D-Link DWR-978 5G AC2600 Wi-Fi Router, Super Fast 5G Download Up to 1.6 Gbps, AC2600 Wi-Fi, MU-MIMO, 4 x Gigabit Port, Gigabit Internet Port, Removable External Antennas, Unlocked for All Networks

It initially connected to the Three network OK but after about 30 minutes the speed fell from 50mps to 3mps maximum and I couldn't get any improvement even after several full resets. Then I started get an error message saying my new HP ZBook is unable to connect to the Wi-Fi network (my old copper wifi connects fine) so that decided the fate of the unit. Wi-Fi coverage was average, placing it in the hall at the centre of a 4 bed 1930's house gave a pretty reasonable signal everywhere but because it's a 5g router it needed to be at the back of the house to get a fast network connection which left the front rooms without a useable signal. This unit doesn't have mesh technology so you can't add a wireless extender.First thing to note is you need to connect via a cat5 cable to configure it, most laptops don't have this but fortunately my USB C monitor does, you can't use an app to set it up. The admin console is pretty much the same as my 10 year old D-Link ADSL modem/router and takes 30 seconds to process any changes but the firmware seems stuck on V 1.0 and won't upgrade, on such an old model of router seems strange that it's on V1 from the factory. Full system reset both using the console and also the reset button hasn't helped to resolve any of the issues.Also worth noting the sim slot is for a full size, they do provide a carrier for a micro sim but it's pretty rubbish and I'm now struggling to get my sim card out of the device, another annoyance is the power cable is ridiculously short. Although it's 5g it feels really dated, the user interface is clunky and the lack of an app really doesn't help it.

I live in a semi-rural area just outside of London with no FTTP available to me. I have a top-tier Vodafone 5G mobile internet subscription. The local 5G mast is approx 1 mile away and I have line-of-sight to it from my house. I also have an external 5G antenna pointing directly at the mast, connected to the router's MIMO inputs with some pretty tough cables. Everything should be set up perfectly for a stable and fast mobile internet.I've used D-Link products quite extensively in the past (mainly network switched) and had no problems, so although this router looks 'dated' I trusted the brand. It was fairly cheap compared other routers at the time and I thought I could balance reliability and price with the D-Link.What a mistake. I've owned it for 2 months and had nothing but trouble.Like other reviews here, I'm seeing drop-outs, weak 4-and-5G signal (even with my external antenna!), no 5G signal at all when using the router's own 5G antennas, frequent freezes, etc.The feature set is appalling for any modern router:* No static DHCP reservation* No support for security standards above WPA2 (even my iPhone keeps warning me that the network's security is weak)* No client list page, just a small pane on the router's admin panel homepage* No option to install a VPN* In-built 'speedtest' feature doesn't work - it always says "failed". The feature has been removed from recent documentation updates but it's still in the router's menu* No firmware updates available (apart from a minor patch version a long time ago)* The router body is huge, top-heavy, and cannot be wall-mounted* The 4 ethernet ports are in the most awful position, and the stand doesn't have cut-outs for the cable. So you have to decide between passing the cable under the stand and un-balancing the entire router until it falls on its face, or bending your cable into an unnatural 90-degree shape so you can still keep the router upright* System log doesn’t log anything useful at all, and it appears to get wiped when the router is rebootedAs for specific problems with mine:* The 5G light doesn't light up on the front hardware panel, even though the admin page tells me I have a signal* It drops the connection so frequently, I've had to set it to reboot early every morning* It often freezes while my wife and I are both on conference calls* One weekend it had such awful performance I went into the admin panel to try debugging, and I saw a whole load of garbled data pre-filled in the WAN connection parameters form* The admin panel stops responding from time-to-time* Even with my external antenna pointing at a mast close-by, the strongest 5G signal I can get is "3 bars" at -105dbm* Sometimes it doesn't recover from its daily scheduled reboot and it sits with its lights off like an expensive white plastic brick until I hard-reboot it by pulling the plug.It 'bricked' itself again this morning and I've had enough, which is why I've come back to leave this review. I'm now outside of the Amazon return window so I don't even know if I'll be able to get my money back. I'm so desperate for a reliable router that I've ordered a TP-Link to arrive today. The D-Link will probably sit gathering dust in my garage for several years as a monument to a costly mistake, until enough time has passed that I don't feel shame and anxiety any more (and that my wife has forgotten about how much money I spent on it), and I can take it to the dump.

Bought this as broadband speeds where I was moving to were abysmal, and I thought it would have us up and running (working from home) faster.I have line of sight to my nearest tower, which is only 4g, so I'm only getting 66mbs down and 30mbs up - still better than the cabled broadband. I did get faster speeds at my old house.However, on a very regular basis, it disconnects from the mobile tower and I have to manually reconnect which can be quite slow. It has been so unreliable that my family threatened revolt if we didn't switch to cabled internet.The interface isn't as good as tp-link routers use - you can't set a static IP address easily for example. Now we are using cabled internet I might have a play with it too see if I can get it to work better - this was something I couldn't do when the family were using it as it took such an inordinate amount of time to boot up and connect.

The media could not be loaded. I used the SIM card holder provided and followed the instructions exactly. The SIM was inserted correctly—the router worked—so no, this is not "user error." However, when I tried to remove the SIM to test a different provider, the SIM card holder REFUSED to eject. It is now trapped inside the router. The Sim card holder provided is defective, it split in two while in the router (it has adapter options such as nano sim and micro sim) and when being pressed into the router as you have to - they appear to have become disconnected therefore jamming.Returning the item was the only option suggested, but how exactly am I supposed to return it with a SIM card full of my personal data stuck inside? Amazon Customer Services had to explicitly give me permission to return it broken by my own hand just so I could retrieve my SIM. That means I had to intentionally break the device to access my own property!Now I have:A broken routerA broken SIM£150 missing from my bank account until the refund comes throughTP-Link offers a far superior alternative for a little more money—wish I had gone with that from the start. This product is an absolute joke. DO NOT BUY!