D-Link M32

Update: I had to move this to a switch as having in plugged directly into the router or another AP was again causing timeouts... for now the issue seems to be resolved -- but give it another day and I am sure everything will change. --- I ordered this 3-pack to replace my DLINK M15 extenders... assuming from the reviews that I read at other sites were correct and this was just a fast upgrade. Unfortunately, none of the issues with the M15s have been corrected and this model is even more buggy. I intended to use these as extenders for a second WiFi network... but I lost much of the speed with another AP, so I put one of these in place as the extender... though since it was in mesh mode, it took my existing WiFi network down as well as it reprogrammed my M15 extenders to join the mesh. It took almost 10hours to determine the issue and to fix it properly by turning of mesh and reconfiguring all extenders to the proper network with a factory reset. I tried to make the mesh work with all DLINK mesh devices as they were recognised, but there were too many issues to resolve. Supposedly, all of these should be able to extend a network to another network name on 2.4g and 5g channels (as it works on M15s). I determined that these would not consistently configure as my M15s did though with WPA3 with the master AP and extending to a different SSID with WPA2... sometimes it would work temporarily, but sometimes it work accept the configuration, reboot, and no longer function. If it did not function, a system reset would work though the default password no longer would work. This issue caused a return as DLINK support wanted me to ship it to them for warranty repair. I cannot recommend the US support as they do not respond to online tickets or chats and they will only lookup those tickets after you are on the phone. For the nodes that I managed to implement as a master and extenders, I was able to get much lower latencies and about double download speeds as compared to the M15 kit... though this is due to the unique nature of this set as they split the increased 5g AX bandwidth into a dedicated backhaul with two of the four antennas. Unfortunately, this did not work well with any other brand nor model of DLINK equipment. When initially doing setup, I tried the Eagle AI app. Unfortunately, it still does not work if you want to setup any device as anything other than the master router directly connected to an internet connection -- even then I could not get it to work with TMobile nor Spectrum. I then tried the web interface setup... interestingly, this required connecting to the WiFi as it would not allow initial setup from the ethernet ports. After setup as a non-mesh router so that I could use it as an AP, there seemed to be many other options that I had to keep going back to change (aside from the initial DHCP stated in the online help document). It seemed to cause packet storms and routing issues, until I disabled the SmartConnect (to allow channel selection besides AUTO) and the AI Optimiser. While these could cause connectivity issues, I am unsure why they would take down my routing tables as well as my switches. After you get the first node setup (only with WPA2 as WPA3 disables WPS), you can have the other nodes join the new network by pushing the WPS button on the master for 5sec, followed by the new node for 5sec... just be sure that you have them setup as you need for mesh or non-mesh before joining. Otherwise, you can use web setup and install the extenders with WPA3 and configure everything manually... though you will still want to review the ones setup with WPS as the time servers and other autoconfiguration details are likely not perfect. Placement was something that caused another intermittent issue. While all of the nodes had a white light which means an excellent connection, they would often lose connectivity or have tremendously long latencies which would interrupt the entire network instead of just the one WiFi network. There are no included tools to analyse the configuration nor signal for placement during setup nor while in use. I also found that most of my other issues were caused by being unable to setup the WiFi channels and the auto optimise... so while I could disable these, DLINK should allow you to lock your WiFi channels whether in Mesh mode, Smart Connect mode, or neither. These two issues are amplified in older houses with thicker walls and brick. While I like the idea, DLINK is not good at implementation anymore. They really need to solve issues with the configuration options, the setup, the app, their customer service, and device interactions with their own products. The speed and latency are much better when it works... but trying to use one as an AP in router mode is very fraught with peril... as is placement and setup... just avoid the app altogether until everything is working and then you can use it for monitoring if you like. Avoid customer service as well... and may even the product if you have older Eagle AI or DLINK mesh products as these may not function together as one expects. I used to be a diehard DLINK fan... I dropped the cameras first due to issues, then everything except the routers, then finally the routers. I was hoping that they could make a comeback with WiFi 6 mesh... but so far, even if I can make these work, most end users may not be able to do so. I am therefore rating these three stars. As always, your mileage and preferences may vary...