using?
Others are seeing high speeds over 5Ghz:
http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=75541.msg306625#msg306625

Yes the 882 has a known issue with USB drives:
http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=75307.msg305324#msg305324

I meant to say that on lower band channels 36-48 I never got more than 230 mbps.

When I select higher band channels. 149-165 I achieve 520 mbps which is max.

Version 1.20, which is the latest as of now.

Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk

 

[e38BimmerFN]

There is v1.30 available FYI.

 

[Sachb]

There is v1.30 available FYI.

I know but that adds another layer of security wherein you're forced to type in special characters for the Router login password and uppercase letters, numbers mix.

Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk

 

[e38BimmerFN]

Really? Something I haven't seen or have been forced to use since loading it on my 882. 3 lower case letters and 3 numbers here is all I use with v1.30 loaded.

 

[Sachb]

Wired Performance on it is much better than Wireless performance. Speeds on Wireless doesn't seem to be consistent, although I can achieve speeds upto 526 mbps, but this speed is not always achieved.

For me most of the time it's between 400- 500 mbps. Although when wired using the LAN ports of DIR 882 I achieve 520-536 constantly.

 

[e38BimmerFN]

Wireless speed may vary depending upon environtment, noise and device design and support. Wired will always have more consistent performances over wireless.

 

[Sachb]

Wireless speed may vary depending upon environtment, noise and device design and support. Wired will always have more consistent performances over wireless.

I tried my old router DIR 850L and it had the same issue, which capped my speed on channel 48 to 230 mbps, and on channel 149 it reached 348 mbps but when I used it wired I got 532 mbps.

On Dlink DIR 882, the weird speed cap of 230 mbps thing is only happening with channel 36-48 , but using upper band channels like 149, it's 400-520 mbps on 5Ghz.

I bought an Asus AC86U for testing in my room, and had the same issue where max speeds on wireless seemed to be 270 mbps when connectng to Netgear R7800 using channel 36-48.

Then the last thing I tried was removing my Netgear R7800 and placing the Asus AC86U, then speeds were 532 mbps which is weird on channnels 36-48.

I mean using Asus as the main router I got 532 mbps on 5Ghz.
But as you know I wanted to use Asus as my secondary router and not main since it's a bit buggy.

So far the best setup is

Netgear R7800 (main) ---->Dlink DAP 1860 extender ----> Dlink DIR 882 (2nd router) 400-520 mbps

Only If Asus wasn't region locked I would reach my ultimate setup of 532 mbps of constant speeds across my entire home.

Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk