The D-Link DIR-822 ($149.99) is a moderately priced dual-band router equipped with the latest wireless technologies including Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) data streaming, beamforming, and Smart Connect band steering.
It provided good close-range performance in our throughput tests and offers a user-friendly management interface, but it's missing the parental controls and antivirus protection that you get with our top pick for midrange routers, the Asus RT-AC86U.
Design and Features
The DIR-822's black enclosure measures 1.7 by 10 by 7.0 inches (HWD) and has four nonremovable antennas.
There are six LED activity indicators on the top of the router for power, internet, both radio bands, and both USB ports.
There's a USB 3.0 port on the front edge of the router and a USB 2.0 port on the rear panel.
Also around back are four gigabit LAN ports, an internet (WAN) port, and Reset, Wi-Fi, WPS, and Power buttons.
The router is powered by an 880MHz dual-core CPU, 128MB of RAM, and 128MB of flash memory.
It's a 4x4 AC2600 dual-band device capable of speeds of up to 800Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 1,733Mbps on the 5GHz band.
As with the Linksys WRT32X ($329.99 at Amazon) , it can combine two 80MHz channels to provide one wide 160MHz channel, but devices that support this technology are few and far between.
The DIR-822 offers the latest 802.11ac technologies including MU-MIMO data streaming, beamforming, and band steering.
The same intuitive web-based management console and QRS mobile app for iOS and Android devices is built into the DIR-822 as you'll find in the D-Link DIR-878 ($107.00 at Amazon) .
The console opens to a home screen with a network map that shows the number of connected clients, Internet Status, and things like IP and MAC address and Default Gateway information.
Use the Settings tab to access menus for Internet, Wireless, and Network settings.
Wireless settings include security, Wi-Fi Channel selection, Channel Width, and Transmission Power settings.
Internet settings let you configure connection type (DHCP, PPPoE, Static) and contain IPv6 and VALN settings.
Under the Features tab is an easy-to-use drag-and-drop Quality of Service (QoS) engine, as well as settings for firewall, web-filtering, and port-forwarding.
In the Management menu there are limited parental control settings that let you allow or deny access to the network, but you don't get the granular controls that let you restrict access to things like adult-oriented, social media, and gambling sites that you get with the Asus RT-AC86U.
Also missing are the antivirus and malware utilities that are built into the Asus RT-AC86U and the TP-Link Archer C2300 routers.
Installation and Performance
Wireless routers are easier than ever to install and configure and the DIR-822 is no exception.
I connected the router to my cable modem and to my desktop PC, powered it up, and launched the Setup Wizard by typing http://dlinkrouter.local./ in my browser's address bar.
I let the wizard configure my LAN and wireless settings, gave the router a new password, and made sure I had the latest firmware version.
I clicked Finish and was done.
The DIR-822 turned in respectable scores on most, but not all, of our throughput performance tests.
Its score of 100Mbps on the 2.4GHz close-proximity (same room) test was 10Mbps faster than the TP-Link Archer C2300 and 17Mbps faster than the Phicomm K3C routers.
The Asus RT-AC86U (104Mbps) was just a tad faster, though.
On the 2.4GHz long-range (30-foot) test, the DIR-822's score of 57Mbps once again beat out the TP-Link (42Mbps) and Phicomm (55Mbps) routers, but not the Asus router (86Mbps).
On our 5GHz close-proximity throughput test, the DIR-822 garnered 515Mbps, beating the Phicomm K3C (375Mbps), but not the TP-Link C2300 (581Mbps) or the Asus RT-AC86U (550Mbps).
While its score of 155Mbps on our long-range (30-foot) 5GHz test was faster than the Phicomm K3C (137Mbps), it was 30Mbps slower than the TP-Link C2300 and 145Mbps slower than the Asus RT-AC86U.
To test the DIR-822's MU-MIMO performance, I used three identical Acer Aspire R13 laptops equipped with Qualcomm's QCA61x4A MU-MIMO circuitry.
It delivered 167Mbps on the close-proximity test, outlasting the TP-Link C2300 (155Mbps), but not the Asus RT-AC86U (178Mbps).
The Phicomm K3C led with a score of 193Mbps on this test.
The DIR-822's score of 85Mbps on the 30-foot MU-MIMO test was faster than the TP-Link C2300 (44Mbps), but trailed the Phicomm K3C (1110Mbps) and the Asus RT-AC86U (150Mbps).
We test file-transfer performance by timing hard drive read and write speeds while moving a 1.5GB folder containing a mix of photos, video, music, and other files between a connected USB 3.0 drive and a desktop PC, both of which are wired to the router.
The DIR-822's write speed of 31MBps and read speed of 37MBps was a bit faster than what we saw with the TP-link C2300 and the Phicomm K3C routers, and pretty much in line with the Asus RT-AC86U.
However, it paled when compared with the leading scores of 89.1MBps (read) and 77.1MBps (write) that the Netgear Nighthawk X10 AD7200 Smart WiFi Router (R9000) ($528.00 at Amazon) provided.
Conclusion
If you're in the market for a midrange router that uses the latest Wi-Fi technology and is easy to install and configure, give the D-Link DIR-822 a look.
While not a blazing performer, it turned in respectable scores on our close-range throughput speed tests and offers a convenient drag-and-drop method of device prioritization that makes it easy to assign ample network bandwidth to those clients that need it most.
That said, if you value robust parental controls and anti-malware protection, it's worth paying an extra $50 for the Editors' Choice Asus RT-AC86U.
D-Link EXO AC2600 MU-MIMO Wi-Fi Router (DIR-822)
Cons
Middling 5GHz long-range throughput and file-transfer speeds.
Lacks built-in malware protection.
Limited parental controls.
The Bottom Line
The D-Link DIR-822 wireless router offers good close-range throughput performance and some useful management settings, but it isn't as feature-packed as some of its competitors.
The D-Link DIR-822 ($149.99) is a moderately priced dual-band router equipped with the latest wireless technologies including Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) data streaming, beamforming, and Smart Connect band steering.
It provided good close-range performance in our throughput tests and offers a user-friendly management interface, but it's missing the parental controls and antivirus protection that you get with our top pick for midrange routers, the Asus RT-AC86U.
Design and Features
The DIR-822's black enclosure measures 1.7 by 10 by 7.0 inches (HWD) and has four nonremovable antennas.
There are six LED activity indicators on the top of the router for power, internet, both radio bands, and both USB ports.
There's a USB 3.0 port on the front edge of the router and a USB 2.0 port on the rear panel.
Also around back are four gigabit LAN ports, an internet (WAN) port, and Reset, Wi-Fi, WPS, and Power buttons.
The router is powered by an 880MHz dual-core CPU, 128MB of RAM, and 128MB of flash memory.
It's a 4x4 AC2600 dual-band device capable of speeds of up to 800Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 1,733Mbps on the 5GHz band.
As with the Linksys WRT32X ($329.99 at Amazon) , it can combine two 80MHz channels to provide one wide 160MHz channel, but devices that support this technology are few and far between.
The DIR-822 offers the latest 802.11ac technologies including MU-MIMO data streaming, beamforming, and band steering.
The same intuitive web-based management console and QRS mobile app for iOS and Android devices is built into the DIR-822 as you'll find in the D-Link DIR-878 ($107.00 at Amazon) .
The console opens to a home screen with a network map that shows the number of connected clients, Internet Status, and things like IP and MAC address and Default Gateway information.
Use the Settings tab to access menus for Internet, Wireless, and Network settings.
Wireless settings include security, Wi-Fi Channel selection, Channel Width, and Transmission Power settings.
Internet settings let you configure connection type (DHCP, PPPoE, Static) and contain IPv6 and VALN settings.
Under the Features tab is an easy-to-use drag-and-drop Quality of Service (QoS) engine, as well as settings for firewall, web-filtering, and port-forwarding.
In the Management menu there are limited parental control settings that let you allow or deny access to the network, but you don't get the granular controls that let you restrict access to things like adult-oriented, social media, and gambling sites that you get with the Asus RT-AC86U.
Also missing are the antivirus and malware utilities that are built into the Asus RT-AC86U and the TP-Link Archer C2300 routers.
Installation and Performance
Wireless routers are easier than ever to install and configure and the DIR-822 is no exception.
I connected the router to my cable modem and to my desktop PC, powered it up, and launched the Setup Wizard by typing http://dlinkrouter.local./ in my browser's address bar.
I let the wizard configure my LAN and wireless settings, gave the router a new password, and made sure I had the latest firmware version.
I clicked Finish and was done.
The DIR-822 turned in respectable scores on most, but not all, of our throughput performance tests.
Its score of 100Mbps on the 2.4GHz close-proximity (same room) test was 10Mbps faster than the TP-Link Archer C2300 and 17Mbps faster than the Phicomm K3C routers.
The Asus RT-AC86U (104Mbps) was just a tad faster, though.
On the 2.4GHz long-range (30-foot) test, the DIR-822's score of 57Mbps once again beat out the TP-Link (42Mbps) and Phicomm (55Mbps) routers, but not the Asus router (86Mbps).
On our 5GHz close-proximity throughput test, the DIR-822 garnered 515Mbps, beating the Phicomm K3C (375Mbps), but not the TP-Link C2300 (581Mbps) or the Asus RT-AC86U (550Mbps).
While its score of 155Mbps on our long-range (30-foot) 5GHz test was faster than the Phicomm K3C (137Mbps), it was 30Mbps slower than the TP-Link C2300 and 145Mbps slower than the Asus RT-AC86U.
To test the DIR-822's MU-MIMO performance, I used three identical Acer Aspire R13 laptops equipped with Qualcomm's QCA61x4A MU-MIMO circuitry.
It delivered 167Mbps on the close-proximity test, outlasting the TP-Link C2300 (155Mbps), but not the Asus RT-AC86U (178Mbps).
The Phicomm K3C led with a score of 193Mbps on this test.
The DIR-822's score of 85Mbps on the 30-foot MU-MIMO test was faster than the TP-Link C2300 (44Mbps), but trailed the Phicomm K3C (1110Mbps) and the Asus RT-AC86U (150Mbps).
We test file-transfer performance by timing hard drive read and write speeds while moving a 1.5GB folder containing a mix of photos, video, music, and other files between a connected USB 3.0 drive and a desktop PC, both of which are wired to the router.
The DIR-822's write speed of 31MBps and read speed of 37MBps was a bit faster than what we saw with the TP-link C2300 and the Phicomm K3C routers, and pretty much in line with the Asus RT-AC86U.
However, it paled when compared with the leading scores of 89.1MBps (read) and 77.1MBps (write) that the Netgear Nighthawk X10 AD7200 Smart WiFi Router (R9000) ($528.00 at Amazon) provided.
Conclusion
If you're in the market for a midrange router that uses the latest Wi-Fi technology and is easy to install and configure, give the D-Link DIR-822 a look.
While not a blazing performer, it turned in respectable scores on our close-range throughput speed tests and offers a convenient drag-and-drop method of device prioritization that makes it easy to assign ample network bandwidth to those clients that need it most.
That said, if you value robust parental controls and anti-malware protection, it's worth paying an extra $50 for the Editors' Choice Asus RT-AC86U.
D-Link EXO AC2600 MU-MIMO Wi-Fi Router (DIR-822)
Cons
Middling 5GHz long-range throughput and file-transfer speeds.
Lacks built-in malware protection.
Limited parental controls.
The Bottom Line
The D-Link DIR-822 wireless router offers good close-range throughput performance and some useful management settings, but it isn't as feature-packed as some of its competitors.
