D-Link Shows Off Radical New 802.11ac Routers and Adapters at CES

D-Link has a new set of 802.11ac capable WLAN routers and adapters, according to Michael Brown at TechHive, and D-Link is betting you’ll be willing to pay big bucks for their awesomeness.

Titled the “Ultra Performance” series, the new routers and adapters feature head-turning industrial designs and blazing fast speeds. Specifically, D-Link unveiled three new routers for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2015 in Las Vegas: the DIR-895L/R, the DIR-890L/R, and the DIR-885L/R, as well as one adapter, the spherical DWA-192/R USB 3.0.

Here are some specs from TechHive on the “flagship” model, the DIR-895L/R:

“The flagship DIR-895L/R is based on Broadcom’s BCM47094 chipset and can operate two independent networks on the 5GHz frequency band (with theoretical TCP throughput to 802.11ac clients of 2165Mbps on each), and a third network on the 2.4GHz band with theoretical TCP throughput of 1000Mbps. It will be outfitted with eight high-power antennas, and it supports MU-MIMO (multiple users-multiple input/multiple output) technology so that it can stream high-definition video and audio to multiple clients”

And here are the specs for the other two router models:

“The DIR-890L, equipped with six antennas, can also operate two independent 5GHz networks, but its TCP throughput maxes out at 1300Mbps to 802.11ac clients. It delivers throughput up to 600Mbps on its third network, which operates on the 2.4GHz band. The four-antenna DIR-885L/R, meanwhile, operates one 5GHz network with throughput up to 2165Mbps, and one 2.4GHz network with throughput up to 1000Mbps.”

According to TechHive, the three routers share some awesome features:

“All three of the new routers will feature an all-new user interface that should make it easier to set up and manage your router and network using only a smartphone or tablet—good news for consumers who don’t have a Mac or PC. And all three will support beam forming, D-Link’s QoS engine, and SharePort technology for sharing a USB printer and a USB storage device on the network.”

The spherical adapter offers max throughput of 1300 Mbps on the 5 GHz frequency band and another 600 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band. The spherical design may allow the adapter to be more omnidirectional than other models, according to Brown at TechHive.

In exchange for all those awesome features, D-Link expects you to pay a higher price: $310 for the middle-performance model, the DIR-890L, which is available now. The other pieces in the line up are expected to be available by second quarter of 2015. D-Link VP of Marketing Dan Kelley told Brown that D-Link is “trying to recapture the high end of the market in terms of performance.” Sounds like they’re also going for the high end of the market in price too.

Will businesses be willing to shell out bigger bucks for awesome-looking designs? It all remains to be seen, given the competition’s pricing structure and capability, but 2015 is sure shaping up to be the year of the AC upgrade.