EAGLE PRO AI E15 Wi-Fi 6 Mesh D-Link Repeater Review

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We present a complete analysis of the new universal Wi-Fi repeater from the manufacturer D-Link that is compatible with Mesh technology. The new D-Link EAGLE PRO AI E15 is a very interesting model to expand wireless coverage in our home, it is capable of working with any wireless router on the market, but if you use a D-Link router from the EAGLE PRO AI family, let’s go to enjoy the advantages of a Mesh network, since we will have both WiFi roaming and also band-steering in the connection. Today in RedesZone we are going to thoroughly analyze this new wireless repeater, to check the real performance of this device.

Index

  • Main features
    • Wireless
    • wired
    • Firmware y app
  • External analysis
  • Test laboratory
    • Wi-Fi tests in AP mode
      • Test on 2.4GHz
      • Test on 5GHz
    • WiFi repeater tests with Mesh
  • Configuration wizard via web
  • Firmware
    • Start
    • Setting
    • Management
  • Last conclusions
    • Strengths
    • Weak points

Main features

This new universal WiFi repeater is part of the new EAGLE PRO AI family, so we are going to have the possibility of connecting it with the R15 router and also with the WiFi Mesh M15 system, with the aim of forming a complete high-speed WiFi Mesh network. performance. If you want to form a low-cost Mesh network, buying the R15 router plus this E15 repeater is one of the best options you can choose.

 

D-Link EAGLE PRO AI E15

 

buy it at

EUR

41,85

 

Wireless

This new Wi-Fi repeater is AX1500 class simultaneous dual band . In the 2.4GHz band we will achieve a speed of up to 300Mbps with Wi-Fi 4, we have two external deployable antennas in a 2T2R MIMO configuration and support for 40MHz of channel width. In the 5GHz band we will achieve a speed of up to 1,201Mbps with Wi-Fi 6, thanks to the fact that we have two external antennas in MU-MIMO 2T2R configuration and the 80MHz channel width. In the 5GHz band we are going to have all the technologies of the Wi-Fi 6 standard such as Beamforming, MU-MIMO and OFDMA to improve the global speed of the entire wireless network, we also have support for Target Wake Time and save energy in the client devices, and even BSS Coloring to avoid interference with neighboring WiFi networks.

Regarding the Mesh features , this Wi-Fi repeater has all the usual technologies, such as 802.11k/v standards to be able to roam between nodes quickly and without interruptions in the connection, in addition, we also have Smart technology Connect to have a single SSID and password, which will allow us to connect to a single WiFi network and the repeater will take care of placing us in the 2.4GHz or 5GHz band.

This repeater, if we use it with a router that is not from the EAGLE PRO AI family, will not have WiFi roaming, but we can continue to maintain the Smart Connect functionality. This model behaves outstandingly with any wireless router on the market, however, our recommendation is that you use an R15 router or WiFi Mesh M15 system to get the most out of it.

wired

As for the wired features of this new E15 WiFi repeater, we have a Gigabit Ethernet port for the LAN . The firmware of this WiFi repeater allows us to configure the repeater in two different configuration modes:

  • WiFi repeater mode : in this mode the repeater will connect via WiFi to the main router, whether it is a D-Link EAGLE PRO AI router or not. In this configuration mode, the LAN port is used to connect end devices, such as a Smart TV, console, desktop computer via cable, etc.
  • Access point mode : in this mode the repeater will connect via network cable to the main router, whether it is a D-Link EAGLE PRO AI router or not. In this configuration mode we cannot use the LAN port because it is used for the interconnection between router and repeater, in order to provide you with the best possible wireless performance.

Thanks to this Gigabit Ethernet port, we are going to have great versatility with this repeater, and we can use it in several different ways.

Firmware y app

The firmware of this Wi-Fi repeater is quite complete, it will allow us to configure the two modes of operation that we have indicated above. In AP mode it will allow us to configure the Wi-Fi wireless network in detail, we can even configure WPA3-Personal without problems, we could also change the configuration mode very quickly through the repeater firmware, an important feature is that we can enable or disable the smart repeater connection, this means we can have the separate frequency bands on two different SSIDs.

This Wi-Fi repeater can also be set up quickly and easily through the new free D-Link EAGLE PRO AI app, which is available for Android and iOS smartphones. You can download it below:

DescargarQR-Code

EAGLE PRO AI

DescargarQR-Code

EAGLE PRO AI

Developer: D-Link International

At RedesZone we have published a video on YouTube with the unboxing and first impressions of this Wi-Fi repeater:

Once we have seen the main characteristics of this universal WiFi repeater, we are going to see the external analysis of this equipment.

External analysis

This new Wi-Fi repeater comes in a small blue box, the same blue color that identifies the new family of EAGLE PRO AI equipment from the manufacturer D-Link. In the upper right part we can find the logo of the Wi-Fi 6 standard that this repeater incorporates (only in the 5GHz band), in addition, we will also find an approximate coverage that it is capable of covering, in this case 230 meters squares. At the bottom it tells us that this WiFi repeater is of the AX1500 class, and that it will work much better with EAGLE PRO AI products since we will have Mesh functionalities, however, it is a universal model so it can work with any wireless router. We are also going to find that we will have an optimization of the channels based on AI,

On the back of the box we can see that this repeater will allow us to expand the coverage of the R15 router, and that is that we will be able to form a complete high-performance mesh WiFi network. At the bottom we will find its main characteristics in different languages, the same ones that we have explained in the introduction to the analysis.

On the right side of the box we can find that this Wi-Fi repeater has the AX standard to enjoy the performance of the new standard, but remember that it is only available in the 5GHz band. This repeater supports the WPA3-Personal security protocol, so we will be able to protect the network as best as possible to avoid intruders, in addition, you must not forget that it can be placed in both AP mode and repeater mode, so in both scenarios we will have this compatibility. Of course, this model has a Gigabit Ethernet port for the LAN, which will allow us to configure this repeater in AP mode without problems, or connect any wired client such as a Smart TV, console or any other device.

On the left side of the box we can find the EAGLE PRO AI app that will allow us to install, configure and manage this WiFi repeater easily and quickly. The best thing about this app is that we can configure a complete Mesh network without having to enter the firmware of the devices via the web, however, we also have this option that is somewhat more advanced and we have more configuration options. A very important feature of this repeater is that it incorporates an LED indicator to know the coverage received by the main router, so we can locate this WiFi repeater in the best possible place to achieve a very stable WiFi network.

Inside the box we will find the Wi-Fi repeater perfectly placed, the content of the box of this D-Link EAGLE PRO AI E15 is as follows:

  • Repetidor WiFi D-Link EAGLE PRO AI E15.
  • Cable de red Ethernet Cat5e.
  • Quick installation guide.
  • Product warranty and firmware GPL code.

In the quick installation guide we are going to be able to configure the repeater in two different ways, the first one is using the physical WPS button that we have on the front, this is ideal for not having to do it via the web or with the app. The second way to configure it is to download the free EAGLE PRO AI app, scan the QR code and proceed with the configuration. Of course, we will have the corresponding QR code with the SSID and the WPA password to facilitate the connection of the smartphone, however, we also have the SSID and the WPA key in the guide itself, in addition, we will also see the administrator access key.

In the following gallery you can see in detail everything that this repeater incorporates.

On the front of the Wi-Fi repeater we can see the general status LED of the repeater, we will also see the WPS button to synchronize both the repeater with the main router, as well as the repeater with the wireless clients that we want. Of course, in this area we are going to see the LED indicators that will show us the real coverage that we currently have, this is ideal for placing the repeater in the best possible place. The external antennas of this repeater are foldable, but they are not detachable.

On the left and right side of this repeater we will not find any buttons or ports, only a small ventilation grill with the aim of adequately cooling the internal components of this repeater.

At the bottom of the repeater we can find the Gigabit Ethernet port for the LAN, we will also see the RESET button to restore the equipment to factory settings. In addition, we have a small ventilation grill so that the internal components are perfectly ventilated.

In the rear area of ​​the repeater we will find the plug for the EU market, this equipment is connected directly to the wall, we do not have an external current transformer. Just below this pin we will be able to see the QR code that we had in the quick installation guide, we will also see the SSID, access password, domain to access the repeater administration, the username and also the PIN code of 6 digits. Finally we will see the MAC address, serial number and input electrical characteristics.

So far we have arrived with our external analysis of the new repeater of the EAGLE PRO AI range, as you have seen it is physically the same as the DAP-1620 that gave us such good results many years ago. Now we are going to go to the test lab to check the real performance of these devices.

Test laboratory

The test laboratory, like all the previous ones, will be Wireless tests.

Wi-Fi tests in AP mode

It’s time to check if the WiFi coverage and speed of this repeater is up to the best. In this first test we have used the E15 repeater in WiFi access point mode, connecting it via network cable to the main router, and separating the frequency bands by SSID, with the aim of individually testing the speed of each frequency band in the different locations. As we already explained with the R15 router and the WiFi Mesh M15, if we want to disable the Smart Connect we will also be sacrificing the Mesh functionalities.

Test on 2.4GHz

In the 2.4GHz band of this equipment we can achieve a speed of up to 300Mbps with Wi-Fi 4, this time we have used the Intel AX210 Wi-Fi card, in this way, we can check both the coverage and the speed in the different usual locations.

Here are the results obtained with the iperf3 client-server with 20 concurrent TCP threads:

D-Link Eagle Pro E15 2.4GHz salon Cocina Main room room 2 Penthouse
Intel AX210 AX3000 Sync: 300Mbps
Speed: 13.1MB/s		 Sync: 300Mbps
Speed: 7.2MB/s		 Sync: 150Mbps
Speed: 6.2MB/s		 Sync: 26Mbps
Speed: 1.5MB/s		 Sync: 16Mbps
Speed: 1.1MB/s

As you have seen, we have been able to achieve a speed of up to 13.1MB/s in this frequency band, a remarkable speed if we take into account how saturated this band is and that the theoretical speed is 300Mbps when having Wi-Fi 4 and two external antennas.

Test on 5GHz

In the 5GHz band of this equipment we can achieve a speed of up to 1,201Mbps, in this test we have also used the same Wi-Fi card as for the 2.4GHz band. Here are the results obtained with the iperf3 client-server with 20 concurrent TCP threads:

D-Link Eagle Pro E15 5GHz salon Cocina Main room room 2 Penthouse
Intel AX210 AX3000 Sync: 1200Mbps
Speed: 73.6MB/s		 Sync: 721Mbps
Speed: 48.9MB/s		 Sync: 432Mbps
Speed: 25.8MB/s		 Sync: 29Mbps
Speed: 2.9MB/s		 Without connection

As you have seen, we have been able to achieve a speed of up to 73.6MB/s in this frequency band, an excellent speed if we take into account the technical characteristics of this repeater, and which does not support 160MHz of channel width.

Wireless Conclusions

The performance achieved by this team globally is outstanding. In both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands we get very good coverage and also a very good real wireless speed, so it will be perfect to place this repeater in Mesh mode with the R15 router or any other router with similar characteristics. We have been very happy with the speed achieved by this model, and getting almost 600Mbps real is a very good result.

WiFi repeater tests with Mesh

Once we have carried out the Wi-Fi tests on the E15 in Wi-Fi access point mode, we are going to connect this E15 repeater with the router of the same R15 family, and we will activate the Mesh to see how the D mesh network behaves. -Link with the EAGLE PRO AI. We will connect the repeater in the same locations as always in the Wi-Fi 2.0 test scenario, and we will connect via cable and via Wi-Fi to check the performance of the equipment. In all tests we have used iperf3 with 20 concurrent connections.

You must bear in mind that the backhaul or interconnection network between the repeater and the router will be the same as that of the wireless clients, therefore, we will lose half of the bandwidth after the first “hop”, a completely normal behavior . Next, we indicate the performance that we have obtained using these teams.

D-Link Eagle Pro R15 Cocina Main room room 2 Penthouse
trunk link 5GHz 5GHz 5GHz 5GHz
Wi-Fi (en 2.4GHz o 5GHz) 27,5MB/s 15MB/s 11MB/s 1MB/s
Cable 39MB/s 25MB/s 14,5MB/s 1,5MB/s

If you have read the analysis of the D-Link R15 router, you will have noticed that it is exactly the same table with the same data.

Wi-Fi mesh system experience

The user experience with the WiFi Mesh system made up of the R15 router plus the E15 repeater has been outstanding. We already explained to you in the analysis of the R15 router that the behavior is very good, roaming is very fast since we will only lose one packet with the Lenovo X1 Carbon laptop using the Intel AX210 card, in the case of the Samsung Galaxy S21 smartphone and the typical video call, it has not been cut at any time, although we have noticed a slight delay but it is a behavior that falls within normal.

If you are looking for a cheap WiFi Mesh system, made up of a router and a wall repeater, this combination is one of the best value for money you can currently buy.

Configuration wizard via web

The installation of this new Wi-Fi repeater is very quick and easy, as we have explained before, we have mainly two configuration modes: using the WPS and using the EAGLE PRO AI app available for Android and iOS smartphones. However, we have a third option that is using a web browser and entering the configuration menu directly, it is this last scenario that we are going to deal with in RedesZone.

The first thing you should do is connect to the Wi-Fi repeater via cable or Wi-Fi, once we have connected to it (if it is via WiFi you have the SSID and the default password in the quick installation guide), you will have to open a web browser and put in the address bar http://192.168.0.50 and access the repeater directly. The access key is the password that we have in the quick installation guide or on the sticker on the back of the repeater, it is not the typical “admin” or “password” key that we have used for many years.

In the first menu, the manufacturer will show us the different steps to proceed with the configuration of the repeater, in addition, we have to do it in universal WiFi repeater mode, if later we want to use it in AP mode we can do it, but the configuration wizard only tells us enables repeater mode. Once we click on «Next» the repeater will search for all the wireless networks around us, we must choose our wireless network and enter the access password, you must remember that it is compatible with both WPA2 and WPA3.

When we enter the key, we have two possibilities, to clone the name of the WiFi network and the password, so that we only have one WiFi network at home, or to create a secondary network that is generated by the repeater. Our advice is to choose the first option, clone the wireless network, so that the transition from the router to the repeater is as transparent as possible. The rest of the options are to enter the new administration password, choose the time zone that will automatically set it for us, and also the firmware update policy that we want to carry.

Once we have configured everything, we will see a small summary of all the settings made, click on “Finish” and the WiFi repeater will restart with the chosen configuration, so we must connect to the main wireless network to access the repeater locally again , if we want to see the rest of the configuration options available.

As you can see, the configuration wizard of this repeater is very easy to use, we can configure the repeater in a couple of minutes without much trouble, ideal to start expanding the wireless coverage in our home.

Firmware

To access the web firmware of this WiFi repeater we have to access through the private IP that our main router has assigned to it, once we put the IP address, we will have to enter the device administration password, this password is the one you entered earlier in the setup wizard.

After entering the key, we can now access the firmware management.

Start

In the “Home” section is where we can see how the network is configured, we will see the configuration of the uplink to the router, and also the configuration of the universal WiFi repeater, in addition, we can also see the wireless clients that are directly connected to the router itself. WiFi repeater, either in the 2.4GHz, 5GHz band or via cable, if we have connected any equipment via cable.

This display menu of how the network is configured will allow us to have a global view of the connection, and will also indicate if the connection between the repeater and the router has any problem.

Setting

In the configuration section we will be able to configure the behavior of the extender, if we want to configure it in universal repeater mode (Existing Network: WiFi) or if we want to configure it in WiFi AP access point mode (Existing Network: Cable). Later, we can choose whether or not we want to enable the intelligent connection, of course, we will be able to modify the SSID and the WPA password for access to the wireless network at any time. If we separate the bands we will have more information and configuration options available, because when activating this function all of them will be in automatic mode with no option to configure it manually.

In the “Network” section we will be able to configure if we want an automatic IP address by DHCP or if we want to put a fixed IP, the same for the IPv6 protocol because this repeater also supports this network protocol.

In the «D-Link Cloud» menu we will be able to see if we are registered or not in the service, if we do not use the app and we register it, it will appear that we are not registered. There is no way to register it if you don’t use the EAGLE PRO AI app.

As you can see, we have the necessary configuration options for this repeater to work perfectly.

Management

In the management section we can configure everything related to the time and its automatic configuration through the NTP protocol, we will also have the possibility of changing the administration password, if we want to activate the management via the web with HTTPS, and even deactivate the LEDs of WiFi repeater status. Other options that we have in this section are to save the configured parameters, restore a backup, restore the repeater to factory values ​​and also restart the Wi-Fi repeater.

In the “Statistics” section we will be able to see in real time the traffic generated in the LAN, in the backbone WiFi network (the one that goes from the repeater to the router) as well as the traffic statistics in the 2.4GHz band and 5GHz extended.

Now we are going to see the final conclusions of this team, and we will put a series of strengths and weaknesses of this Wi-Fi repeater.

Last conclusions

This new Wi-Fi repeater D-Link EAGLE PRO AI E15 is a device with a great value for money, in addition, we must bear in mind that it is compatible with Mesh as long as you use the R15 router or the WiFi Mesh M15 system of the same family of equipment. This wall repeater will allow us to expand wireless coverage really easily and quickly, since it has simultaneous dual band to provide the best possible speed.

The performance in terms of WiFi coverage and speed of this repeater has been outstanding, we have achieved very good coverage in all the rooms where we have tested the equipment, in addition, we have done it with great speed, and we have achieved very similar figures to that of the router R15 that we have analyzed previously. Not only is the performance outstanding, but the operation of the Mesh network is perfect, we are going to be able to enjoy very fast WiFi roaming so that we do not notice the cut in the wireless connection after the jump between the router and the repeater and vice versa. We must take into account that this repeater does not have a dedicated return network, so we will lose half of the bandwidth in the jump,

The incorporation of a Gigabit Ethernet port is a very important point, not only because we can connect different equipment via cable to the local network, but also because we can interconnect the router with the repeater and obtain the best possible wireless performance, in addition to having Mesh Wi-Fi. Phi. In this way, the backhaul will go through the wired network, this is ideal for getting the best Wi-Fi wireless performance.

Thanks to the firmware that the manufacturer D-Link has incorporated into this repeater, we will be able to configure it both in AP mode and in repeater mode, in this way, it is very versatile and will adapt perfectly to our needs. In the event that you are going to buy this repeater and use a router that is not D-Link EAGLE PRO AI, it will also work very well for you, but you will not enjoy the advantages of a Mesh network.

Strengths

  • Remarkable Wi-Fi performance in the 2.4GHz band, both in coverage and wireless speed.
  • Outstanding Wi-Fi performance in the 5GHz band, both in coverage and wireless speed.
  • Gigabit Ethernet port for the LAN.
  • The firmware allows you to configure it in AP mode or in universal WiFi repeater mode.
  • Soporte Mesh con roaming WiFi y band-steering si usas un router D-Link R15 o el sistema WiFi Mesh M15.
  • The return network can be via cable, to achieve the maximum possible performance at 1Gbps.
  • Quality/price: outstanding, this repeater is worth approximately 60 euros.

Weak points

  • In the 2.4GHz band we have Wi-Fi 4, we do not have the Wi-Fi 6 standard.

The price is about 60 euros, you can buy it directly on Amazon:

 

D-Link EAGLE PRO AI E15

 

buy it at

EUR

41,85

 

Our evaluation of this D-Link EAGLE PRO AI E15 repeater after thoroughly testing its performance, checking all the firmware options and the price, RedesZone’s evaluation is 9/10 .

We await your comments if you have any questions about the operation of this device.

D-Link EAGLE PRO AI E15

Configuration modes Universal WiFi repeater mode and AP mode
Wi-Fi Features Simultaneous dual-band AX1500 (up to 300Mbps on 2.4GHz and up to 1,201Mbps on 5GHz)
Puertos Ethernet 1 puerto Gigabit Ethernet para LAN
WiFi Mesh Yes, with EAGLE PRO AI
PoE No
centralized management Yes, from the EAGLE PRO AI router

The best

  • Remarkable WiFi performance in the 2.4GHz band
  • Outstanding WiFi performance in the 5GHz band
  • Gigabit Ethernet port for the LAN.
  • Firmware allows AP mode and repeater mode
  • Soporte Mesh con roaming y band-steering, permite backhaul Ethernet
  • Outstanding value for money: 60 euros.

Worst

  • The 2.4GHz band uses the Wi-Fi 4 standard

WiFi performance

9

Wi-Fi Mesh Experience

9

Configuration options

8.5

Easy to use

9

Precio

 

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