Beautiful design

Gearbest warning - if you are buying from them, get tracked shipping, and/or buy insurance - I bought stuff from them and till today it hasn't reached yet, it is way past 25 business days but they told me to wait another month for it. So if you can't wait please be careful. Their shipping estimate is nowhere near what they claim it to be.

When will this 10/100 ethernet ports combined with ac wireless thing stop?

can I use this product to REPLACE my existing DSLTalk Talk router or I needs to connect this to my existing dsl router and use as a repeater or AP.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/802-11ac-vs-802-11n-what-s-the-difference

The range on 5gHz is less than 2.4gHz but this is not relates to the AC spec as wireless N units can be dual band

To be clear Dual Band is not the same as AC. For example I've units that are dual band but not AC.
Dual band has its uses. You can use the 5gHz to connect to AP together (bridge / WDS) and then have clients connec to each over 2.4gHz. This has the advantage that clients and AP run full speed. This is NOT how Wifi Repeater work they HALVE your WiFi Speed!

One final point the speed of 100mb 1gb etc is not the speed of the wireless connection to ethernet. It is the speed of the ethernet to ethernet switch. Many cheap units internally use a USB path from the Wifi to the ethernet and so can NEVER deliver the full wireless throughput to the switch.

Worse still Wifi with encryption comsumes CPU and early chipsets cannot support WPA2 in hardware, so vendors put the new standards like WPA2 in software. Again if they use cheaper CPUs or overload the CPU you will see a drop in speed (Wifi or some onther task the CPU is working on will be slower) I noticed this with the Virgin Superhub 2. When it runs as an AP the cable modem speeds drop by up to 10mbs download when under heavy use.

If you open up a high end unit like the Asus you will see the massively overspec the CPU and other parts of the design along with other tweaks to deliver faster throughput and much better range and signal coverage. This type of engineering costs the heatsink alone on some of the higher end units costs more than the wholesale price of the cheaper units!

Radio in general is complex, digital radio more so... .And to get the best from an AC unit you do need a AC client (laptop, tablet) and the same difference exists with the client adaptors! That said a good AC AP will deliver better non signals to non AC clients.

Keep us posted please, it would be interesting to know.

Depends if you have traffic generated within your home network. I have a a media server, nas and TV headend servers that send media stream around the home network to tablets and TVs (e.g in the kitchen where there is no TV or SAT socket) this traffic would choke on a 100mb switch so for me the 1gb switch makes sense.

Depends on what you do at home.

I see people saying this has only 100mbps lan, but in the answered questions at the bottom it says this:

Hello. The lan ports support Gigabit or only 10/100 ?
Reply:
Hi,Cristian
Thanks for your inquiry.
10/100/1000Mbps.

I hold out hope that it is indeed the case.

Looking at some of the options provided, would the 1Gbps speed fibre be worth while for a normal consumer? I guess for a business maybe, but its just crazy speeds :confused:

The point of having higher speeds is higher transfer rate within your internal network, i.e copying files from one computer to another etc Not so you can use 300mbps internet.

I don't think any ISP can actually give you the advertised speeds, this router might be able to give 300Mbps, but even wired I doubt you will get 100Mbps.
I would wait until you have the service installed, & using CAT cable test it at

http://www.speedtest.net/

Yes I think it will. Any "N" router will provide you with the 100Mbps connection, and this is AC, the higher level than N. All of these are limited for a certain range of course.

I get a bit confused with all the jargon in relation to routers etc. - I have just signed up for Hyperoptic 100Mbps broadband package but was told by their Customer Services rep that their standard router can only do 70-80Mbps on WiFi, so would this get me the full 100?

It probably cannot replace sky hub as very few 3rd party routers support 'MER' as used by Sky. Best you can do with the Xiaomi, is configure it as a 'wireless access point', and then wire it to existing Sky hub.

fwiw, you may wish to consider the new Sky Q hub dual band AC router which is now available to existing Sky broadband customers for a one-off price?

100M ethernet? Is this 1998?

I use Sky optics at home, would this be suitable to use as replacement? I heard Sky has some compatibility issue with most other routers. True?

​I used Paypal! Thanks for the tip, looks like I'm going to finally get a shot at getting my money back! Thank you very much :smiley:

I would highly recommend steering clear of gearbest. I ordered 9 things last November. 6 months later I only ever received 1 item. Repeated chasing and endless conversations and I haven't seen the money back or any items. You have been warned.

You can still use it as a designer toast rack :wink:

​Have I stumbled into the 1970s?

Agree. Specs don't match expected performance. Coverage was no better than the 'rubbish' Sky router.

Whenever they mess me around i just put in a paypal dispute and get my refund that way, much less hassle than dealing with their support.

​I have a iconnect for sale it has 4 usb ports n ethernet connection u plug usb stick or hard drive in and can use it to share over your network

I can't work out if this is shipped from China or not. I selected the EU warehouse from the homepage and this item appears when I search for it.. does that mean this is shipped from the EU? I don't want to get seeing with import and VAT as I'm erring on whether to buy it or not

no english firmware and aplications:

Customer Questions & Answers:

By Bertrand Apr-17/2016 11:04:25

Question:
hello. Is the firmware product only in chinese, or there is is an english version ? thanks for your informations

Reply:

Hello Bertrand，
The item is only in chinese.

Anyone using this particular model, should I replace my current BT Hub 3 with this one? I have BT Infinity.

The Xiaomi does not have a built-in ADSL/VDSL modem, so to be able to use it with fibre, it would have to be wired to an Openreach modem. The Xiaomi probably supports PPPoE protocol, so no reason why it would not work with Plusnet or BT fibre services.

If you are doing wired disk to disk copy it can be a pain but you are correct for most home uses it can be ok. That said with multiple wireless devices streaming HD at the SAME time the load on the switch can limit things. If you have >2 HD steams and other stuff on the network the gb units are almost essential. Depends what is going on in the home. Also now with smart TVs iPlayer etc even the wired network running 10/100 can be an issue for folk with Fibre / Cable

When the price differential for the different chipset goes, probably about 6-9 years. We just hit this for OLED screens which are now CHEAPER than the same size LCDs. When this transition happens you will see the change. With Access points its a bit more complex as there are chipsets to handle the entire workload and these tend to come in bands entry level (10/100 and cheaper Wifi, GB and the fance Wifi) that so given the fact that needs substantially more CPU power for the Wifi this gap may not close as the Wifi standard keep getting updated. Only when there is no change (like in ethernet for home) does component commoditisation take place to the level needed to support what you asked.

The one the OP has posts is very good. I'm a huge Xiami fan their kit is top notch and an amazing price.
If you want cheap options look at the Tenda units on sale on AliExpress (use the UK site and get top cashback) and make sure you select one with English firmware.sub £20 delivered. I've order loads of stuff from AliExpress superb service.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Tenda-F1203-Dual-Band-WIFI-Router-1200Mbps-Repetidor-WIFI-Repeater-2-4G-5-0G-11AC-Roteador/32523731562.html

Tenda kit is really well made I've kit I purchase 9 years ago still working today running 24x7 bombproof and really feature rich. Good design and contruction at this price point. The ASUS kit is great but the price reflects the amazing build. Tenda is very good at the budget end. Both excellent options IMHO.

NOTE the ASUS and TENDA units may have bad reviews / comments check the dates there are normally when the units are new and the firmware is buggy. This is normal for WiFi units launched using a new "standard" as the bugs and compatibility take around a year to settle. This is not a feature of any particular brand or unit but a feature of the industry.

10/100 NIC is perfectly fine for home use.

Yes a few

1) Range is much improved over the ISP provider units. Eg. Superhub 2 and 3 other access points replaces with a single Asus modem.
2) Improved connection stability. This is down to several factors the antenna design, RF design and the software and CPU used. The advanced units support beam forming and other tricks the basic ISP option cannot manage
3) Faster downloads. On the Superhub 2 I got 5-6mb faster downloads when the unit was switched to Modem mode (no wifi) this is because the CPU in the SH2 was now dedicated to being a modem + network router and all the Wifi work was done by the ASUS
4) Easier to change ISP. I moved off Virgin to plusnet (who sent me a very cheap wifi access point) and then to BT. All my network printer / media player and TV setting unchanges with each change. Indeed the change from PlusNet Fibre to BT Infinity2 was just a password change on the ASUS!
5) Reliability The ISP provided kit is cheap and in my experience does fail more than you might expect. The ASUS kit is very well made - High spec components, design and build.
6) Extra capabilities easy to add storage, printers, VPN, prioritises IPTV, manage traffic richer interface and Phone based apps to control the router. You can turn off the LEDs or the wireless just using physical switched on the unit ideal if you are going on holiday and don't want wireless left on etc...

Are there any cheaper alternatives available? Can I use this Xiaomi one?

If you have an ISP provided unit like the HH or the Superhub2 the Asus RT-AC68P is a good option.
Avoid the Asus units with build in modem (ASDL/VDSL) as there are issues. However the regular access points are very good. Lots of feature and software updates / custom firmware. Great build quality and range.

Can someone tell me if this is ok for Plusnet Fibre Broadband, last router I tried, was for broadband, but not compatible with Fibre broadband.

Got a mi router 2 with 6TB HDD and it is amazing. You can control the router on your phone app. The bad side of it is the Android app is in chinese.

To sum it all up: Control, reliability, more functionality.

I'm no techie, but I never understood why people buy routers rather than use the one that just came with your broadband package. Any advantage?

does this take a sim card ?

wow. just....wow

This would be good as an access point for the price configured with google chrome translation. Personally would not use one as a main router.

Can I use this with BT? Would I need the Openreach box too? Or will this replace the Openreach box like the HomeHub 5?

I was wondering the same thing. Surely not ideal if it does.

I've set up my old BT Home Hub as an access point at the other end of the house connecting via powerlines to a terrible Virgin 'super' hub. I ignore the Virgin wifi network completely and connect to the BT network which my phone sees at the end of the drive, 15m before the Virgin one and that's through 3 extra brick walls!

Can anyone recommend good 'all-in one modem/router' replacement for a BT Home Hub 3 on fibre?

​The WiFi signal on the hh5 is awful

Does this connect into the modem via ethernet cable?

How is it poosible

When will this 10/100 ethernet ports combined with ac wireless thing stop?

​its possible but I've just attached mine onto act as an access point. gives me dual band coverage.

Gearbest warning - if you are buying from them, get tracked shipping, and/or buy insurance - I bought stuff from them and till today it hasn't reached yet, it is way past 25 business days but they told me to wait another month for it. So if you can't wait please be careful. Their shipping estimate is nowhere near what they claim it to be.

It's a shame they limited this with 100mbps ports, if it was Gigabit I'd buy one in an instant.

I have the Xiaomi Mi Wifi Mini and it's a brilliant bit of kit, it has OpenWRT and Padavan support, Padavan is significantly better than OpenWRT, hopefully you'll get support from these firmwares on this hardware.

There are rumours that Xiaomi insert ads into webpages with the stock firmware, that was enough to make me wait for custom firmware before ordering.

HEAT!

Had a Mi R 2 with 1tb and this seems to be a brilliant update for Mi in the right direction to go with
all the other Mi gear they are bringing out this year ;-)

homehubs cannot be configured to sky that i am aware

possible to load DD-WRT?

Beautiful design

Ha so, me likey velly much!

Any suggestions of a relatively cheap (happy to go down the used route) router that I can connect an external hard drive to to add to my home network? I'd rather go for a better router than the Sr102 Sky one I've got at the mo than buying a NAS drive (I'm not going to use it much anyway)

I use one as an access point - have to say am very impressed. The only issue is that all my menus are in chinese! But as long as you have google chrome (and you configure from a device already connected to the internet) then the chrome translate works very well. I've purchased another one (as I've given my one to my sister to use in her flat) which the seller claims has been flashed with english firmware, but I've yet to set that up!

Any idea what the firmware is like? Looks great for the money but I have need of a few customisations that I suspect I'll need openWRT for.

looks a good spec router for the money, any reviews of it ?