Got DIR-850L at London Drugs. It is only $10 more than the one I got, DIR-845L at Costco. I did not see the benefits of SmartBeamTM Technology. So I spend $109 to get a new router with 802.11AC support. 802.11AC is a new standard. See new technologies data from Wiki.

  • Extended channel binding
    • Mandatory 80 MHz channel bandwidth for STAs (vs. 40 MHz maximum in 802.11n), 160 MHz available optionally
  • More MIMOspatial streams
    • Support for up to eight spatial streams (vs. four in 802.11n)
  • Multi-user MIMO(MU-MIMO)
    • Multiple STAs, each with one or more antennas, transmit or receive independent data streams simultaneously
      • “Space Division Multiple Access” (SDMA): streams not separated by frequency, but instead resolved spatially, analogous to 11n-style MIMO
    • Downlink MU-MIMO (one transmitting device, multiple receiving devices) included as an optional mode
  • Modulation
    • 256-QAM, rate 3/4 and 5/6, added as optional modes (vs. 64-QAM, rate 5/6 maximum in 802.11n)
    • Controversy has been raised that this modulation rate is not suitable for any architecture other than extremely small cells and would be completely useless to 3GPP
  • Other elements/features
    • Beamforming with standardized sounding and feedback for compatibility between vendors (non-standard in 802.11n made it hard for beamforming to work effectively between different vendor products)
    • MAC modifications (mostly to support above changes)
    • Coexistence mechanisms for 20/40/80/160 MHz channels, 11ac and 11a/n devices

dir850l-box

Standards
2.4GHz

  • IEEE 802.11n
  • IEEE 802.11g

5GHz

  • IEEE 802.11ac (draft)
  • IEEE 802.11n
  • IEEE 802.11a

LAN/WAN

  • IEEE 802.3u
  • IEEE 802.3a

Physical Interfaces

  • 4 Gigabit Ethernet Ports
  • 1 Gigabit WANPort
  • USB 2.0
  • WPS Push Button
  • Reset Button

Antenna Type

  • Internal Smart Antennas

Ethernet Interface

  • 4 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet Ports
  • 1 10/100/1000 Gigabit WAN Port

Security

  • Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA/WPA2)
  • WPS™

Advanced Firewall Features

  • Network Address Translation (NAT)
  • Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI)

LEDs

  • Power/WPS
  • Internet

Power

  • DC 12V/2A

Mobile Apps

  • SharePort Mobile
  • mydlink Lite
  • QRS Mobile

Advanced Features

  • VPN pass through
  • Guest Zone Support
  • UPnP™ Support
  • Wi-Fi WMM Quality of Service
  • SharePort Web Access
  • Parental Control
  • IPv6

Operating Temperature

  • 30º to 104º F (0º to 40º C)

Operating Humidity

  • 10% to 90% non-condensing

Certifications

  • FCC
  • IC
  • Wi-Fi Certified
  • CE

Top view of DIR-850L and DIR-845L
dir850lvsdir845l-top-view

Side view of DIR850L and DIR-845L. DIR-850L is shorter than DIR-845L.
dir850lvsdir845l-side-view

The ranges of these two router are almost same. At least, I did not feel difference.

David Yin

David is a blogger, geek, and web developer — founder of FreeInOutBoard.com. If you like his post, you can say thank you here

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