The new Synology RT1900ac router was probably designed with parents in mind (Updated!)
The new Synology RT1900ac router was probably designed with parents in mind (Updated!)
**Updated on 9 October 2015 with availability and pricing details.**
Synology has always been one of the biggest players when it comes to NAS systems (network-attached storage). However, it wants to broaden its offerings, and what could be more logical than for Synology to offer its own router?
The Synology RT1900ac router was first seen at Computex 2015 earlier this year and we just had the opportunity to get up close with it.
As its name suggest, the RT1900ac is an AC1900 class router, which means it supports a total combined data transfer rate of 1900Mbps on its dual 2.4GHz and 5GHz band - a maximum of 600Mbps on 2.4GHz and 1300Mbps on 5GHz.
It has three large external antennas, a single Gigabit WAN port and four Gigabit LAN ports. On the side, users will find a single USB 3.0 port and an SD card slot - an unusual feature for routers.
The real kicker is the RT1900ac's user interface, which is one of the most refined and user-friendly that we have seen. Called the SRM (Synology Router Management), it borrows heavily on Synology's very successful DSM interface (DiskStation Manager) as seen on their NAS systems.
A particular highlight of SRM is its extensive and well thought out parental control function. It allows users to specify times of the day that certain devices can access the Internet. Not only that, there's a quick blocklist that has predetermined and categorized sites like "shopping" or "games", allowing administrators to quickly blanket block a category of sites.
For example, if your child is spending too much time watching cartoons online, there's a category called "cartoon" that will instantly restrict access to popular cartoon streaming sites. These categories will be constantly monitored and updated by Synology.
And of course, Synology will have a mobile app for mobile devices so that users can manage their routers remotely too.
The Synology RT1900ac router is available now and is priced at US$149 (S$208), which is actually pretty attractive for an AC1900 class router.