D-Link DAP-1520 AC750 Wi-Fi Range Extender Review

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Recently, I've noticed an uptick in the amount of portable and compact range extenders coming to market. While these solutions don't typically carry the full spread of features found in their larger counterparts, the solution I'm looking at today, the D-Link DAP-1520, does happen to have AC750 capabilities.

The D-Link DAP-1520 is a dual-band range extender capable of 300Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 433Mbps on the 5GHz band. The footprint of this extender is about the same size of typical powerline networking endpoints and weighs just 3.6 ounces while featuring all of the standard security options such as WEP, WPA, and WPA2 security. In addition to that, we have WPS for quick and simple setup.

MSRP for the D-Link DAP-1520 range extender is set at $79.99 with a one-year warranty.

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Scope of delivery for the 1520 includes the extender itself along with reading materials.

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Looking at the extender, we get an idea of the small footprint. At the top, we have a multifunctional LED that changes from red to orange and finally green when the extender is configured.

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The side of the 1520 houses the WPS button and reset.

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Above, we have started setup of the range extender.

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Moving on, the extender gives us two options for completing setup. You can use WPS, where you would push the button on your main router and then the D-Link to connect, or you can configure it manually.

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We chose the manual setup, and here you can see we have a list of networks in the area to extend.

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After selecting the network you want to extend and entering the password, you will come to this screen.

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In the previous image, you can see the security options for the extended network, which include WEP, WPA, and WPA2.

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In the system management, you can save your configuration settings along with resetting the extender to defaults if needed.

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D-Link has included a statistics menu for those that want to see how much traffic has passed through.

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Here, we have our quick range test for the 2.4GHz band. Starting right next to the extender, we achieved a signal rate of -20dBm, while moving out from the extender in 10ft increments resulted with us having a signal rate of -55dBm at 40ft.

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The range test for the 5GHz band gave us a signal rate of -35dBm next to the extender, and moving away from it, we ended with -60dBm at 40ft.

The D-Link DAP-1520 is a solid solution for anyone wanting to extend their existing network. The build quality of the unit is really quite good, and setup of the device is so simple that I don't foresee any issues even with novice users.

The performance of the unit was also quite good. In our testing, we were able to get 40ft from the extender and still have a 130Mbps connection rate and strong signal on 2.4GHz. On 5GHz, we were able to keep a 433Mbps connection rate all the way out to 40ft with a SNR of 30.

Overall, I'm quite impressed with the D-Link as it works just as good, if not better, than many full-size solutions, and yet this device consumes no more space than a standard powerline adapter.

MSRP of the D-Link DAP-1520 is set at $79.99 with a one-year warranty. Current market pricing can be found below.

PRICING: You can find the D-Link DAP-1520 for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.

United States: The D-Link DAP-1520 retails for $63.99 at Amazon.

Canada: The D-Link DAP-1520 retails for CDN$69.99 at Amazon Canada.