D-Link DSL-X3052E Wi-Fi 6 AX3000 Modem/Router with VOIP Review: More Wi-Fi Power To The Home

The D-Link DSL-X3052E won’t solve every Wi-Fi problem you might have – especially in larger homes – but as an upgrade from a standard ISP-supplied NBN router, it’s a good option.

Pros	Cons
Simple setup	Web interface could be confusing to new users
Good short to medium range coverage	Predictably struggles with tougher obstacles

Score: 3.5/5

	Buy The D-Link DSL-X3052E!	Buy On Amazon

In this review

D-Link DSL-X3052E Specifications
D-Link DSL-X3052E Design
D-Link DSL-X3052E Performance
D-Link DSL-X3052E Conclusion

With most (but not quite all) NBN ISPs offering a modem-router as part of a standard broadband package, there’s little doubt that many people just get by with what they’re given by their ISPs.

To be fair, in some circumstances that’s all you need, period.

If you’re in a smaller house or apartment with few connected devices or walls or other Wi-Fi killing environmental obstacles, you’ll do just fine from your ISP-supplied, typically cheap router.

However, there’s little doubt that many people also struggle with the budget-level routers supplied by their ISPs.

That’s where buying something slightly fancier can help by extending range and local Wi-Fi speeds.

The D-Link DSL-X3052E is one such router, and it’s decent for the smaller to mid-sized home – but as I found, if you’re in a larger dwelling at its price you may want to consider a mesh network system instead.

Design

While there’s been no shortage of weird and wonderful shapes and designs in the mesh networking space – D-Link itself has form in this category with the D-Link Aquila Pro AI M30 for example – the D-Link DSL-X3052E couldn’t look more like a standard Wi-Fi router if it tried.

Black, boxy build with lots of blinkenlights on the front? Check.

Enough antennas on it to suggest it’s an evil cyborg Sonic The Hedgehog? Check.

None of this is offensive, but it’s also not that interesting, and certainly a matter to consider if you’re working out your home décor, as it is essentially only going to blend in with the Death Star. That’s the way of most standard routers.

Adding googly eyes will not affect Wi-Fi performance, but it will make it look a lot more like a confused Space Invader.

At the back, you’ll find four standard gigabit ethernet ports, a dedicated WAN port for the FTTP/HFC crowd and DSL for FTTN users. I suspect that many of the D-Link DSL-X3052E’s biggest buyers will be in that FTTN NBN space, though to be clear upfront I’ve tested it on an HFC NBN connection, because that’s the NBN connection technology available to me.

There’s also two dedicated VoIP ports using the standard SiP protocol for connecting up VoIP phones if that’s an important consideration to you.

Personally I’ve not had a landline in nearly a decade now so I can’t fairly comment on their performance, but they’re certainly present if you need them.

Performance

I typically dread setting up new network gear, because something almost inevitably goes wrong, and I end up tearing out hair I don’t in fact have, which is quite the painful endeavour.

While the apps that most consumer networking manufacturers offer up are meant to make matters painless, it’s rarely so in my experience.

The D-Link DSL-X3052E doesn’t have an app for setup, instead opting for a simpler old-school web interface – and when I say old school, this is your basic bare bones web UI, nothing more, nothing less.

The big upside for me was that configuration was a snap and it stayed working through my entire review period, which was great. There’s definitely something to be said for an interface that lets you adjust system settings to suit your needs, rather than an app that thinks it knows more than you do.

The flip side of that argument however is that it’s not massively user-friendly. If you’re not au fait with networking terminology, it could be a tad overwhelming.

There’s a big challenge with any kind of Wi-Fi test that any reviewer does, and it’s because all anyone can do is test in the location and situation they’re in.

The environmental factors – whether that’s competing networks, interfering devices or particularly thick walls – differ everywhere, so the results that I get may not match up with what happens in your situation.

It’s why I always suggest you keep receipts for new routers; if it’s not up to snuff for you while it’s a pain, it should be easy enough to get a refund or different unit if it’s not working the way it should!

That disclaimer out of the way, I tested the D-Link DSL-X3052E the same way I’ve tested networking gear for more than a decade now, in my Sydney suburban home.

I know its Wi-Fi foibles rather well, and I have a standard test routine that involves measuring signal strength and then Internet speed at three locations throughout my home.

Firstly a close up test to see how it performs in ideal circumstances.

Then a mid-range test a few rooms away to see how it handles a little distance and some light walls in the way.

Then finally in my home office, where Wi-Fi signals go to die. That’s because my home office sits on an extension to the original building, which means there’s a hidden wall that used to be the external property wall that Wi-Fi signals all too often struggle to get through.

This is my brutal test, and it’s one that many networking products have fallen to over the years.

So how did the D-Link DSL-X3052E compare?

First of all, let’s consider signal strength.

This was measured using a MacBook Pro M3 Max and macOS’ inbuilt wireless diagnostics utility, measuring RSSI on both the 2.4Ghz and 5GHz bands.

One additional challenge here; it’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a pure router like this, so my points of comparison would otherwise be with mesh systems. The D-Link DSL-X3052E won’t automatically integrate with a mesh system, though you could use it as a gateway router for one.

Here’s how the D-Link DSL-X3052E measured first:

To give this some comparative perspective, here’s how the aforementioned D-Link Aquila Pro AI AX3000 compares in the same location using a three node system.

To be fair to the D-Link DSL-X3052E, a 3 node system is a more expensive prospect.

The D-Link DSL-X3052E does well at short range, slightly better than the mesh system, but you can see how it is falling off as the distance and complexity of getting signals working extends.

Getting signal around your home is one job of a Wi-Fi router. The other is being a useful network device, and for most people that’s to do with sharing your Internet connection.

One bit of general consumer advice here. Buying a fancier router than you already have will not “speed up” your actual NBN connection.

You can’t turn an NBN 25 connection into an NBN 50 connection with a router; to get better NBN speeds you do need to consider the NBN plan tier you’re on, and to an extend the speeds you’re actually able to get if you’re on FTTN especially.

What a good Wi-Fi router can do is make sure that whatever speeds are available to your home – at the point of either your modem-router (a la the D-Link DSL-X3052E if you’re using it with an FTTN connection) are being shared round as fast as possible and as far as possible.

So here I ran speed tests to determine how well the D-Link DSL-X3052E could handle that task, starting first with a wired ethernet connection test.

Why test wired when we want Wi-Fi? It’s to get an average baseline speed for what my connection was capable of at that time, because NBN network congestion absolutely exists.

For the record, this was via an NBN HFC 1000/40connection through Aussie Broadband, but I didn’t want to work with the assumption that I was actually getting 1000/40 in an absolute manner. All speeds are expressed as a percentage of that average maximum speeds, because that shows what the D-Link DSL-X3052E is actually pushing through.

And again, for the sake of comparison, here’s the D-Link DSL-X3052E up against the D-Link Aquila Pro AI AX3000 in the same test:

The zero scores for the far test with the D-Link DSL-X3052E represent the fact that while the network could be seen by devices and connected to, it couldn’t actually do anything at all in terms of sharing out a network connection at that distance.

I very much expected that would be the case from the start, and I absolutely recognise that my home office is a brutal test setup. It’s exactly why I use it for this kind of test.

Having said that, the D-Link DSL-X3052E did manage slightly better download speed at the short range location, though it couldn’t match the mesh for any other location.

Still, what it delivered at mid-range was more than enough for most uses, and that should flow through for most NBN connections save perhaps for the very low tier NBN 12 tier, though most ISPs have seriously de-emphasised those plans anyway.

Nothing to do with this review, but if you’re still on an NBN 12 tier plan, switch; there’s almost certainly a better value NBN 25 plan (possibly even from your existing ISP) that you could be using.

D-Link DSL-X3052E: Alex’s Verdict

Rather obviously, the D-Link DSL-X3052E isn’t for me personally, and that’s fine. I’ve long been aware of the complexities of getting Wi-Fi around my actual home. The advantage of testing in more brutal conditions is that I can get a more nuanced picture of where a particular router might fall or excel.

The D-Link DSL-X3052E’s best case scenario is for smaller homes and apartments where your existing ISP-supplied router isn’t cutting the mustard. At closer distances, throughput is very good, and the flexibility of having multiple gigabit ethernet for supported devices – nearby set top boxes or games consoles for example – as well as dual VoIP may also have appeal to you.

For more complex home setups and especially for larger homes, however, a mesh solution is going to (ahem) mesh just that little bit better, although that will cost a little more.