Let’s start with the white elephant in the room. Yes this is an expensive range extender. For the same coin people can get a pretty darn decent router… however good luck finding a 4×4 AC2600 router for this little cash. The same holds true of finding a wireless NIC that can do AC2600 speeds for only one fifty.
Instead of thinking of this as an expensive range extender it is best to consider this a rather inexpensive AC2600 wireless device that can also darn near double your existing router’s wireless coverage – as that is precisely what the D-Link DAP-1860 is. Simply put this is the fastest, most impressive range extender you can find in this price bracket. It may be large for a wall socket model but compared to similar performer range extenders (i.e. cut-down / firmware hobbled AC2600 routers) it is downright svelte.
This is how we have a tendency to look at things and the DAP-1860 really is an excellent choice for consumers looking to somehow take advantage of their new, and expensive, wireless router. Until the day comes that someone makes a AC2600 PCIe wireless NIC card that does not cost an arm and a leg this DAP-1860 really is an excellent option. In fact even when that day comes a wireless NIC will still not be able to boost the coverage of your existing network and make areas of your hose that were darn near dead-zones it to ‘perfect’ spots for all your other wireless devices.
With all that said this unit is still not perfect and there is room for improvement. With its greatly increase form-factor D-Link really should have included more than one Gigabit Ethernet port. There is room for more, yet they chose to not make the DAP-1860 even more flexible. Considering there are chipsets on the market that would have allowed the DAP-1860 to boast 2 or even four Gigabit Ethernet ports but still cost about the same at the wholesale level as the single port IC they used this is a missed opportunity. The same holds true of the external antennas. There is simply no reason to have not made them more flexible and have a much less restrictive range of movement.
These nitpicks however about the only thing the average consumer is going to find wrong with this rather impressive range extender. As such if you are looking for either a good wireless bridge or range extender that can accommodate 4×4 configurations the D-Link DAP-1860 really needs to be on your short list.
