Synology RT2600ac WiFi Router Review: A New Market Player
We were first introduced to Synology routers at CES 2016. Synology’s RT1900ac router was their first crack in to wireless products. The router was a hit however, development didn’t stop there. After a year of improvements and adjustments, Synology released their second router; the RT2600ac. RT2600ac router is a quad stream router that offers up to 2.53Gbps of combined bandwidth. What makes this router to stand out in the crowd is its operating system. Synology calls it SRM which stands for Synology Router Management. SRM is a light weight OS that has very intuitive look with advanced features. You don’t have to be an expert to use this Wi-Fi Router as it has a simple wizard that guides you through initial set up in just few minutes. Not only does RT2600ac have a comprehensive set up it also has a list of advanced features such as dual WAN failover/load balancing, VPN and IPS (Intrusion Detection System).
Review Sample Provided by: Synology
Product Name: RT2600ac
Price at time of review: $ 239.95 USD
Product was given in exchange for work done to produce this review.
Packaging
As always, Synology packaging is environmentally friendly. They stepped away from full size graphic images of a product and moved on to just stickers. Both of the stickers provide just enough information about the product to keep potential customers interested. Some features and specifications are displayed on the back of the product however I feel that with all of the advanced features that RT2600ac has to offer, more information would be preferred.
The RT2600ac supports MU-MIMO. MU-MIMO stands for Multi User – Multiple Input, Multiple Output Technology. In a nutshell, it adds more device capacity to your wireless networks however, not necessarily more speed. MU-MIMO is part of the recently ratified 802.11 AC Wave 2 standard. An average household can have more than 10 WiFi devices connected at the same time and communication in traditional wireless networks are slower because of the signal wait times. With MU-MIMO a router can support a larger number of concurrent connected devices than in the past.
Internal packaging is as simple as the overall packaging. RT2600ac is wrapped in the plastic/anti-static bag to protect the unit from any accidental shipping scratches. Contents of the packaging is pretty simple and included are four antennas, a power supply, CAT5 cable, RT2600ac, and a quick installation guide. The installation guide is very straight forward with very little chance of confusion.
Technical Specifications
| Hardware Specifications | |
| CPU | Dual core 1.7 GHz |
| Hardware Layer 7 Engine | Yes |
| Memory | 512 MB DDR3 |
| Antenna type | 4×4 MIMO Omni-directional high-gain dipole (2.4GHz / 5GHz) |
| LAN port |
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| WAN port |
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| External Ports |
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| Button and switch | WPS, USB/SD eject, Power, Reset, Wi-Fi On/Off |
| Appearance | |
| Size (Height x Width x Depth) | 77 mm x 280 mm x 169 mm (without antenna) |
| Weight | 0.7 kg |
| Others | |
| AC Input Power Voltage | 100V to 240V AC |
| Power Frequency | 50/60 Hz, Single Phase |
| Power Consumption* | 10.80 W (Access) 7.94 W (Idle) |
| Temperature | |
| Operating Temperature | 5°C to 40°C (40°F to 104°F) |
| Storage Temperature | -20°C to 60°C (-5°F to 140°F) |
| Relative Humidity | 5% to 95% RH |
| Certification |
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| Wi-Fi Certification |
|
| Warranty | 2 Years |
| Wireless | |
| IEEE 802.11ac |
|
| IEEE 802.11ac wave 2 |
|
| Beamforming | Yes |
| DFS | Yes |
| Schedulable Wi-Fi | Yes |
| WPS 2.0 (Wi-Fi Protected Setup 2.0) | Yes |
| 3G/4G mobile dongle support | Yes |
| Maximum MAC filters | 64 |
| Maximum connected devices | 100 |
| Note |
|
| Network | |
| Internet connection | Dynamic IP, Static IP, PPPoE |
| Port forwarding | Setup via manual management or UPnP |
| Maximum port forwarding rules | 64 |
| Maximum UPnP rules | 64 |
| Port triggering | Yes |
| Maximum port triggering rules | 32 |
| Minimum port triggering timeout | 30s |
| Maximum port triggering timeout | 3600s |
| DMZ | Yes |
| IPv6 | IPv6 DHCP server/client, IPv6 tunneling |
| DHCP | Server/client mode, client list, MAC address reservation |
| Maximum DHCP reservations | 500 |
| LAN/WLAN IGMP snooping | Yes |
| VPN |
|
| Policy route, Static route, Network Address Translation (NAT), PPPoE relay | Yes |
| Maximum IPv4 static routes | 100 |
| Maximum IPv6 static routes | 100 |
| Diagnosis tools |
|
| Management | |
| Operating system | Synology Router Manager (SRM) |
| Free OS upgrade | Yes |
| Anywhere access to SRM | Synology QuickConnect & Dynamic DNS (DDNS) |
| Operation modes | Wireless Router, Wireless AP |
| Wake on LAN (WOL) | Yes |
| WOL over QuickConnect | Yes |
| Maximum connected devices | 100 |
| Notification | Email, SMS, push service (via DS router) |
| SSH | Yes |
| SNMP | Yes |
| Configuration backup & restore | Yes |
| User account management | Yes |
| Printer server | Maximum printer: 1 |
| Parental Control | |
| Customized Internet schedule DNS-based web-filter with built-in database Customized allow/block list |
Setup by single / multiple devices |
| Maximum devices | 50 |
| Maximum blocked URLs | 100 |
| Maximum allowed URLs | 100 |
| Traffic Control | |
| Internet ban, device speed & priority | Yes |
| Application layer (L7) quality of service (QoS) | Yes |
| Maximum device rules | 64 |
| Maximum application rules per device | 32 |
| Traffic Monitor for graphical live / history statistics | Yes |
| Security | |
| Wi-Fi encryption | WEP, WPA/WPA2-Personal, WPA/WPA2-Enterprise |
| Wi-Fi MAC address filter | Yes |
| Firewall/SPI Firewall | Yes |
| DoS Protection | Yes |
| Auto block | Yes |
| SSL certificate | Yes |
| Security Advisor | Yes |
| Mobile Apps | |
| DS cloud (Android/iOS) | Yes |
| DS get (Android/iOS) | Yes |
| DS file (Android/iOS) | Yes |
| DS router (Android/iOS) |
|
| VPN Plus (Android/iOS) | Yes |
| USB/SD Card File Service | |
| File System | EXT4, FAT, NTFS, HFS+ |
| Access support |
|
| Protocol support | Windows file service (CIFS), Mac file service (AFP), FTP/FTPS, WebDAV |
| Apple Time Machine | Yes |
| Shared Folder privileges | Yes |
| Storage hibernation | Yes |
| Package Center | |
| Cloud Station Server | Sync data from multiple platforms, centralizing it on the router while easily keeping historical versions of important files. |
| Maximum Concurrent File Transfers | 128 |
| Note | Cloud Station ShareSync is not supported |
| DNS Server | Helps users find and translate domain names into IP addresses |
| Download Station | Supported download protocols: BT/HTTP/FTP/NZB/eMule |
| Maximum concurrent download tasks | 50 |
| Maximum concurrent BT download tasks | 20 |
| Media Server (DLNA/UPnP®) |
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| RADIUS Server | Provides centralized authentication, authorization, and accounting for wireless network access |
| VPN Plus Server | Easily create and manage secure VPN access through a web browser or client. Supports various VPN services — WebVPN, SSL VPN, SSTP, OpenVPN, L2TP over IPSec, and PPTP. |
| Maximum Connections | 20 |
| Intrusion Prevention (Beta) | Greatly enhance the security of your router with IDS and IPS systems, designed to safeguard your network against internet threats. |
| Intrusion Detection System (IDS) | Yes |
| Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) | Yes |
| Environment & Packaging | |
| Environment | RoHS Compliant |
| Packaging Content |
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