Available for the lowest price of $119.99 (plus free shipping) from Dell SMB
The unique design of the D-Link Amplifi DAP-1525 Wi-Fi Booster is enough to turn heads—in fact, it might be the most unique-looking Wi-Fi extender we will ever see in the market. The design closely resembles a thermos or an electric coffee grinder, and it is kind of weird to see this shape out of the appliance store. However, do not let the novelty of the design lead you to dismiss this device—it is packed with a lot of functionality. But no device is actually perfect, so you can still expect a couple of quirks in the interface and other problems with this odd-looking Wi-Fi booster from D-Link.
Specifications and Design
The D-Link DAP-1525 features a cylindrical design, which allows it to stand upright. It will take up a bit of room as a Wi-Fi extender, so users might need to consider carefully the placement of the device. The front panel of the device features four LEDs: Bridge, AP, WPS (this Wi-Fi booster device supports Wireless Protected Setup), and Wired.
This booster device not only functions as a wireless extender, but also as a 2.4 or 5 GHz point. The back panel of the D-Link DAP-1525 has a toggle switch that can be used to set the extender device in AP or Bridge mode. Also featured in the back panel are four Gigabit Ethernet ports for connecting various wired devices.
Set Up
While there are plenty of features that set the D-Link DAP-1525 extender ahead of competition, one of the most obvious (and exasperating) problems with it is setting the device up. The set up instructions and process is relatively confusing. For one, the device itself comes with a Quick Install guide and a CD, but these are surprisingly useless. The CD does not come with a traditional set up wizard like other products do, but instead it contains another version of the installation guide. To add to the confusion, these two guides seem to be for two very different products. The Quick Install Guide, for example, focuses on setting up a new WLAN with the extender device set in AP mode, but it tells the user absolutely nothing about setting the device up as a bridge.
Setting the D-Link DAP-1525 can be very confusing for consumers, who would probably go right to the Quick Install Guide and unintentionally causing problems on their home networks by following the directions stated in the guide. The directions inside would not set the device they bought as an extender—instead, it will make them create a WLAN. The directions inside the CD are not very helpful as well; both sets of instructions do not mention how users will be able to set the device, which has a static IP address by default, to connect to their own home networks. The D-Link instructions are rather convoluted, and cannot be followed by someone who is not as well versed in network configuration. This can be considered irresponsible, because of the potential problems that it will cause the users.
The Quick Install Guide, however, can still tell how the users can connect the device through push-button WPS, but this can also be problematic if the router does not support WPS or the WPS does not work for any number of reasons. Perhaps with the next product that they release, D-Link will consider much clearer instructions for a variety of possible scenarios.
Set up is actually not as difficult, if only the instructions were clear enough. Users of this extender device can set their D-Link DAP-1525 up by connecting the Wi-Fi booster through Ethernet to the computer. The second step will involve matching the network setting of the computer’s LAN adapter to the setting on the extender (the instructions to which can be found on the CD). Users can then set the device to Bridge mode using the toggle switch, and then get into the interface of the device through a browser of their choice.
Within the interface, users can opt to select “Manual” for the configuration option. It is important to set the router in Bridge mode, as this will bring up a Site Survey button. Clicking this button will pull up a list of all the nearby wireless networks. You can select the network of your choice to add the D-Link DAP-1525 to by clicking the radio button. However, some users might fin an issue in this screen—they might see that the page is refreshed so quickly. This could be an issue, as the radio button would get deselected if the user did not click on it and then hit the “Next” button right away.
Once the user has decided which wireless network for the extender to join, he or she will then have to change the extender device’s network information in the network setting. It will also be important to synch the time of the device to the time in your computer.
Performance
The set up can be problematic, but the performance of the D-Link DAP-1525 does not really overwhelm all the earlier problems. Typically, the device starts out strong, but the signal is significantly weaker once the user gets to 75 feet. At this distance, the throughput can start petering out. With the distance of 100 feet, some users might find it difficult to connect to the wireless network—some might even fail to see the SSID in the list of networks.
TheProductSite: Final Verdict – 7.5/10
The D-Link DAP-1525 is a pretty competent device, given that it is placed in a relatively small are and is placed no more than 60 feet away from the router. This device is also great if you want a bridge or repeater that can also act as an AP. The price does not also seem to be worthy of the performance, so you might be better off with another type and brand of Wi-Fi range extender or booster—at least, you will get more value for your money.