REVIEW: D-Link EXO AX5400 is a great smart router with Wi-Fi 6

Have you ever thought about activating Wi-Fi for party guests using only your voice? If this seems like an occasion exclusive to works of science fiction, the router D-Link EXO AX5400 proves that this is possible right now – or rather, it will be possible when “parties” are something that doesn't put your health at risk.

With a simple configuration through the dedicated application, the product combines 2,4 and 5 GHz connections with the much-loved Wi-Fi 6 standard. upload, pairing with a speaker and the router's performance in games of the current generation of consoles, we tell you our testing experiences in this review do D-Link EXO AX5400.

Design and functionalities

Plastic-coated, the D-Link EXO AX5400 router has 4 antennas (and two additional ones included, to be attached) and front LED indicators for power, storage/hub external and connection signal. On the back we see 4 ethernet ports, a door WAN, 1 USB 3.0, 1 USB 2.0, and the power button. The “intelligence” part of the D-Link EXO AX5400 is that it is able to turn the guest internet signal on or off directly via the voice assistant, be it Google Assistant ou Alexa.

Another proof of the intelligence is that it supports connections from 2,4 and 5 GHz with a single login, automatically detecting and directing your device to the fastest internet (if it supports the technology). Who today has a router or modem dual-band you will probably find two internet signals, one for each type, which is eliminated with the D-Link EXO AX5400.

Also, the wireless network standard is Wi-Fi 6. By the way, we have already explained the Wi-Fi 6 benefits here on the site, but in brief summary: Wi-Fi 6 is proposed to be up to 30% faster than Wi-Fi 5. Because of this, EXO brings with it this differential that is largely responsible for its acquisition to pay off in the long term.

Setup and performance

Before any details about our tests with the EXO AX5400, we need to establish the review scenario. My provider is Claro/NET, from São Paulo, with speed of 240 mega. The router was placed in the living room next to the modem, which has a built-in router. That said, we also need to keep in mind the most popular internet average among Brazilians – and I advance that it is much lower than what the EXO AX5400 supports.

The last national survey we have on average internet speed was a disclosure of the ANATEL (National Telecommunications Agency) made less than 2 years ago. Officially, we have claims that as of July 2019, “almost a third of internet connections in Brazil were above 34 Megabits per Second (Mbps), 10,53 million households (33,23% of the total)”. Data from private companies also revealed that the average fixed internet in Brazil reached 48,75 Mbps last year, with a similar increase in the mobile network.

With this data, we can say with complete confidence: there are great chances that you, Brazilian reader of Showmetech, do not have devices or an ideal infrastructure to check the performance limits of the D-Link EXO AX5400. Because of this, I will consider a reality closer to a more popular use of the router when performing/communicating the tests done.

Download large files to your notebook and listen to a podcast on your speaker intelligent? No problems. Play competitive video game matches without voice drops on your cell phone? Very stable connection. Working while letting your favorite movies download, with dozens of tabs open, without it interfering with any of the tasks? Highly recommended.

Regarding the range: there were 4 walls until the signal was lost, one of them being the pillar of the building. I estimate about 15 meters between the smartphone and the router. A weak point was not noticing the change from 2.4G to 5G because, remembering, the second type of connection has a shorter range (and is faster, on the other hand). I thought this would happen automatically, but no. We advance that the installation of EXO was easy, just following an application tutorial D-Link WiFi and scan a card QR Code included in the package.

With the standard modem/router, having the option to choose which one to go with when in the bedroom, for example, I can sacrifice speed for greater range – which is impossible on the D-Link EXO AX5400. My surprise was that both the modem and the router had very similar ranges, even though they were side by side in the living room. That is, in my setup, a router with such a range would not make any difference.

in the configuration of personal assistant, I had a choking. Through the app, I stayed in a loop infinite router setup and reboot when I selected the “Wizard” option from the menu. It was only when I checked other settings that I found the pairing and permission between the D-Link account and the Amazon Alexa profile. In this section, the manufacturer guides you to go to the Alexa app and gives a step-by-step guide that seems to be translated from English, literally. Fact is that the functions did not exist in the national version of the application.

I ventured to ask for the Echo Dot (3rd generation) look for pairable devices, something common with Gadgets smart home, but I was not successful. By insistence, I looked for the skill dedicated to D-Link WiFi (detail: this step is not mentioned in the app) and re-paired. When I read the suggested command of “enable guest WiFi” Alexa replied that the signal was opened and that there was no password. I tried a variation of commands to turn off Wi-Fi and didn't find any that were recognized - I had to pull the plug.

In games, via connection wireless, the D-Link EXO AX5400 did very well. After server fixes Outriders, game that I had the pleasure of making the review a few days ago, I saw how he would be the “ideal candidate” for the benchmarks of the router for the simple factor of the game being 100% online. I also tested Call of duty warzone at 120 fps, where the drop in frames per connection (and game performance on Series X) would be even more noticeable. In both scenarios, with real-time connection monitoring, I didn't notice any lag that would justify any bad performance of the router.

For game downloads on Xbox, including the update and a free mode of its own Call of Duty, I had spikes that went over 200 MB on a weekend afternoon, while I was at the computer and on a voice call on the Discord. With that, I believe that this is the main reference to cite the good division of upload/download when multitasking on a day-to-day basis. There was no noticeable signal drop, even with two devices wireless.

Conclusion and value for money

Just like all gadgets A “pioneer” in its respective niche, the D-Link EXO AX5400 router works extremely well (giving the user confidence in terms of stability), but it is out of reach for its full potential in the short term. Given that only a small portion of Brazilian users currently have a device compatible with Wi-Fi 6 in their hands, it is a matter of time before there is a minimum popularization of the technology.

By reference, only those who have smartphones like iPhone 11 ou Galaxy S10 and later can enjoy this Wi-Fi 6, so we have this restriction on high-end products, even if it Gadgets from years ago. As reinforced in this and in other Showmetech reviews, the internet infrastructure in Brazil is also far from being the best, which makes it difficult to recognize where exactly the signal instability would be in our benchmarks.

So, after all, Who do we recommend this product to? If you are part of a family that lives in a large house, with several walls between you and the router (which can be in a bedroom or office, for example), the D-Link EXO AX5400 will be ideal. If you live in a small space, but you need a stable signal and you are not satisfied with just the router integrated into the modem, it will also suit you well. Gamers e streamers can also take advantage of EXO's wired and wireless connections.

Currently the D-Link EXO AX5400 is officially sold on D-Link website by R$2.399 and in stores like Submarino for close to R$1.800. Taking an average between these values, it is safe to say that we are dealing with a product of 2 thousand reais. It should be kept in the foreground that the investment has a limited target audience (families with large houses and high-end devices) when we talk about a reality of 2021, however, we remind you that Wi-Fi 6 is a bet for the future , being a standard yet to be popularized.

Who invests in Gadgets type, you know very well if the router will be of great use for your routine. Therefore, owners of an internet of 500 mega (one of the highest values ​​to be found in Brazil), can see almost as essential the investment in a device that delivers exactly what was promised. We claim here that the EXO AX5400 does that – and much more.

So, did you like the router? D-Link EXO AX5400? Tell us in the comments below!