D-Link DIR-882 Review
D-Link DIR-882 is the latest wireless router from D-Link. It is also the highest end model in the latest lineup of routers which also include the DIR-867 and DIR-878. Being the highest end model, there are a lot more expectations. The DIR-882 comes in a 4×4 arrangement in order to achieve the highest speed for Wireless AC.
4×4 is the number of streams used by the router so a 4×4 router will have 4 streams. Although most devices in the market are 2×2 capable only. A 4×4 can benefit even 2×2 devices as it can have 2 simultaneous 2×2 connections at the same time, increasing efficiency and capacity of the network.
The best part of this router is the price. At SRP of slightly more than RM700 with some sellers selling at around RM600, it is probably one of the best deal around for an AC2600 wireless router.
Hardware and Specs
- 4×4 Wireless AC2600
- MU-MIMO
- Beamforming
- Gigabit Ethernet
- 2 USB ports
D-Link DIR-882 supports Wireless AC2600 with a maximum wireless link speed up to 1733Mbps on 5Ghz and 800Mbps on the 2.4Ghz band . But, you are never going to get anywhere close to this in real life as this is theoretical wireless link speed. After conversion, we hope it can reach around 1000Mbps maximum on 5Ghz which is still really good.
This model has support for MU-MIMO and transmit beamforming which means it can deliver better performance with MU-MIMO compatible devices. Besides, beamforming will help to improve performance as it by directing the signal towards the direction of where your devices is. We shall see how this will translate to the performance in real life.
The router comes with 4 Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports. Besides, it also comes with 2 USB ports with one of them being USB 3.0. There are 4 non-removable external antennas. I guess D-Link realize most people are not a huge fan of cylindrical shape router without antennas.
Configuring D-Link DIR-882
Setting up D-Link DIR-882 is actually really simple as D-Link included a configuration wizard. The wizard will ask you a bunch of questions and it is pretty straightforward. You are able to configure the router using the D-Link WiFi app but I strongly suggest you to use a PC as more options are available.
Simply connect default wireless name and password are labeled below the router then let the configuration wizard to guide you through the entire process.
D-Link DIR-882 Unifi Configuration
Compatible with
- Unifi
- TIME Fibre
- Maxis Fiber
Like all new D-Link wireless routers, the DIR-882 comes with Unifi compatibility. Configuration for Unifi is not as straight forward as you will need to dive into the menu to select the Unifi VLAN mode. But, it is still relatively simple so I will give D-Link a point here.
You can refer to my D-Link Unifi router setup guide here.
Features and Firmware
The firmware of the DIR-882 is rather basic and simplistic. D-Link’s approach was rather practical unlike some other manufacturers that put a ton of features on their routers which half of them we won’t use. The firmware is fairly easy to navigate around with simple menus and labelling. You can see all connected devices from the homepage. D-Link provide the option to rename them and configure fixed DHCP lease easily.
As for features, there is a simple priority based QoS function which lets you to select which device to have the highest priority. I suggest you not to use QoS if your Internet is faster than 100Mbps. D-Link also included a VPN server which is handy at times but I would prefer a VPN client instead.
We think the firmware on D-Link routers are a bit too minimal since we are geeks. But, it is a good thing for normal router consumers as too many configurations will cause confusion and configuring a router wrongly can impact performance. The Smart Connect is enabled by default. What this features does is it will automatically steer your devices to the best band according to the signal strength.
D-Link DIR-882 comes with 2 USB ports which you can connect a USB hard drive and share the files on the network using SAMBA. You can share files with your Windows and Mac computers easily through this.
D-Link WiFi app
We live in an era where there is an app for everything connected to the Internet. D-Link recently announced the D-Link WiFi app which lets you to monitor the status of your D-Link routers. The app is also really basic with the main feature being monitoring.
You can change the wireless name and configure some settings on the app as well.
WiFi Performance
We put the D-Link DIR-882 to our wireless performance testing in our real world situation. Our test device is a Macbook Pro 2017 with a built in 2×2 AC1200 wireless card.
On the short distance testing, nothing is surprising considering most routers should be able to exceed 500Mbps. On long distance test, the DIR-882 still shines with very respectable speed. Like the DIR-878, the speed did not drop significantly even at longer distance, indicating that this router have some pretty strong WiFi coverage.
But, if you read our review of DIR-867, you realize that it performs similarly with DIR-882. Well, it is because we only have a 2×2 device and most devices in the market are 2×2 only. But, still the DIR-882 can deliver better performance with a 4×4 device and also handle more devices simultaneously.
Closing Thoughts
D-Link DIR-882 is a great wireless router. It is an AC2600 class wireless router and it surely performed well. We like this router for the strong wireless range and solid 2.4Ghz performance. We have really good signal coverage and high speed even when we get further from the router. It is also able to support a 1 Gigabit Internet connection over wired LAN and also over WiFi if you have the right devices.
Despite it doesn’t come with as much features than the competitors, D-Link is able to justify it with the lower price. For the price, you probably won’t find another router that performed better than the DIR-882, making it a very good deal for potential buyers.
For more D-Link routers, check out my wireless router buying guide here.
D-Link DIR-882
D-Link DIR-882 delivers amazing wireless performance with good coverage and speed at an affordable price.
8.7
Tubi Score
Good Stuff
- Good value for money
- Strong WiFi coverage
- Good WiFi speed at longer range
Bad Stuff
- No access point mode
- Firmware is rather basic
Man, thanks for the review. I would like to know how do you think about this router vs Asus RT-AC85P? I am actually eyeing on both of this to choose one of them as I found them similar priced in second hand market. However the Asus one is China set. Both no warranty of course.
At this point, I will recommend getting a cheap new WiFi 6 router instead. While the DIR-882 is a great product, any new mid-range WiFi 6 router will perform better.
Hi Alvyn, seeking your kind advice here. I bought this D-Link 882 router about 1-year ago and followed your advice here and successfully setup the router and everything worked fine. However, about 1 week ago, suddenly the router was not connecting to the internet and I did call up TM and they said from their end, everything was fine. So I decided to reset the router and to reinstall the router. However, this round, when i keyed in my PPPoE, the router said that it was invalid user name or password which can’t be cos its the same and I… Read more »
Send back to D-Link for RMA. I stopped recommending D-Link due to the amount of firmware bugs.
You know these will take DD-WRT, right? To me, that is important and makes the stock firmware bugs, fairly unimportant, though it should be noted that after FW rev 1.1, D-Link required an encrypted firmware so to flash to DD-WRT or any other 3rd party FW, it must be booted to recovery mode.
Cool idea, I would prefer if a D-Link can ensure their firmware is free of bugs instead of requiring the users to tinker with the firmware.
Hi Bro, after used the router(D-Link DIR-882). anything are well. but just 1 problem when i connect prinsible wireless SSID that give me very slow connection, but if i connect to the guess wifi ssid that very powerful as can hit max speed of unifi 100mbs. Is that my setting got something wrong?
FYI, if i just connect guess wifi ssid that with problem when i need to use home network ie: printer or mirror link
Interesting, have you tried reset the router and setup again?
How to set this router as wifi repeater? Where this function menu have?
It does not have extender function.
Currently, my office using unifi 500mbps with stock router D-Link dir-850L. 8 PC’s connected using 2.4Ghz due to old wifi adapter. 2 PC’s on 5Ghz. A client-server PC on LAN cable. When on peak hour the speed becomes so slow, speedtest only achieves 2-3mbps and the server sometimes disconnected. So I’m looking to upgrade to something with better wifi performance.
Thinking to get between DIR 882 and TP-LINK Archer C2300 because budget is around rm500 only.
What’s is your advice?
The Archer C2300 has a far more robust 1.8Ghz Dual Core CPU and more RAM compared to the DIR-882. Try to move your PC to 5Ghz if possible.
Just got this router to replace my stock dir 850 router.
The good is that the 2.4ghz is really much stronger compared to the stock router.
Even the 5ghz signal is stronger.
But I find that my phone switches between 5ghz to 2.4 more frequent compared to the stock router. Its sometime annoying as the signal stops during the switch.
Also with regards to the smart connect, do you recommend to switch on or off.
How do I use the vpn server function.
Thanks again for the guidance here else would not know how to set up
I suggest you use smart connect so your phone will drop lesser.