MR2200ac

I've been using this router for about 4 months. I wanted to have some time with it to get past the honeymoon period. While the experience hasn't been perfect, there are many reasons why you should consider this router if you're shopping for a new one. Setup - It's pretty easy, the wizard will get most people up and running in a few minutes. Most of the out of the box settings will not only work, but provide a reasonable level of security that will accommodate people who just want WiFi. Performance - I have 3500 finished sq. ft and an unfinished basement and this router easily covers the whole house with Wi-Fi from a central location. I didn't have to mess with antennae or do anything special. Beamforming obviously works. 5Ghz performance is good (most of my devices connect to the 5Ghz network automatically using SmartConnect), and automatic channel selection seems to do a good job keeping me as far from conflicting devices as possible. I'm using the NAS (time machine), VPN server, parental controls, and traffic monitoring and the CPU hardly exceeds 40% and 50% memory utilization with 15-20 connected devices and multiple HD video streams. The router is cool and quiet. Interface - Easily the best interface of any router I've used. This router is very fully featured. The GUI looks and feels like a desktop operating system and it's pretty clear where to go and what to click to access the wealth of features and information this router can give you. If you just want reliable WI-FI and don't care, great. But, if you like to see traffic utilization on your network, control access to the internet by time or content, use a VPN remotely, or set up network services, this router makes it easy. Logging is robust and easy to use. If you want control of your network, this is the best consumer out of the box experience I've found. Security/Updates - Just like your computer, routers require frequent patching for security updates and bug fixes. The update schedule is at least monthly and usually includes the CVEs (security patches) that are required to ensure your router is not vulnerable to current exploits. In contrast to other vendors who update quarterly or less frequently, I have high confidence that I'm running a patched OS. Included features allow you to generate or use highly secure encryption certificates and algorithms to secure connections to the router, restrict traffic and services, and use two-factor authentication to access the router and VPN, which is a mandatory feature in today's security environment. Again, you don't have to do all of these things to use this router, but you CAN and it's simple. Support - Okay, so there have been an issue or two with my router. For example, there was a bug preventing parental controls from working properly. I contacted support and received a response within a day. I worked with support over the course of a few weeks (the devs are in Taiwan so there's a time delay), The developers worked directly on my issue (how many companies do that?) and identified the problem. They gave me a workaround and deployed the permanent fix for everyone in the next firmware release. I don't always get that level of support with even professional grade equipment. I feel like the company stands behind their product and will continue to do so. Synology is a new player in the router market, but they're serious. I've tried many of the other big players and I typically buy near the top of the line because the internet plays a large role in my work and my family's play. Many have gone back and I'm sticking with Synology.

This is the best router that I have used that has straight forward parental controls that didn't require an extra subscription fee. The user interface is friendly, and while I am an IT professional, I believe it is simple enough for most people to be able to get it setup and configured. During setup the only issue I ran into is after the initial setup config, I could not connect my windows laptop to the newly created Wifi - it kept saying it needed a pin. Connecting a smartphone or tablet worked just fine, however all I needed to do was to run the firmware update and it was good to go - I'm not sure if other people will run into this issue, but it is the only foreseeable "hiccup" that I have noticed so far. The parental controls allow for profiles to be created, in my case I created a user profile for each family member, and of course the important "My Network (LAN)" profile for every device to get some kind of filtering. Each child user in my house then can have an individual internet schedule, time quota, web filter and safe search - which is great for my family as we have various ages and needs depending on the person. Blocking by category is also possible - if someone hits a block page, there is also the option (if enabled) to "submit a request" so if a particular website is miscategorized or it is a particular site that you wish to allow, you can do that pretty easily - Oh, and I didn't mention that when someone does hit a site that is blocked, you can get an app notification to your smart device in real-time. There is also the ability to turn on logging to see what devices are hitting which sites - this is under the network center > traffic control > monitor, and then use the drop downs to find what you are looking for. There also is a few settings that you may need to enable to get this working. Overall I have found this router a great options to keep my family safer while online - notice I didn't use the word safe. With all digital technologies, it is impossible to see / block / manage every aspect of a connection, however this product does a decent job at some of the basic blocking that many other routers seemed to be lacking. There are also other advanced features available that I am not using, including to create a media server (with an attached USB device) a DNS server, a Radius server, Cloud station and download station. I did just enable the threat protection service and am beginning to look at that now. The only downside is that this isn't a Wifi6 router, however being that it has what I was looking for where it came to parental controls - I simply set my Wifi6 router to Access Point mode, and plugged it into one of the lan ports and now I have the best of both worlds - this setup does require a good understanding of how to get an existing router into AP mode, but with the help of the web, you should be able to find a guide on how to do this. In this config anything that connects to my network, including devices to the WIFI6 (now AP) can get the parental control / protection.

I was looking for a good router to mange my kids. This is a great router for this and it's was why more powerfull then i thouht reading up on it. Great choise for parents who need controll over your kids and all of there devices.

No router was able to do it. It was able to block all YouTube URLs.

Cas d'usage : maison avec tablettes, pc, mac, Domotique divers lecteurs multimédia, caméra ip, TV connectées etc. (30 périphériques connectés) Une solution simple et efficace pour gérer son réseau. Contrôle parental au top. Attention c'est chaque périphérique (considéré comme individuel) qui est associé à un utilisateur/profil ... donc ne fonctionne que si vous mettez le téléphone et/ou la tablette ou PC ou Mac associé au profil "enfant". Pour être très clair : pas de périphérique partager enfants/parents ! (fonction Safe access) Evite d'installer quelque chose que l'enfant pourra/saura désactiver ... la solution est centrale et traite tout ce qui est connecté au réseau ! Je croyais cela compliqué de conserver sa box et ses services (tv et téléphone) tout en mettant ce routeur derrière pour gérer tout le filaire et le wifi, du coup j'hésitai a sauter le pas. En fait avec les bons conseils ça reste simple ... Fidèle des solutions Synology (déjà 3 NAS), je ne suis pas déçu ! pas besoin de bricoler, ça marche tout simplement, bien intégré, bonne interface etc. On est parfois un peu surpris au début de ce qui circule sur son réseau et tout ce qui est envoyé parfois considéré (à tard ou à raison ...) comme dangereux ... (fonction threat prévention)

I've bought many of the "latest superfast routers" boasting every feature and looking like a cross between a stealth fighter and a hedgehog .... and every single one of them has been disappointing! Their interfaces are dreadful, and more money has been spent on how they look than how they work. This unit has understated looks (nice, but not like a modern trainer), but the inside is what matters! Love this router! It's done everything it said it would, and more. I now have a great VPN back to my home NAS, it's fast, and the interface is seriously good. This unit is expensive, but buy well buy once! (It's cheaper than the many routers that don't work properly!)

This is a great piece of kit. Performance has been good and the price is very decent for what you get. The only gripe i have is the boot time is a little bit slow. Other than that this is a good purchase.