How odd that this router is not yet certified in Canada though it can be purchased on Amazon.ca. Might you folks know if the USB port can power a portable drive; would make for 1 less electrical wire. Pros which make me consider this to replace my aging ABS: Time Machine (though I wonder if this isn’t just marketing ) Functioning USB ports unlike most mesh routers out there Expandable with their MR220 Web access thus not a slave to dumb downed iOS app.
Are there any wireless access units other than the Apple that have the audio port? I use my Airport units to connect various stereos in different rooms so that I can play the same feed throughout the house. The fact that it also helps even out my wireless is definitely nice, but I'm using them mostly for the wireless audio.
You should be able to get the audio streaming functionality with some old AppleTV units. They don't act as access points, though. As nobody currently sells new devices which act as both AirPlay sinks and access points, it may be a good idea to move to two different devices for those functions.
How odd that this router is not yet certified in Canada though it can be purchased on Amazon.ca. Might you folks know if the USB port can power a portable drive; would make for 1 less electrical wire. Pros which make me consider this to replace my aging ABS: Time Machine (though I wonder if this isn’t just marketing ) Functioning USB ports unlike most mesh routers out there Expandable with their MR220 Web access thus not a slave to dumb downed iOS app.
I can connect a portable drive to it - but it depends on the power requirements of the portable drive, really.
Here, I have an SD card in the SD slot and a Seagate USB 1TB BackupPlus Slim drive connected to the USB3.0 port. It works fine with just the one cable connected. Those "usbshare1-1" names are the defaults, I didn't bother renaming in the Control Panel. I connected the drive, turned on Windows file services, connected in Finder using smb://SynologyRouter and it works great.
Time Machine (though I wonder if this isn’t just marketing )
Time Machine services do work. I'm not sure what "I wonder if this isn't just marketing" means here - with many other routers, if you connect a USB drive, it will not appear as an option in Time Machine settings. Here, when connected with afp://synologyrouter.local, Time Machine sees the drive and will use it without any further configuration. That's pretty easy, which is what I was hoping for from it.
Reviewing routers in a meaningful way that measures throughput performance in various networking scenarios is not for the casual reviewer. You can't approach it the same way you would for the newest iOS game-of-the-minute. Yet that is the approach taken here. In the super competitive field of routers, how do you "review" a newcomer to the market--and award it a perfect score no less--without a single measurement of performance and how that stacks up against the competition? All you've provided is an overview of the software package that accompanies a hardware product, with a generic summary of hardware performance ("rivals mesh systems") that's based on who knows what because you appear to have done none of the throughput performance measurement work that goes into a comprehensive and useful router review. This is one of the most disappointing and useless reviews I've read on AI.
If case you're interested in some unscientific, anecdotal observations from someone who knows nothing about networking:
We recently revised our home network. Our needs include connecting both storage and printers, so that eliminated the mesh systems we looked at. We wound up comparing the Apple Airport Extreme, a Linksys EA8500, the Synology, and a brand new, "upscale" modem/router just announced by our ISP. All were compared for coverage, speed, and ease of integration with an extender.
Not surprisingly given its age, the AirPort delivered the least speed and coverage, but it was still very good. It was also by far the easiest to set up. Using another AirPort as an extender was super easy.
The Linksys was about 20% faster than the Apple and was easy to extend with a matching companion device designed specifically for that. We tried using an Apple Airport Extreme tower as the extender, but it refused to be subservient to the Linksys. The only setup option available in AirPort Utility was "Create a new network." Thus the availability of a fast, inexpensive extender that spoke the same language as the primary device was an asset to this technologically-challenged user.
The Synology was even faster than the Linksys and had by FAR the best coverage of the four (plus it supports Time Machine, which the Linksys and ISP-supplied box don't). We had trouble getting it and an extender to play well together, though. We don't know whether that's an issue with the Synology or something that could be overcome by someone with networking expertise. As unsophisticated users stumbling around with setup windows, we found ourselves wishing the Synology offered a simple, fast, inexpensive, easy to set up companion extender like Linksys does. Again, we could not find a way to get the AirPort Extreme tower to act as an extender.
The new modem/router from our ISP is the least sophisticated of the bunch. There's no "matching" extender like Linksys has that makes setup so easy, and it doesn't support Time Machine. Speed and coverage were comparable to the Linksys, which is a little short of the Synology. Again again, the Airport Extreme tower refused to work as an extender to this unit.
The Synology was the fastest of the devices we tried, provided the best coverage to fringe areas like the patio, and it supports Time Machine. The AirPorts were the easiest to set up and extend. The Linksys landed in the middle. It was faster and had better coverage than the AirPort, but not as good as the Synology. It didn't support Time Machine, but the "matching" high-speed extender was almost as easy to set up as the AirPorts.
[...] I switched from an AE Extreme Tower w/Time Capsule to a new router back in June and I noticed an immediate and significant difference in throughput speed and the elimination of weak signal areas in my apartment. And I'm continuing to use my Extreme Tower as the storage device for Time Machine backups--I simply shut off the radios on the AE Extreme and connected it via Ethernet to the new router. My iMac and MacBook still back up to it automatically with no problems.
I don't know how you got that to work! The only way I could get an AirPort Extreme tower to work as an extender was when using another AirPort as the router. As soon as I introduced a non-Apple router ahead of the AirPort, the extender options disappeared from AirPort Utility. A web search turned up lots of comments from other people having the same problem, and articles saying it's not possible. How did you set it up?
Yeah - the Airport and a lot of the other newer routers had a much nicer design so you didn't mind leaving it out on a shelf somewhere. This thing looks more like a Romulan ship that you need to hide away. Maybe you could disguise it as a piece of modern art?
This router should blend in if you have serious collections of Star Wars plastic model spaceships. Even better, add some paint-details on the router to blend in even more.
The Synology RT2600ac is one of the most flexible routers we've seen. It isn't always the easiest to configure for some strange edge case uses, but nearly every option seems to be present. We used the IPTV settings Synology provides to configure the WAN port on VLAN 2 with medium priority for Quality of Service (QoS), and were able to replace the network box modem our Internet service provider requires. We were able to connect the router directly to the fiber jack, something other routers haven't been able to do without another device in the middle.
I'm at a loss as how you connected this directly to the fiber jack. Synology's web page doesn't list a fiber connection on the features or specs, and none of the pictures you supplied show a fiber connection. Can you explain further?
Many thanks, Vmarks! I have the same USB drive so am glad I'll not have another item to plug into an electrical outlet. My comment on TM-capability being marketing was based on erroneous thinking that TM simply involved plugging a drive and macOS would take it from there. Clearly there's more going on and good to know Synology went that extra step to accomodate us Mac users.
Yeah - the Airport and a lot of the other newer routers had a much nicer design so you didn't mind leaving it out on a shelf somewhere. This thing looks more like a Romulan ship that you need to hide away. Maybe you could disguise it as a piece of modern art?
This router should blend in if you have serious collections of Star Wars plastic model spaceships. Even better, add some paint-details on the router to blend in even more.
Routers function fine in a cabinet or closet. They don't have to be central design features.
I am lucky enough to be connected to fiber, so my home has 150-250 mbps (I could boost this to 1 Gbps for another $15/month - but at the present speeds - seriously, why bother).
I’m in the same boat as you. I own/manage apartment buildings here and we use Apple routers in the apartments as we include internet access in all the units. After burning through countless Linksys, netgear, d-link equipment due to them being garbage.. Apple’s gear has been rock-solid reliable for years. I haven’t rebooted them ever except for firmware upgrades.
The problem now (or will be) is that the units only handle about 200mb/s and we just upgraded our Internet line to 750mb/s. Not an issue for most as the bandwidth is equally segmented per unit, but someday the routers will have to be replaced if we want them to have more bandwidth.
While I had this unit, it performed well. Great throughput on WiFi (both bands), excellent reporting is available, easy enough to configure the options that are available.
If you need more than what comes in the box, like port forwarding IPV6, iptables type routing are a couple that come to mind, you are out of luck.
Support was quick, but not really useful. Synology responded quickly but could not solve problems at the time. They would have you enable remote access to the router then someone would login and do 'things' at a later time, maybe days later.
In all, I had a flaky LAN port and with the other things I need but weren't available, I returned it and stayed with a unit that had Asuswrt-Merlin available, an ASUS 86U, and haven't looked back.
The Synology RT2600ac is one of the most flexible routers we've seen. It isn't always the easiest to configure for some strange edge case uses, but nearly every option seems to be present. We used the IPTV settings Synology provides to configure the WAN port on VLAN 2 with medium priority for Quality of Service (QoS), and were able to replace the network box modem our Internet service provider requires. We were able to connect the router directly to the fiber jack, something other routers haven't been able to do without another device in the middle.
I'm at a loss as how you connected this directly to the fiber jack. Synology's web page doesn't list a fiber connection on the features or specs, and none of the pictures you supplied show a fiber connection. Can you explain further?
The fiber jack, or ONT (optical network terminal) has fiber in one side of it and Ethernet out the other.
The ISP normally requires their modem to authenticate service. AT&T changes auth every 14 days (I believe. It’s been a while since I had their service.) it is possible for services that require it to place a managed switch between router and fiber jack to set the wan Ethernet to VLAN 2, priority 3, which allows you to use this router without the isp provided modems. Here, Synology has settings which do this so the managed switch is not needed. They are the only router we have tested to allow this. The Ubiquiti amplify are almost able to - they set the VLAN id but do not do port priority, which results in the 1Gbit line delivering 10Mbit.
Thats is all this comment was to say is, there are esoteric options and this thing supports them, which is kind of awesome.
It it does not have sfp or a fiber transceiver. Which is fine. I apologize for any confusion I caused by mentioning this.
While I had this unit, it performed well. Great throughput on WiFi (both bands), excellent reporting is available, easy enough to configure the options that are available.
If you need more than what comes in the box, like port forwarding IPV6, iptables type routing are a couple that come to mind, you are out of luck.
Support was quick, but not really useful. Synology responded quickly but could not solve problems at the time. They would have you enable remote access to the router then someone would login and do 'things' at a later time, maybe days later.
In all, I had a flaky LAN port and with the other things I need but weren't available, I returned it and stayed with a unit that had Asuswrt-Merlin available, an ASUS 86U, and haven't looked back.
IPv6 port forwarding worked. I wonder if you were on an older version of the router firmware? Iptables is something you find in Merlin, ddwrt, openwrt. Here, the rules in the interface conform to patterns similar to iptables (protocol, source up, source port, destination up, destination port, allow or drop.
I just ssh’d into into the Synology and using vi to view /etc/firewall/firewall_rules_security.dump and firewall_6_rules_security.dump it looks like it’s using iptables under the covers.
Not quite the the same as typing them directly into ddwrt, but still- I don’t imagine users coming from AirPort Extreme really want to compose their own iptables.
I agree a flaky lan port and support that wants to remotely admin without saying when or what they’re doing is not the experience i’d want either.
Replaced my AirPort Extreme Dual Band with Improved Antenna with an eero setup and for the most part it works well.
The bad: 1-no web interface or Macintosh app. Is it really that hard for a company that can write an iOS app to use Xcode for Mac to do a Mac version? 2-No USB or audio output on the satellite units like was on the Airport Express.
The Synology may perform well, but that thing is not sitting out in the open in my home. The eero looks nice.
Comments
Might you folks know if the USB port can power a portable drive; would make for 1 less electrical wire.
Pros which make me consider this to replace my aging ABS:
Time Machine (though I wonder if this isn’t just marketing )
Functioning USB ports unlike most mesh routers out there
Expandable with their MR220
Web access thus not a slave to dumb downed iOS app.
You should be able to get the audio streaming functionality with some old AppleTV units. They don't act as access points, though. As nobody currently sells new devices which act as both AirPlay sinks and access points, it may be a good idea to move to two different devices for those functions.
I can connect a portable drive to it - but it depends on the power requirements of the portable drive, really.
Here, I have an SD card in the SD slot and a Seagate USB 1TB BackupPlus Slim drive connected to the USB3.0 port. It works fine with just the one cable connected. Those "usbshare1-1" names are the defaults, I didn't bother renaming in the Control Panel. I connected the drive, turned on Windows file services, connected in Finder using smb://SynologyRouter and it works great.
Time Machine services do work. I'm not sure what "I wonder if this isn't just marketing" means here - with many other routers, if you connect a USB drive, it will not appear as an option in Time Machine settings. Here, when connected with afp://synologyrouter.local, Time Machine sees the drive and will use it without any further configuration. That's pretty easy, which is what I was hoping for from it.
We recently revised our home network. Our needs include connecting both storage and printers, so that eliminated the mesh systems we looked at. We wound up comparing the Apple Airport Extreme, a Linksys EA8500, the Synology, and a brand new, "upscale" modem/router just announced by our ISP. All were compared for coverage, speed, and ease of integration with an extender.
Not surprisingly given its age, the AirPort delivered the least speed and coverage, but it was still very good. It was also by far the easiest to set up. Using another AirPort as an extender was super easy.
The Linksys was about 20% faster than the Apple and was easy to extend with a matching companion device designed specifically for that. We tried using an Apple Airport Extreme tower as the extender, but it refused to be subservient to the Linksys. The only setup option available in AirPort Utility was "Create a new network." Thus the availability of a fast, inexpensive extender that spoke the same language as the primary device was an asset to this technologically-challenged user.
The Synology was even faster than the Linksys and had by FAR the best coverage of the four (plus it supports Time Machine, which the Linksys and ISP-supplied box don't). We had trouble getting it and an extender to play well together, though. We don't know whether that's an issue with the Synology or something that could be overcome by someone with networking expertise. As unsophisticated users stumbling around with setup windows, we found ourselves wishing the Synology offered a simple, fast, inexpensive, easy to set up companion extender like Linksys does. Again, we could not find a way to get the AirPort Extreme tower to act as an extender.
The new modem/router from our ISP is the least sophisticated of the bunch. There's no "matching" extender like Linksys has that makes setup so easy, and it doesn't support Time Machine. Speed and coverage were comparable to the Linksys, which is a little short of the Synology. Again again, the Airport Extreme tower refused to work as an extender to this unit.
The Synology was the fastest of the devices we tried, provided the best coverage to fringe areas like the patio, and it supports Time Machine. The AirPorts were the easiest to set up and extend. The Linksys landed in the middle. It was faster and had better coverage than the AirPort, but not as good as the Synology. It didn't support Time Machine, but the "matching" high-speed extender was almost as easy to set up as the AirPorts.
I don't know how you got that to work! The only way I could get an AirPort Extreme tower to work as an extender was when using another AirPort as the router. As soon as I introduced a non-Apple router ahead of the AirPort, the extender options disappeared from AirPort Utility. A web search turned up lots of comments from other people having the same problem, and articles saying it's not possible. How did you set it up?
I have the same USB drive so am glad I'll not have another item to plug into an electrical outlet.
My comment on TM-capability being marketing was based on erroneous thinking that TM simply involved plugging a drive and macOS would take it from there. Clearly there's more going on and good to know Synology went that extra step to accomodate us Mac users.
The problem now (or will be) is that the units only handle about 200mb/s and we just upgraded our Internet line to 750mb/s. Not an issue for most as the bandwidth is equally segmented per unit, but someday the routers will have to be replaced if we want them to have more bandwidth.
When will they add Airprint functionality?
The ISP normally requires their modem to authenticate service. AT&T changes auth every 14 days (I believe. It’s been a while since I had their service.) it is possible for services that require it to place a managed switch between router and fiber jack to set the wan Ethernet to VLAN 2, priority 3, which allows you to use this router without the isp provided modems. Here, Synology has settings which do this so the managed switch is not needed. They are the only router we have tested to allow this. The Ubiquiti amplify are almost able to - they set the VLAN id but do not do port priority, which results in the 1Gbit line delivering 10Mbit.
Thats is all this comment was to say is, there are esoteric options and this thing supports them, which is kind of awesome.
It it does not have sfp or a fiber transceiver. Which is fine. I apologize for any confusion I caused by mentioning this.
IPv6 port forwarding worked. I wonder if you were on an older version of the router firmware?
Iptables is something you find in Merlin, ddwrt, openwrt. Here, the rules in the interface conform to patterns similar to iptables (protocol, source up, source port, destination up, destination port, allow or drop.
I just ssh’d into into the Synology and using vi to view /etc/firewall/firewall_rules_security.dump and firewall_6_rules_security.dump it looks like it’s using iptables under the covers.
Not quite the the same as typing them directly into ddwrt, but still- I don’t imagine users coming from AirPort Extreme really want to compose their own iptables.
I agree a flaky lan port and support that wants to remotely admin without saying when or what they’re doing is not the experience i’d want either.
The bad:
1-no web interface or Macintosh app. Is it really that hard for a company that can write an iOS app to use Xcode for Mac to do a Mac version?
2-No USB or audio output on the satellite units like was on the Airport Express.
The Synology may perform well, but that thing is not sitting out in the open in my home. The eero looks nice.