Synology wins for successfully addressing the 4 most important functions for all routers… compatibility, stability, range, and expected speed. Once you achieve this, everything else is secondary.
After 3 weeks I can say Synology’s RT1900AC is a small yet capable piece of hardware that has handled over 40 wifi g/n/ac and wired devices (including tivo, wemo, smart tvs, iOS, macOS, windows, thermostat, pool equipment, IP cameras and NVR). If I have 1 complaint, it’s coverage range of the 5Ghz, but it’s not terrible.
I tried 3 other routers over a 2 month period in this order: Linksys EA9500, Asus RT-AC5300, TP Link Archer C7. Synology RT1900AC outperformed each of them in the primary functions.
Surprised to see Linksys and Asus have connectivity issues with HP laptops via wifi, and see Asus 5GHz simply drop off. TP Link works, but doesn’t have a decent network map (Linksys was coolest), and TpLinks’s 5GHz range was less than Synology.
Synology SRM UI is different and fun to play with. It’s linux desktop GUI is completely different from the old “dlink/tplink/wrt54g” static interface. I haven’t spent too much time on the different downloadable packages, other than setting up a small 2.5” disk as a NAS utilizing the DLNA. It seems to work well on data transfer, but slow to mount via SMB over wifi. It would be nice if the router supported Plex (similar to the X10 nighthawk, but I don’t think it has the power).
I did hit a snag during while initially upgrading SRM firmware, the unit appeared to hang… but how cool to generate an automated support request. While I did get it working 20 min later, my support request wasn’t answered by Synology for 5 days. (still better than my 2 support tickets and 15 days with no call back from linksys).
I am hopeful Synology continues to update SRM with new features, better network mapping icons. The unit should have a learning feature to recommend settings for “traffic control” based on logged traffic. I haven’t seen any range increase with “beam forming”, but I do like the feature to “ban” internet access from wifi linked devices. This can be helpful for IOT device security, e.g. security cameras.
Bummed I didn’t get the more powerful RT2600 unit, but I was so disillusioned with $$$ routers. I’m hopeful this unit stays relevant until some of the newer marketed wifi technologies really take hold.
| Wireless Type | 802.11ac |
|---|---|
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 1 |
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 1 |
