Introduction

Synology recently released its first router, the RT1900ac with a few really interesting features and an affordable price tag for its capabilities. Synology is widely know for its NAS products and is now expanding into other networking sections as well. The RT1900ac's most important feature is without a doubt its SRM OS, which shares many similarities with DSM, Synology's OS for NAS servers. Considering Synology has a ton of experience in designing and developing an operating system for such a multi-role networking device as a NAS, it is only natural for them to explore other areas as well, like Wi-Fi routers, which are a must-have in most homes and business environments. Wired infrastructures cost more to set up and maintain and aren't as flexible, which has most users go for Wi-Fi solutions instead. So far, wireless connections have always been slower than wired Gigabit Ethernet ones, though, but that changed with the IEEE 802.11ac standard capable of very high speeds under normal conditions, speeds that even match those of a wired Gigabit network. The only problem so far are the high price tags of most 802.11ac compatible routers, but those prices will drop quickly, which has had networking products garner a lot of interest. We are also keeping an eye on these products, which has us put Wi-Fi routers into our reviewing schedule when something of interest arises.



Synology says the RT1900ac to be capable of delivering lag-free gaming, smooth video streaming, and fast file transfers. We will figure out whether Synology's claims are true in our tests. In addition to the features common to most Wi-Fi routers (beamforming, traffic monitor, application layer QoS etc.), Synology equipped its offering with a highly functional operating system called Synology Router Manager, or SRM for short. This OS endows even novice users with the ability to make use of this router's capabilities, and the RT1900ac can play several other roles through add-ons or pre-insalled packages (e.g. VPN, RADIUS, DNS, media server, or be a download station). The RT1900ac is capable of up to 1900 Mbps on 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, which is enough to cover the needs of most of those among us who don't want to pay a premium for an even faster Wi-Fi router.

Specifications