Synology RT2600ac

Works great, good user interface – A while back, our TG-789 NBN modem/router started playing up. It would slow down and disconnect, and seemed to be overheating. On a hunch, I figured that it was having trouble with the mushrooming number of gizmos and gadgets on our home network. Apart from computers, there are phones, tablets, printers, blu ray player, on and on. And I've also… Read more

been playing with Raspberry PIs as well.

Cut a long story short, I bought the Synology RT2600ac router because I previously had a Synology NAS. The TG-789 is still the NBN modem, but it's Wi-Fi network is off, and the only thing that connects to it is the RT2600ac, which handles wired and wireless networking for the whole house. After setting up the RT2600ac, the TG-789 stopped misbehaving. (Could have been coincidence? Who knows.)

Now I'm not "into" routers. I'm sure there are reviews on here from people that are. I just want them to work. The RT2600AC does that, very well. Wi-Fi speeds are fast and we have no coverage or dropout problems in our house. The user interface is a "desktop" type of interface like their NAS'es, and to find it you just type router.synology.com into a web browser (I assume it downloads some Javascript from Synology which then finds the address of the router on your own network). The interface allows me to see what devices are connected and monitor their traffic level.

And you can set it to auto-update itself, which is important these days.

So, five stars - good performance, trouble-free and easy to use (for a router).

Good server but difficult to configure for the telephone – I eventually had to give up with trying to connect my phone and stick with the one provided by my ISP, which was a real shame. Otherwise the user adjustability and speeds were awesome! I got it to go with a Synology server but the ISP modem works well with the server. Shame about the inability to use our phone through it (Australia)  Show details

Great Router with intrusion protection – One thing I love about this router is first of all its security, such as 2 factor login, ssl etc. The intrusion protection is quite transparent and I have not noticed anything being blocked for no reason or devices not been able to communicate with the internet. But the amount of malware, DNS hacks and general nasty crap that the router has… Read more

blocked and dropped is amazing, I had no idea what was really going on in the background while i was on the internet. Best of all, I am getting the same speed UP/Down as usual whilst intrusion protection is running. Great Router!

4.5 stars (rounded to 5) – I have not used the parental control features of this product. So im focusing mainly on network monitoring - I configured mine to be INTERNET <----> ISP suppled modem in transparent bridge mode <-----> Synology Router <----> wifi/lan Pros - Hardware is awesome. Great wifi reception! Has breakdown aggregate and real time stats of all… Read more

your wifi use per device

You can block any device you like - I use this feature if the family is all watching multiple streams of multimedia and I need to block them while im on call for work and need to open a clear channel

Any device that connects to the system is kept on there for you to identify - you can find out any one who shouldn't be on. Full on peace of mind for a IT nerd like me

Cons -

Interface doesn't allow for easy copy and paste. Painful for when you want to do a mac address manufacturer look up.

The software updates should update Mac address manufacturer defaults so it can give you hints as to what the connected devices are before you label them

Doesn't support port mirroring. Its an exceptional router but if I could also mirror my traffic to ntop-ng that would have been the icing on the cake

Switch is seen as one device and not seperate eth devices in the linux console. This prevents the above point. if this wasn't the case port mirroring would be possible with the use of linux iptables

Synology - an addon app that allows for port mirroring would be so awesome!

Top Tier Router – Synology router beats any of the Netgear ones. The level of settings is perfect for the tech geek, but can be too much for the average person. While it isn't the most easy to setup with a bridge connection, ones it's up and running, it's perfect. The range is far better than my Nighthawk. PERFECT 5/7!  Show details

A wireless router plus more – I was shopping for a router to replace my existing 4 yr old Fritz!Box in time for NBN installation. I looked at several reviews and this router got top marks. Setting it up was easy if not intuitive. I was able to configure it in no time. Aside from the standard feature you have on most routers (DHCP/Port Forwarding) The following extras come… Read more

standard:

- Firewall

- Web filtering/parental control

- Traffic Monitoring (can be configured to collect data for up to a year)

- Smart WAN wherein you can use a second link (or a 4G USB Adapter) for load balancing or backup

Additional features:can be installed thru packages

- Instrusion Prevention

- DNS Server

With the external storage added, your router becomes a NAS and can now use the following applications

- Cloud Server/Backup

- Media Server

- Download Station

These applications run smoothly, unlike the Fritzbox which have some of these features but failed miserably and are unusable

The ability to install and run additional application packages is what makes this router stand out from the rest. Synology has set the standard on what the future router should look like