D-Link DWR-M930 4G LTE Router Review – Budget-Friendly

Unboxing & Walkaround

Today we’ll be taking a look at D-Link’s DWR-M930 4G LTE router, which is one of the cheapest non-portable models from the brand. If you’re unfamiliar with routers, keep in mind this one is not designed for home internet – those get far more capabilities for similar prices. 4G routers like this one is catered towards business or other environments where uptime is crucial.

Inside the box, you get these items:
– DC power supply
– Warranty document
– Quick installation guide
– LAN cable
– D-Link DWR-M930 main unit

The features of the DWR-M930 is basic – you get four LAN ports, with the fourth one acting as WAN port under specific operating modes, useful if 4G signal is temporarily unavailable. On their left is the Nano SIM slot, while you can find the WPS button, a reset pin, DC barrel jack, and the power button on the right.

Specifications

D-Link DWR-M930

Full specifications available on product webpage and datasheet.

Product Type	4G LTE Router
Operation Modes	Gateway, Bridge/AP, Wireless ISP (WISP) mode
Wireless Specification	802.11n (Wi-Fi 4)
Antenna Topography	2x external LTE antennas 2x external 2.4GHz antennas
Operating Frequencies	4G bands: B1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28, 38, 40, 41 Wi-Fi: 2.4GHz
Backhaul Channel Support	No
Bandwidth Modes	20 / 40 MHz (144 / 300 Mbps)
Throughput Rating	4G: 150 Mbps downlink / 50 Mbps uplink Wi-Fi: N300
Signal Modulation	Unspecified
Processor	Unspecified
RAM	Unspecified
Onboard Storage	Unspecified
WAN	1x 100Mbps RJ-45 (as LAN4 port)
LAN	4x 100Mbps RJ-45
Auxiliary I/O	None
Wireless Security	WEP, WPA, WPA2, WPA3
Web Protection	VPN
Control Interface	via gateway IP address
Wall Mount Support	Yes
Dimensions	222 x 147 x 42 mm
Weight	240g

Test System

Server	Standard benchmark system Intel Core i9-13900K ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 HERO Network adapter: Intel I-226V 2.5GbE LAN
Router	D-Link DWR-M930 5dBi 2.4GHz antennas, 100Mbps LAN
Client	Razer Blade 14 (2024) AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS Network adapter: Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 (Wi-Fi 7)

Performance

Given that the DWR-M390 lacks a 5GHz band with its rather archaic Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) standard, we’ll be exclusively testing the 2.4GHz band performance. At 10 meters, you’ll be getting around 50Mbps in ideal conditions, but the numbers on the 2m range can be slightly higher due to testing limitations.

Here’s why: while D-Link advertises the router as capable of delivering 300Mbps over 40MHz channel width, the router’s LAN ports only supports 100Mbps, and that becomes the bottleneck of which our bench system can deliver at most to the router before broadcasting it to the Wi-Fi signal to be picked up by our Razer Blade test device.

That being said, there’s also a small footnote on the Wi-Fi throughput rating: the maximum downlink for 4G is 150Mbps, and uplink maxes out at 50Mbps. Effectively, this means you can never saturate the Wi-Fi – though getting near the 150Mbps will still be a big ask unless you live next to a cell tower with no one competing against your network).

In terms of signal strength, the numbers tell us that it’s actually decent, for the very little money you’re paying for this router anyway. It’s not going to be as good as the likes of DIR-X6080Z, but it should serve users in the same room perfectly fine. Still, the disadvantage of 2.4GHz is the interference, and that’s something that can result in occasional hiccups due to lost data packets in transmission.

User Experience

For the first-time setup, you do get access to the setup wizard which takes you through the basic setup process. Based on our experience, you can simply just press next and get things going as soon as you insert the SIM card beforehand, although it’s probably not the most user-friendly GUI I’ve seen out there.

The home page of the router management interface provides you with an overview of the signal, network operator, IP, and Wi-Fi information; the one time I misconfigured the settings it actually gives me an one-click ‘Fix’ button, and it does manage to get the internet back online again.

The Good

While the DWR-M930 is a budget 4G LTE router, it has some features that’s worth some value in it. For one, the setup process is very quick – not the simplest, but anyone with some basic knowledge of setting up routers should have no issues getting this up to speed (I reckon three minutes is more than enough to set this up).

The WAN failover support should come in handy if your setup involves an unreliable wired (primary) ISP, which can let the 4G network act as a backup in case of a failure occurring on the primary WAN. This feature is mostly designed for commercial settings, like point-of-sale systems that demands an always-on network but not necessarily require low-latency networks.

As for the Wi-Fi, while it’s only supporting Wi-Fi 4, it does support a much newer WPA3 security standard that greatly improves Wi-Fi security and privacy. Commercial users certainly will appreciate this feature, given that WPA2 is susceptible to hard-to-defend exploits.

The Bad

Continuing on the subject of Wi-Fi – the lack of 5GHz band (as part of the Wi-Fi 5 aka 802.11ac standard) does limit this router’s capabilities, so I wouldn’t recommend this if your environment is particularly congested with 2.4GHz signals, which can hamper the Wi-Fi’s reliability over longer distances.

Additionally, I’d like to see the web management GUI getting some upgrades to improve the user-friendliness. Some of the settings can be pretty hard to grasp given the lack of documentation, especially during the initial setup process.

Verdict

At RM169, the D-Link DWR-M930 is on the cheaper side as far as 4G LTE routers go, but it’s a good enough option if all you’re looking for is a router with 4G capabilities. Just keep your expectations reasonable when it comes to speed, and it should serve you just fine.

Special thanks to D-Link for providing the DWR-M930 4G LTE router for this review.