Still, the MR2200ac feels a bit undecided about its identity, since it is available as a single-device package-only and it didn’t fully adopt the minimalist design, instead looking more like a router than the regular mesh node. Despite that, the MR2200ac seems fully capable of creating a mesh network using multiple identical units and it allows you to add the dual-band RT2600ac as a mesh router as well (one of the two 5GHz radio bands of the MR2200ac is dedicated for backhaul).

Furthermore, the MR2200ac uses the same iconic SRM interface (now including advanced Safe Access features) and it is an early adopter of the WPA3 security standard, so let’s have a closer look at the MR2200ac and see how it functions as a stand-alone wireless router, as well as within a mesh system along with the Synology RT2600ac as the main unit.

Design
As I said in the introduction, the Synology MR2200ac seems to have a bit of an identity crisis since it is halfway between the traditional router (with its characteristic big rectangular body) and the living-room-friendly minimalist mesh node. More specifically, the router features a rectangular case with rounded corners, but, unlike its predecessor, the device now sits vertically with the aid of two built-in feet (unlike the RT1900ac, the MR2200ac can only be kept vertically – it also can’t be mounted on the wall or ceiling). Almost the entire case is covered by a black matte finish (the soft coating does retain smudges, but they’re not really noticeable), while, on the front, besides the carved in glossy Synology logo, the device has a triangle shape divided by multiple glossy sections. On the top surface, the Synology has added multiple cut-outs which should facilitate a better air flow, but you’ll also notice that there are no antenna connectors.

That’s because the MR2200ac does not have external antennas: this and the relatively small form factor case (it measures 6.0 x 7.8 x 2.5 inches HxWxD) suggest that the manufacturer still has adhered to a somewhat minimalist approach, but, because of the design of the front surface, the MR2200ac actually ends up looking a bit retro. Despite being positioned upwards, the Synology MR2200ac cannot be tipped over easily because of the two elongated feet, but also because of the low center of gravity (the device weighs one lbs and it is heavier towards the bottom); additionally, on the bottom of the two feet, there are two small silicone pads (on each foot) to keep the router from budging and, while the pads didn’t look like much at the first glance, they have proven to be quite effective.

A tri-band router with a small case is usually more prone to overheating and to prevent it, Synology has added lots of ventilation holes on the rear side of the device, as well as on the bottom. To see how effective the passive cooling is, I put some stress on the router and, while it did get warm towards the middle, the device showed no signs of overheating.
Note: On the rear side, within the area with ventilation cut-outs, there is a label with various information about the device (such as the MAC address, the Serial No, the PIN code, the default WiFi SSID and password).

When put next to the RT2600ac, the MR2200ac doesn’t have that many similar design elements (except for the carved in logo and the black matte finish) and, while both the RT1900ac and the RT2600ac had a series of LED indicators positioned on the top or front surface, the Synology MR2200ac has three LEDs aligned to resemble the WiFi symbol: the bottom LED will light up blue when the device is powered on and it’s ready to be configured (afterwards, it will turn solid green), while the two upper LEDs show the status of the WiFi (if the LEDs are flashing blue, then the MR2200ac is ready to connect to other devices, otherwise, if one or two LEDs will become solid green to show the signal strength for the connection to the primary router). I’m not a fan of the single LED indicator that almost all WiFi mesh systems seem to favor since I don’t find it intuitive and, while the MR2200ac doesn’t fully embrace this approach, it still doesn’t show enough info using its LEDs (to better see the status of the network, you’ll have to check the app or the web-based UI).

On the rear of the MR2200ac, Synology has added a USB 3.0 Type-A port (useful for either a storage device or USB printer – the SD card slot from the RT2600ac is gone) on the left side along with a small WPS buttons and a WiFi On/Off button, while on the right side, there is a single Gigabit LAN port (another similarity to some WiFi mesh routers which I’m not really a fan of considering that not all the devices are wireless and the port will most likely end up being used for the Ethernet backhaul), a Gigabit WAN port, a Power port, a Power button and a recessed Reset button (press and hold for 10 seconds to return the router to the factory default settings).

Hardware
Inside the case, the Synology MR2200ac is equipped with a quad-core Qualcomm IPQ4019 chipset clocked at 717 MHz (the same chip used by Google WiFi, the tri-band Linksys Velop, the Eero Second Gen, the ZyXel Multy X and the Netgear Orbi), along with a Qualcomm Atheros QCA8072 switch chip, 256 MB of RAM (Nanya NT5CC128M16IP-DI) and 4 GiB (Kingston EMMC04G-M627) / 8 MiB (Macronix MX25L6433FM2I-08G) flash memory (similarly to the RT2600ac).

Furthermore, the mesh router uses the Qualcomm IPQ4019 2×2:2 for the 2.4GHz radio band (along with the Skyworks SE2623L 2.4GHz Power Amplifier), as well as for the first 5GHz radio band (along with the Skyworks SKY85728-11 5Ghz WLAN Front-End Module); the second 5GHz radio band uses the Qualcomm Atheros QCA9886 2×2:2 wireless chip.

On the 2.4Ghz radio band, the Synology MR2200ac features a maximum theoretical data transfer rate of 400Mbps and for each of the two 5GHz radio bands, the maximum theoretical data transfer rate is 867 Mbps (adds up to 2,134 Mbps which is rounded to the advertised 2,200 Mbps).

Features and Performance
The MR2200ac decided to add a second 5GHz band to make it easier to handle both the clients and the inter-node traffic, therefore aiming at creating a more stable mesh network. But, unlike the other ‘dedicated’ mesh system (with multiple identical nodes in the package), the MR2200ac didn’t seem like it wanted to push the user towards immediately purchasing multiple mesh routers. I found this approach strange at first, but afterwards it kind of made sense because Synology seems to want the users to experience the unique interface and the stable network that its routers can create which should be enough to persuade them to want to further expand their network with additional mesh nodes (although it’s worth mentioning that multiple routers in a package usually means a discount).

It’s also a great way to reuse any already purchased RT2600ac (can be added to a mesh network), but, while I see the similarities to the Asus AiMesh, Synology didn’t include the older RT1900ac, so, unlike Asus, it has nowhere near the wide variety of routers capable of becoming a mesh node – also, the RT2600ac can only be used as the main router with the MR2200ac as the secondary node.
The setup that I have available includes one Synology MR2200ac and a RT2600ac, but you can also use multiple MR2200ac devices to create a full tri-band mesh network.

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Mark B

Mark is a graduate in Computer Science, having gathered valuable experience over the years working in IT as a programmer. Mark is also the main tech writer for MBReviews.com, covering not only his passion, the networking devices, but also other cool electronic gadgets that you may find useful for your every day life.

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Unfortunately, this route is increasingly more difficult because of the latest mesh WiFi systems that directly challenge any single-unit router and promise to completely cover a large house with WiFi, but it wasn’t by mistake that the first Synology router was received positively by the general public, it was because the RT1900ac offered a good wireless performance, a decent build quality, but most importantly, the SRM (Synology Router Manager) interface which resembled the Windows OS environment (so new users would find the UI very familiar) and it allowed the installation of new add-on packages to further enhance the number of features and the functionality of the router.

The RT2600ac does keep everything that made the first Synology router a reliable router, while it comes with a more powerful internal hardware, so it is a better platform for implementing new technologies, more complex features, a better stability and a greater wireless performance. That being said, let’s have a closer look at the RT2600ac and see if it can keep its ground against its main competitors in this highly competitive technology segment.

UPDATE 06.29.2019: The Synology RT2600ac was released more than two years ago and, considering that the router has undergone some significant changes especially towards the end of the last year (when the MR2200ac was released), I decided to retest it and see what areas have been improved and if any new issues have arisen (the article was UPDATED taking into account the SRM 1.2.1-7779 firmware update).

Design
Synology didn’t necessarily challenge the traditional look of the wireless routers and, while it has kept true to the usual blueprint that most manufacturer use when designing their devices (rectangular case with lots of external antennas), the RT1900ac and the RT2600ac still manage to stand out from the crowd. But, although the RT1900ac features a dynamic-looking case and three external antennas that point upwards, Synology decided to make the RT2600ac a bit more conservative, so it has removed the possibility of it sitting upwards and it has added four antennas (two on the lateral sides and two on the rear side). The RT2600ac does have a similar rectangular case (to the RT1900ac), but there are some significant changes: the top side is now home to four sections filled with lots of narrow ventilation cut-outs, the central protruded area with the logo is now moved towards the front side and the LED indicators are moved from the front edge directly underneath the top-facing Synology logo.

Furthermore, the case is covered by a black matte finish which does not retain fingerprints (the coating is not as soft as on the Asus RT-AC86U, though) and similarly to the RT1900ac, there are two bottom feet which rise the case by about 1.5 inches towards the rear side in order to allow a better airflow underneath the router. But, unlike the previous model, the feet on the RT2600ac are non-removable, so Synology decided that this is a mandatory option (since the router is equipped with powerful hardware, it needs any help it can get to keep a low internal temperature).

During the testing procedure, the case did become slightly warm especially towards the front side (when it was forced to run multiple applications), but it did not overheat, so the manufacturer did a great job in the heat management department while fully relying on a passive cooling system. Besides the two tall feet, the RT2600ac also has two small round rubber feet on the bottom which do a good job at keeping the device from budging regardless of the number of connected cables.

If put side-by-side, you will immediately notice that the Synology RT2600ac grew in size over the previous RT1900ac, so it measures 11.0 x 6.6 x 3.0 inches (over the 8.1 x 6.2 x 2.5 inches of the previous model) and it also got a bit heavier (it weighs 1.54 lbs). So, the router isn’t really the smallest on the market and it has a slightly large footprint which means that you may need to plan carefully where it is going to be positioned (it would be ideally to put it in the open to ensure a decent airflow) – you also need to take into consideration the extra space of the four antennas.

If you can’t spare any inch from your desk (which is usually the case in offices), Synology allows its users to mount the device on the wall using the two holes from the bottom side (this process can be a bit difficult because of the two non-removable feet, but it does help creating a gap between the device and the wall, so the internal temperature is kept as low as possible).
Note: The bottom side of the router is covered by lots of ventilation cut-outs and, towards the front area, there’s a label with various info about the router (such as the MAC address, the Serial Number and the default WiFi SSID along with the password).

As expected, Synology did not adopt the single LED approach that all the new WiFi mesh systems have and it kept the good ol’array of LED indicators which have the role of showing the Status of the system, the status of the 2.4GHz and the 5GHz radio bands, the WAN1 and WAN2 ports and the status of the four LAN ports (the second WAN port will light up when the first LAN port will work as WAN). An interesting feature is the ability of scheduling when the LEDs will be enabled according to the day and time (for example, during the night, the LEDs can turn off automatically).

On the rear side, the Synology RT2600ac has a dedicated area for the ports and some of the buttons: from the left, there’s a square Power button, a Power port, a small recessed Reset button (press and hold it using a paperclip for four second to perform a soft reset and hold it for ten seconds to perform a hard reset of the system), a USB 2.0 port (useful for connecting to a printer), the WAN port and four LAN ports (the first LAN port can assume the role of the second WAN). On the right side of the router, there’s a small recessed area where you can find two round buttons, one for initiating the WPS process (there’s an LED on top of the button) and the other for turning the WiFi On or Off. The left side of the RT2600ac has a similar area where you can find a USB 3.0 port and an Eject button which has the role of displaying the status of the USB/SD external storage and ejecting them from the router. On the front of the device, you can find the large SD card slot which enhances the fact that this is a router created by a company that mainly specializes in the development of network-attached storage devices.

Hardware
Inside the case, Synology has equipped the RT2600ac with a dual-core Qualcomm Krait IPQ8065 chipset (clocked at 1.7GHz), a Qualcomm Atheros QCA8337 switch chip, 512 MB of RAM (Samsung K4B2G1646F-BYK0) and 4GB (Toshiba THGBMBG5D1KBAIT) / 8 MB (Macronix MX25L6445EM2I) of flash memory.

Furthermore, in order to ensure a powerful wireless signal and a good performance, the 2.4GHz radio band uses the Qualcomm Atheros QCA9984 4×4 802.11ac chip along with the Skyworks SE2623L power amplifier, while the 5GHz radio band also takes advantage of the Qualcomm Atheros QCA9984 4×4 802.11ac chipset along with a RFMD PA5542 power amplifier.
Note: Unlike the Asus RT-AC86U which has three external antennas an an internal one, Synology decided to keep all four antennas external and the user can adjust the position of each of them independently. It’s also worth noting that the RT2600ac shares almost the same internal hardware with the Netgear Nighthawk R7800.

The Synology RT2600ac features a maximum theoretical data transfer rate of 800 Mbps using the 2.4GHz radio band and a maximum theoretical data transfer rate of 1,733 Mbps using the 5GHz radio band (which adds up to 2,533 Mbps and Synology rounds it to the advertised 2,600 Mbps).

Features and Performance
The RT1900ac was a decent, reasonably-priced router with some features to enhance the wireless performance and ensure the network stability and the Synology RT2600ac has adopted more of the 802.11ac Wave 2 features, so it aims at the medium-to-higher-end segment (challenging the likes of the NETGEAR Nighthawk X4S or the Asus RT-AC88U – as well as the newest Asus RT-AC86U). Among these features, there’s the MU-MIMO technology (Multi-User Multiple Input, Multiple Output) which ensures that multiple devices connected via wireless are served at the same time (the routers that do not support this technology can only serve one client at a time, so the connected devices need to compete for the bandwidth).

This tech is great if used with compatible devices which, unfortunately are not that widespread and, considering that the RT2600ac is a 4×4 router, you won’t really be able to take advantage of its full potential unless you connect it to another powerful 4×4 MU-MIMO router or to a computer with a high-end wireless adapter (such as the Asus PCE AC88). So no, MU-MIMO is still not as popular as the manufacturers were predicting a couple of years ago and new devices still lack this feature due to high cost.

Another feature that is a lot more commonly implemented with new devices is the BeamForming technology which has the role of focusing the signal directly towards the connected devices, therefore reducing the latency and greatly improving the wireless coverage (traditionally, the routers would broadcast the signal everywhere and hope that it will reach the connected clients). Furthermore, the RT2600ac takes advantage of the Hardware Acceleration Engine (Layer 4/7) which helps keeping a high throughput and a balanced performance even if some QoS features are enabled. To do so, the router comes with a Network Subsystem Engine which takes some load off the CPU, therefore aiming at minimizing the performance impact. A familiar feature is the Smart Connect which comes enabled by default and it creates a single network with a single passkey and it has the role of dynamically steering the clients to the most suitable radio band (you can leave the Auto mode or manually edit the necessary settings – signal strength-oriented, load balancing-oriented).

It’s worth noting that more and more router manufacturers have started implementing dual-WAN functionalities especially on their top tier devices. The Synology RT2600ac is one of those routers, so it allows the users to enable the Dual-Balancing and the FailOver abilities, the former allowing two interfaces to work together in order to ‘balance the load’ and, if one link fails, the router goes to failover mode (in case the primary connection fails, it automatically goes to the second connection and it waits for the first one to come back online – this ability is also known as failback). Be aware that the RT2600ac does not support link aggregation and, in order to take advantage of this feature, you need to use a switch that supports it.

UPDATE: Towards the end of the last year, Synology released the MR2200ac mesh router and, similarly to Google WiFi (which was compatible with OnHub routers), the RT2600ac was updated to allow it to become part of a mesh network. More specifically, the user can set the RT2600ac as the main unit (so far, it can’t be configured as a mesh point) and use one or multiple MR2200ac units as additional nodes – if you were happy with the RT2600ac, but your house was just too big, then simply adding more mesh nodes is a viable solution.

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Mark B

Mark is a graduate in Computer Science, having gathered valuable experience over the years working in IT as a programmer. Mark is also the main tech writer for MBReviews.com, covering not only his passion, the networking devices, but also other cool electronic gadgets that you may find useful for your every day life.

www.mbreviews.com

The Synology devices are characterized as being easy to set up, have a great software and to be quite reliable, so imagine my surprise when I heard that they have decided to enter the router field with the Synology Router RT1900AC.

But, did we actually need another AC1900 router? Well, you can never have too many and Synology did implement the same strategy as D-LINK when it launched its DIR-880L AC1900: they put a low price tag. When I had a look at DIR-880L, I said that D-Link arrived late to the AC1900 party, but with Synology, it’s like arriving a week after the party ended. It’s true that other manufacturers have already moved passed the AC1900 technology and some have already established their dominance, but since Synology is well known, this will help to push this router in the center of attention.

Now, since this is a 2015/2016 router, there are great expectations to be met and a high competition to go against, so let’s see if the first router from Synology can rise up and become a tough competitor for the ASUS RT-AC68U, Netgear Nighthawk R7000 or Linksys WRT1900ACS.

Design
The Synology RT1900AC has adopted a similar appearance as the other mainstream routers: it has a black rectangular body with a matte finish and it has three removable antennas sticking out of its back.

The surprise is that the design is not boring at all. On top of the router, the plastic protrudes a bit upwards to leave place to the large carved Synology logo (reminds me of car hood vents) and from underneath you get the option to raise the rear of the device by 1.5 inches. All these, along with the pointy antennas make the router look very dynamic (it looks like that one kid who is always hyperactive and pumped up and that’s a good thing, the router seems young, fresh and desirable).

If you would rather prefer the router to not look like it’s ready to jump from your desk, because of its two feet, you can remove them and let the RT1900AC sit fully on the surface (you have to remove the two screws that keep the two feet fixed). The footprint of the RT1900AC is just a bit larger than that of the Linksys WRT1900ACS, as it measures 8.1 x 6.2 x 2.5 inches and it weighs 17.6 ounces. So, it may need a bit of space and if this is a problem (it happens often with offices), the Synology RT1900AC can be wall mounted. Furthermore, the RT1900AC can also be positioned vertically thanks to an included stand that gets attached on the bottom.

If there is something to object about the design of the Synology RT1900AC is that if you look from the side, it’s clear that there are two separate parts: a rectangular base part with the ports and the air ventilation slots (don’t obstruct them because the device tends to get quite warm) and then, there’s the top side, which is slightly inflated upwards and gets smaller towards the front. Sure, the clearly distinctive parts aren’t something that would impede the router’s functionality, but it does put it underneath the premium-type cases found on the likes of Nighthawk R7000 or RT-AC68U (where everything is a lot more seamless).

On the top of the router, on the edge towards the front, there are located eight status LED lights responsible for the System, the 2.4GHz WiFi radio band, the 5GHz WiFi radio band, the WAN connection and the four LAN connections. Also on the front of the router, there is an Eject LED button with a green LED light on top of it (you can press it to eject the USB or any other SD external storage – the LED light displays the status of the USB or SD external storage devices).

The left side of the RT1900AC is home to a WPS button and a WiFi ON/OFF switch. On the right side, you can find a USB 3.0 port (a must-have feature that allows you to connect any type of USB 3.0 devices) and an unexpected, but welcomed, SD Card slot. The rear side is where you’ll find the Power button, the Power port (for the adapter), the WAN Ethernet port, four LAN ports and three metallic antenna bases on the left, right and the middle.

Turn the router upside-down and there is a label with printed info about the MAC address, the SN and the PIN code, as well as the default IP address (192.168.1.1), the user name (admin), the password (leave blank) and the WiFi SSID (SynologyRouter) and password (synology). Next to the label, there’s a peculiarly placed RESET button, that can be accessed with a paper clip (press and hold it for four seconds to perform a Soft Reset and press and hold it for ten seconds to perform a Hard Reset).

Overall, you can’t really call the design of the Synology RT1900AC premium, but it is an enthusiastic looking device (like it’s screaming ‘let’s do this!’) and it has all the ports and buttons you need and some more (the SD card slot).

Hardware
Synology has equipped the RT1900AC with a dual-core Broadcom BCM58622 clocked at 1GHz (in BCM58622 switch), backed by 256MB of RAM (Samsung K4B2G1646Q-BCK0) and 4GB (Toshiba THGBMBG5D1KBAIT) and 1MB (STMicroelectronics 25P80VG) of internal storage. Compared to any other AC1900 router out there, none have this much amount of internal storage (the NAS tendencies are clear).

Furthermore, the wireless capabilities of the router are being delivered by a Broadcom BCM43460 chipset for the 2.4GHz radio band, along with the Skyworks SE2623L 2.4 GHz Power Amp (x3), the Skyworks SKY13377 6 GHz SPDT switch (x3) and the Skyworks SKY15971 2.4 GHz LNA (x3). Additionally, the 5GHz performance is being delivered by a Broadcom BCM43460 chipset.
Synology RT1900AC features a maximum theoretical speed of 600 Mbps using the 2.4Ghz frequency band and 1,300 Mbps, using the 5Ghz band.

Performance and Connectivity
The Synology RT1900AC looks aerodynamic, but how fast is it? Well, this is a capable 3×3 802.11ac router and considering the internal specs, it should do a great job. Sure, it’s not a 4×4 router (like ASUS RT-AC88U or TP-Link Archer C2600) and don’t go expecting the MU-MIMO technology because this is something reserved for devices of a higher price. Regardless, some may argue that there is no need yet for that kind of power, simply because you can’t use it. There aren’t many clients to support this technology and the ones that can, will cost a fortune.

What you can expect from the RT1900AC is the Beamforming technology, which is a great way to ensure that the signal isn’t broadcast everywhere with the hope of reaching your devices, but it specifically targets your clients and focuses the signal towards them (up to six supported devices). Now, let’s get to the testing part.

Using the 2.4Ghz frequency band, at close range (5 feet), the RT1900AC delivered up to 124Mbps. After increasing the distance to about 30 feet, I managed to measure around 85Mbps and after increasing it further to about 80 feet, the router managed to deliver a maximum of 63Mbps. Afterwards, I switched to the 5GHz frequency band (using the 802.11ac standard) and I got some good results. At no more than 5 feet, the RT1900AC delivered a maximum of 448Mbps and after increasing the distance to 15 feet, I measured 356Mbps. Lastly, at 35 feet, the speed decreased to 205Mbps.

Furthermore, I took a 1GB folder containing music, videos and other miscellaneous files and tested the writing and reading speed. So, I got 42MBps for writing the folder and 37.8MBps for reading it. Because this is the first router made by Synology, a company well known for its successful NAS devices, it was expected that the RT1900AC would be a great performer in terms of storage performance. In reality, it wasn’t that special and nowhere near the king of NAS performance, the Linksys WRT1900ACS.

Setup
One of the main selling points of this router is its interface and there’s a good reason for it. The Synology Router Manager borrowed the looks and the feel of the DiskStation Manager interface of the Synology NAS. Now, before reaching the interface, you have to connect the router to the Internet, open up a browser tab and enter either https://192.168.1.1:8000 or https://router.synology.com. This should launch the SRM Setup Wizard.

From here on, you can set up the administrator account (user name and password), set up your WiFi Network (SSID, password and country), set up your Operation Mode (Wireless Router, Wireless Access Point or Wireless Client; you also get the option to enable the External access to SRM) and lastly, you can choose your Internet Connection (PPoE, Manual IP and Auto IP). Afterwards, you can visit the interface for additional configuration.
Note: Besides the web-based interface, you can also use the Synology DS Router mobile app for iOS and Android that allows you to manage your router (don’t expect to configure all the features of the router using the app, as it’s quite limited).

The interface itself, called the Synology Router Manager (SRM) is clearly inspired by the Microsoft Windows theme and this is a great thing, because it doesn’t scare users away (Netgear, take note!) and it has a familiar look.
On the top, there’s a taskbar which is home to a Windows-like Start button, the Status of your network, Notifications, Profile (features Options, Restart, About and Logout), Search and Pilot View (view all open apps). Underneath the taskbar there are three icons for the Network Center, Package Center and SRM Help. The interface behaves similarly to the Windows OS, you get active apps icons when they are minimized, you can drag and drop icons on the main page and by clicking the Start button (up left), you get to see all the installed apps (a more elegant Control Panel).

The Network Center allows you to set up and configure the router with ease. It features the following tabs: Status (Internet Connection – IP Address, Gateway, DNS Server; status of the 5GHz WiFi band and the status of the 2.4Ghz WiFi band, with the option to turn On or OFF either of them; statistics about the Internet, Device List, CPU and Memory), Wireless (setup the 2.4GHz/5GHz bands, enable WPS, create Guest Networks and create MAC Filters), Internet (set up your Internet connection – here you can also enable IPTV/VoIP and choose the VPN Connection Method; enable QuickConnect and DDNS; set up Port Forwarding; create and enable port Triggering; set up DMZ; enable IPv6 Tunneling and access any inserted 3G/4G dongle), Local Network (General – Local IP, DHCP Server and Guest DHCP Server; IPv6, Static Route, DHCP Clients, DHCP Reservation and IP&VoIP), Parental Controls (let’s you create Access Schedules and configure Web filters), Traffic Control (set up QoS bandwidth by priorities), Security (DOS Protection, VPN PAss-through, Firewall, Auto Block and Certificate), Notification (Email, SMS, Push Service and Advanced) and Administration (Operation Modes, Update and Restore, Synology Account, SRM Settings, Service, Regional Options, LED, Usage).

What sets apart this router interface from the others is the ability to install new features (called add-on packages) using the Package Center. Here, you can Install and Update any available app that you desire.
Other worth mentioning apps are the File Station (is an interesting tool used for sharing and organizing all the files from the storage devices connected to the router), the Network Tools, the Security Advisor (performs security audits of your settings to find out areas that can be improved from the security point of view) and Smart WAN (which allows you to connect to the Internet via two separate network interfaces – WAN and a LAN that acts as the second WAN – and use the load balancing feature and the failover option).

ALSO CHECK OUT THE BEST DUAL-WAN ROUTERS

Overall, the Synology Router Manager is unique, easy to use and intuitive and I would go as far as to say that it’s one of the best I found on a router (next to the ASUSWRT).

Conclusion
The Synology RT1900AC is a good AC1900 router, it has a cool design, good wireless performance and an awesome interface (one of the main reasons this router got so many attention). Also, it has a low price tag, but it isn’t alone in this range, it has the TP-LINK Archer C9 and the D-LINK DIR-880L breathing down its neck.

Check the product here:

Mark B

Mark is a graduate in Computer Science, having gathered valuable experience over the years working in IT as a programmer. Mark is also the main tech writer for MBReviews.com, covering not only his passion, the networking devices, but also other cool electronic gadgets that you may find useful for your every day life.

www.mbreviews.com