Seems like an absolute bargain - I was tempted to pull the trigger on this one before Xmas for about £110 so I've ordered one now to replace my old Netgear 10/100 1.5tb NAS - moving to a gigabit LAN NAS will make me very happy :smiley:
Before any of you get in on the act...
Yes it's from Gearbest. Yes it's a Xiaomi. Yes they are a Chinese manufacturer.
It's from Gearbest's EU Warehouse, so quick delivery and no import duty. I've had loads of Xiaomi stuff and it's all been exceptionally well made. Everything you own is made in China.
Description:
MI wireless router, features a 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 dual-core processor, 256MB of RAM, Ethernet, WiFi, NFC and a USB2.0 port. It supports a speed of up to 1167Mbps like its mini version. A cross between an 802.11ac WiFi router and a network-attached storage device. However, it comes with a 1TB hard disk to let you store files, enough capacity to download 1000 HD movies, store 40,000 songs or keep 100,000 RAW format photos. This wireless router supports dual-band WiFi 802.11ac and comes with its own 1TB hard drive.
Main Features:
● Top with dual-band AC Smart router, with built-in a large 1TB hard drive
● Three times faster than traditional wireless routers
● Support for the latest 802.11ac protocol, with the top router processor Broadcom BCM4709
● Wireless speed up to 1167Mbps, ideal for internet surfing and on-line gaming
● Equipped with a Broadcom dual-core CPU and Micron / Samsung 256MB large memory, can support stable high-speed downloads, document literacy, pre-load, network acceleration, as well as a wealth of plug-in applications, perfect play 1TB capacity hard drive performance
● Features 1TB large HDD which add your Xiaomi mobile phones, computers, Pad and television’capacity, ready to back up or access, remote access, and can be viewed on your mobile device
● Super-wall model, independent external signal amplifier
● Equipped with adjustable energy-saving, standard, through-wall three modes
● 2.4G gains 4dBi, 5G gains 6dBi
Brand: Xiaomi
Type: Repeater,Router
Interface: LAN,USB 2.0,WAN
Router Connectivity Type: Ethernet,Wireless
Transmission Rate: 1167Mbps
Network Protocols: IEEE 802.11ac,IEEE 802.11b,IEEE 802.11g,IEEE 802.11n
Wireless Standard: Wireless AC
Wireless Security: WPA-PSK,WPA2-PSK
Supports System: Android,IOS,Win XP,Windows 7
LAN Ports: 2 ports
Max. LAN Data Rate: 1167Mbps
Gain dBi: 6dBi
Top comments
thehazzman
3 Feb 176#17
Gearbest are blatant thieves, I will never buy anything from them again, and I cannot recommend anyone else buy from them either. If you spend £80 on something that will arrive broken, and then when you send it back to them at your own cost and they pretend to have never received it and thus refuse to send you a replacement you'll feel robbed too.
All comments (59)
loopz
3 Feb 17#1
OK,time for silly questions. Does this replace my existing FIBRE router,so its an all in one device?
t3chfan to loopz
3 Feb 17#3
This is a router not a modem, so if you have a 'FTTC' fibre connection that uses a microfilter to go straight into your phone socket then this can't replace that set up.
From what I can see this device does support PPPoE, so this would suggest to me that if you have an older FTTC connection that has the Openreach Fibre Modem between your phone socket and your current router then you should be fine to use this to replace your existing router, but I couldn't comment on how simple that would be to set up.
I intend to use powerline adapters between my modem and this device, and it will act as a wireless extender for upstairs as well as being a NAS.
paolodituoro
3 Feb 171#2
No. This device is not a modem, you need to connect a modem to this.
mechanicalman
3 Feb 17#4
I notice is has a USB port on it. Does anybody know if I could connect a external hard drive and schedule a full back up from the Nas drive? Say once a week?
Aeschylus to mechanicalman
3 Feb 17#10
No, only USB 2, well you could, but it would be slllllloooooooooooowwwwwwwwwww
digink to mechanicalman
3 Feb 17#24
Yes, you can schedule backups from the internal HDD (which is just a 2.5"). It's part of the firmware.
spa
3 Feb 17#5
can this replace my bt router
Gentle_Giant
3 Feb 17#6
As per #3; this has no ADSL or VDSL, it is meant for a type of cable internet connection used in company LANs and domestic internet in other parts of the world; in the UK you would have to connect it to an existing ADSL/VDSL/Cable modem.
I would envision using this as a media box, connected to the AV system and content added wirelessly from my existing network. 1TB isnt a lot these days though; I have more family photo data than that.
t3chfan to Gentle_Giant
3 Feb 17#7
Admittedly 1TB isn't huge but this is decent enough for a media server and will cover off my music and movies - I'll keep my existing 10/100 NAS for photos which are more precious and as such will get the benefit from the RAID setup on that NAS.
I'd have thought that the 1TB drive in the Xiaomi would be upgradeable? Or as a previous comment said you should be able to connect a USB drive to this for further storage.
crinklecutnose
3 Feb 171#8
"Everything you own is made in China." LOL. Thanks OP.
iDealYou to crinklecutnose
4 Feb 17#39
Trump will reverse this trend very soon.
Go "Made in America"! :stuck_out_tongue:
ndl
3 Feb 171#9
"Yes they are a Chinese manufacturer.". Everything is Chinese these days and I don't see a problem with that. They are a high end manufacturer, so I guess that's better than getting cheap and rubbish things imported from other countries.
kennethsross
3 Feb 17#11
It says XP / Windows 7. On the GearBest page, someone asked if it works with Windows 10, and the answer was - "it works with XP and WIndows 7" So, would this work with Windows 10?
t3chfan to kennethsross
3 Feb 17#12
Can't see why it wouldn't - it's a router, it doesn't need a pc to work as such, and you generally access via a webpage
loopz
3 Feb 17#13
If its openreach then then its a modem into the router. I can replace my talktalk router for this + get NAS into the bargain?
t3chfan
3 Feb 17#14
That would be my best educated guess seeing as the Xiaomi router is listed as supporting PPPoE - routers that connect to Fibre via a separate BT Openreach modem use PPPoE to make the connection.
RadiantDuck
3 Feb 17#15
I also am curious if this would work with regular broadband, I'm with sky.
t3chfan to RadiantDuck
3 Feb 17#16
'Regular Broadband' as in ADSL?
This device does not have a modem so wouldn't work in this set up, but would work to extend the network wirelessly if connected to your current Sky router/modem via a network cable.
thehazzman
3 Feb 176#17
Gearbest are blatant thieves, I will never buy anything from them again, and I cannot recommend anyone else buy from them either. If you spend £80 on something that will arrive broken, and then when you send it back to them at your own cost and they pretend to have never received it and thus refuse to send you a replacement you'll feel robbed too.
ChinesePate
3 Feb 17#18
one more ethernet port and it would be ideal for me... :disappointed:
thetwistedblue to ChinesePate
3 Feb 17#20
You can get a switch? Admittedly would cost you another £16 or so for an 8 port..
dt_matthews
3 Feb 17#19
All the Xiaomi hardware I have purchased has been of excellent quality.
Would be interested to know if the drive could be removed for a larger one.
digink to dt_matthews
3 Feb 17#26
Yes, but you will need to clone it first into the larger drive. The router will refuse to boot up if you do not plug in a HDD or just plug in a blank/new HDD.
Pateo
3 Feb 172#21
Recieved mine two days ago so far so good! Ordered mid January , came via warehouse from Birmingham. Still undecided what VPN to subscribe to to setup via router to use with Kodi!
Husham is good for info etc https://youtu.be/7zXW4M6Sj8A
Pateo
3 Feb 17#22
Anyone know if there is a way to get VPN settings/info for a free VPN that will allow to be setup via router settings page?
digink to Pateo
3 Feb 17#27
The firmware has a setting for 'always on VPN' which you can configure.
davening
3 Feb 171#23
There are several Xiaomi Routers.
What is the difference with the others?
Any reason to recommend this over the others?
Or prefer this to even a Goggle HomeHub?
I had a look but the reviews don't seem very detailed
I noticed AddOns are supported. Is this very useful?
Sorry for newbie questions.
digink to davening
3 Feb 17#28
In short: the R1D here has 1TB built in HDD and the two ports are 1Gb. A few other versions (R3C etc) has no HDD but more LAN ports (though they are 100M variants) but you can connect a USB drive using its USB 2.0 Port. Another version is R2 which has external antennas and faster processor.
It's essentially a heavily customised OpenWRT router...if that makes sense to you.
digink
3 Feb 17#25
It does support PPPoE. I have this in my setup with BT. You do need to buy a opernreach modem (from Ebay) if you only have the BT Home Hub though.
digink
3 Feb 172#29
I have this router (and its newer version) for years and hence the spamming replies. Not voting though. Let me know if you have any question on this and I'll try my best to answer.
t3chfan
3 Feb 17#30
Thanks for your help it's very useful to hear from someone who has one. :smiley:
Pateo
3 Feb 17#31
Is there any way to find out what the server, protocol, username and password are for a free VPN from Google play store eg FREE VPN or cloud VPN or something like softEther VPN or similar free VPN?
Jfuller
4 Feb 17#32
I have a Virgin Media Superhub, could I plug this straight in please?
beljim7419
4 Feb 172#33
You will need to set the Virgin Router to modem only mode and connect this to that. Unless this can just be used as a Nas then just connec as is.
Jfuller to beljim7419
4 Feb 17#35
Thank you
mario999
4 Feb 17#34
Anyone comment on the range? Will it compete with a Nighthawk or equivalent for range and speed?
k9mkii to mario999
4 Feb 17#36
Also interested in this.
I was considering buying a TP-Link Archer C9. But if Xiaomi can play in the same ball park, I'd go for this.
digink to mario999
5 Feb 171#48
5G signal can penetrate about 1 concrete wall about 3~4 meters away but that's it.
2G signal can go through 2 or 3 walls without any issue.
The router has an 'boosted' mode which does help a little bit on 2.4G only.
polly69
4 Feb 17#37
I just signed up for a VPN and am very happy with it it nearly maxes out my 200mbps Virgin BB and it was cheap it worked out £14.50 for 20 months they also have a free account with allows 10gb a month its called Windscribe and best of all its usable with P2P and they keep no logs on there customers and to be sure i asked them. Youve got nothing to loose with a free account, by the way the fastest servers ive found are Switzerland but Norway and Luxembourg are also good. They also have a browser addon for those that like that.
Have you any idea where i can get all of the needed info from the vpn site you spoke about - this is what is needed
Name Protocol type Server address Username Status
Thanks
TheGalaxy
4 Feb 17#40
Looks like Windscribe uses OpenVPN protocol and doesn't offer PPTP or L2TP connections.
This router doesn't have support for OpenVPN from what I can see, so you'll need a VPN that offers PPTP or L2TP protocol connections
Pateo
4 Feb 17#41
So I take it that means a subscription type VPN eg ipvanish?
Jameseh
4 Feb 17#42
Surely buying a decent router (like an ASUS or whatever) and using a portable/desktop HDD would be better? They've all got USB 2/3 ports nowadays for sharing.
learoy1
4 Feb 17#43
it's cheap but the specs sound pretty poor? USB 2 256ram? pff
TheGalaxy
4 Feb 17#44
Yeah ipvanish would work, as would PIA, VyprVPN and many others
Pateo
4 Feb 17#45
Do you know of any vpn that is free that would have the info for the router
TheGalaxy
5 Feb 171#46
Not sure, I bought a 2 or 3 year PIA subscription when it was discounted a long time ago so haven't tried any free ones recently.
I'd recommend paying for one to be honest, free ones often only give you limited bandwidth and are often over-used so are slow or unreliable
digink
5 Feb 17#47
No, generally you will need to buy them to get the username/passwords, or 'pay' for their service using the ad revenue their app generates. Otherwise everyone will be using the same VPN without creating any incentive for the provider, overwhelming their service.
digink
5 Feb 172#49
To that person who sent me a PM asking about Turris, for some weird reason I cannot reply to your message. Here is your reply:
Hi there. I've not heard about Turris Omnia before but I did just read through their offering. My personal feeling is, they are a bit overpriced and probably cannot justify the price unless you are looking for something very specific, and in an integrated box. You'd be much better off buying a smart router, and a NAS rather than Omnia. For a router I'd be looking for a company which sells enough units to make them care, instead of a small shop.
I actually have my own NAS (hosted using a HP Microserver Gen8 - these can be had for less than £200 if you look for the right deals). The reason why I have Xiaomi's router was its remote management and geekiness.
Xiaomi builds its router OS on top of OpenWRT - and this is great. Generally speaking if you are technically capable you can install your own packages on the router, or you can install 3rd party fan-made plugins (in this case note majority of these plugins are made by Chinese and would require you have the Chinese version of the phone app.)
If you are about simplicity Xiaomi's package is attractive. Similar spec'd routers with a unix core often fetch £100+ and you have to still buy a USB hard drive. But if you are about tinkering and building your own stuff, a lot more can be done with the £300 Omnia demands.
Pateo
5 Feb 17#50
You guys know if it's possible to download or open the Google play store app onto this router and then install a free VPN onto router?
digink
5 Feb 17#51
You can actually compile and install an OpenVPN client on the R1D once you get root access. Lot of work though.
davening
5 Feb 17#52
Cheers for having a look at the Turris Omnia. I like to use your word geekiness for this. I will let HUKD about the pm issue. Tried before but didnt get far.
mrbg07546
15 Feb 17#53
Does this router have the ability to change its IP address? Also can it act as a vpn server so I can access it remotely using a iPhone.
Pateo to mrbg07546
15 Feb 17#54
This guy covers most info https://youtu.be/7zXW4M6Sj8A
There's also plenty of other informative videos regards this!
energiser
15 Mar 17#55
Have any of you guys brought this its now showing a cheaper price of £64.13 and from the EU store so no customs taxs
Looks a good deal to me,I like the idea of a router with a built-in 1TB hard drive and with the NFC function
hutcha53 to energiser
19 Mar 17#57
Just bought at £63.82. Hopefully shipping won't take too long.
t166err to energiser
25 Mar 17#58
i got it at this price from the eu warehouse. it came with a power adaptor to use in uk plug sockets.
the speed of the driver over lan isnt massively impressive BUT at £63 its not making me loos sleep either. my wd my cloud gives me 105mb/sec over lan, the r1d gives me 70mb/sec at best.
i have mine setup with static ip, dhcp disabled and it acts as an extender in another room and my kids stuff are on it free`ing up space on my nas. the device is great, its a router, it has gigabit lan ports (yes, only two but a switch is only a few pounds really), it has a 1tb hd and it works well.
i have used this as a router for a few days just to try it out but it dont compare to my usual r7800 so i just gave it an ip and use it as another storage device.
im on virgin media and i have the stupid hub in modem mode going to my nergear r7800 which then goes to a managed switch which then feeds everything. gigabit lan is a godsend, even only having two ports, having it setup as i do i have it connected via its LAN port to my switch. this gives it network (and internet) access so the xiaomi can then use its wifi to distribute as an AP and its other lan port also acts as a pass through so you can connect something else to it if you need to.
i appreciate my setup is far from a home users normal setup. given this router is £63 from the eu warehouse and it only took 3 days to get to me, it came with a plug adaptor as the power brick is the two STRAIGHT pin type, NOT UK or EU (two round pin type) then this little addition is needed and included at no cost. this saved me £20 over going to the uk warehouse and i cant understand why people would choose uk warehouse because of this saving.
hope this helps.
hutcha53
19 Mar 17#56
Just started looking into this last week. Seems a steal given the price. Sounds all too easy.
christsolakis
19 Apr 17#59
Now only available from CN warehouse. Big possibility for customs? I'm in Glasgow
Opening post
Before any of you get in on the act...
Yes it's from Gearbest. Yes it's a Xiaomi. Yes they are a Chinese manufacturer.
It's from Gearbest's EU Warehouse, so quick delivery and no import duty. I've had loads of Xiaomi stuff and it's all been exceptionally well made. Everything you own is made in China.
Description:
MI wireless router, features a 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 dual-core processor, 256MB of RAM, Ethernet, WiFi, NFC and a USB2.0 port. It supports a speed of up to 1167Mbps like its mini version. A cross between an 802.11ac WiFi router and a network-attached storage device. However, it comes with a 1TB hard disk to let you store files, enough capacity to download 1000 HD movies, store 40,000 songs or keep 100,000 RAW format photos. This wireless router supports dual-band WiFi 802.11ac and comes with its own 1TB hard drive.
Main Features:
● Top with dual-band AC Smart router, with built-in a large 1TB hard drive
● Three times faster than traditional wireless routers
● Support for the latest 802.11ac protocol, with the top router processor Broadcom BCM4709
● Wireless speed up to 1167Mbps, ideal for internet surfing and on-line gaming
● Equipped with a Broadcom dual-core CPU and Micron / Samsung 256MB large memory, can support stable high-speed downloads, document literacy, pre-load, network acceleration, as well as a wealth of plug-in applications, perfect play 1TB capacity hard drive performance
● Features 1TB large HDD which add your Xiaomi mobile phones, computers, Pad and television’capacity, ready to back up or access, remote access, and can be viewed on your mobile device
● Super-wall model, independent external signal amplifier
● Equipped with adjustable energy-saving, standard, through-wall three modes
● 2.4G gains 4dBi, 5G gains 6dBi
Brand: Xiaomi
Type: Repeater,Router
Interface: LAN,USB 2.0,WAN
Router Connectivity Type: Ethernet,Wireless
Transmission Rate: 1167Mbps
Network Protocols: IEEE 802.11ac,IEEE 802.11b,IEEE 802.11g,IEEE 802.11n
Wireless Standard: Wireless AC
Wireless Security: WPA-PSK,WPA2-PSK
Supports System: Android,IOS,Win XP,Windows 7
LAN Ports: 2 ports
Max. LAN Data Rate: 1167Mbps
Gain dBi: 6dBi
Top comments
All comments (59)
From what I can see this device does support PPPoE, so this would suggest to me that if you have an older FTTC connection that has the Openreach Fibre Modem between your phone socket and your current router then you should be fine to use this to replace your existing router, but I couldn't comment on how simple that would be to set up.
I intend to use powerline adapters between my modem and this device, and it will act as a wireless extender for upstairs as well as being a NAS.
I would envision using this as a media box, connected to the AV system and content added wirelessly from my existing network. 1TB isnt a lot these days though; I have more family photo data than that.
I'd have thought that the 1TB drive in the Xiaomi would be upgradeable? Or as a previous comment said you should be able to connect a USB drive to this for further storage.
Go "Made in America"!
:stuck_out_tongue:
This device does not have a modem so wouldn't work in this set up, but would work to extend the network wirelessly if connected to your current Sky router/modem via a network cable.
Would be interested to know if the drive could be removed for a larger one.
Husham is good for info etc
https://youtu.be/7zXW4M6Sj8A
What is the difference with the others?
Any reason to recommend this over the others?
Or prefer this to even a Goggle HomeHub?
I had a look but the reviews don't seem very detailed
I noticed AddOns are supported. Is this very useful?
Sorry for newbie questions.
It's essentially a heavily customised OpenWRT router...if that makes sense to you.
I was considering buying a TP-Link Archer C9. But if Xiaomi can play in the same ball park, I'd go for this.
2G signal can go through 2 or 3 walls without any issue.
The router has an 'boosted' mode which does help a little bit on 2.4G only.
https://windscribe.com/
For the 20 months heres the link because if you go through the Windscribe homepage its $90 a year
https://windscribe.com/upgrade?promo=WSNY2016
Name Protocol type Server address Username Status
Thanks
This router doesn't have support for OpenVPN from what I can see, so you'll need a VPN that offers PPTP or L2TP protocol connections
I'd recommend paying for one to be honest, free ones often only give you limited bandwidth and are often over-used so are slow or unreliable
Hi there. I've not heard about Turris Omnia before but I did just read through their offering. My personal feeling is, they are a bit overpriced and probably cannot justify the price unless you are looking for something very specific, and in an integrated box. You'd be much better off buying a smart router, and a NAS rather than Omnia. For a router I'd be looking for a company which sells enough units to make them care, instead of a small shop.
I actually have my own NAS (hosted using a HP Microserver Gen8 - these can be had for less than £200 if you look for the right deals). The reason why I have Xiaomi's router was its remote management and geekiness.
Xiaomi builds its router OS on top of OpenWRT - and this is great. Generally speaking if you are technically capable you can install your own packages on the router, or you can install 3rd party fan-made plugins (in this case note majority of these plugins are made by Chinese and would require you have the Chinese version of the phone app.)
If you are about simplicity Xiaomi's package is attractive. Similar spec'd routers with a unix core often fetch £100+ and you have to still buy a USB hard drive. But if you are about tinkering and building your own stuff, a lot more can be done with the £300 Omnia demands.
There's also plenty of other informative videos regards this!
Looks a good deal to me,I like the idea of a router with a built-in 1TB hard drive and with the NFC function
the speed of the driver over lan isnt massively impressive BUT at £63 its not making me loos sleep either. my wd my cloud gives me 105mb/sec over lan, the r1d gives me 70mb/sec at best.
i have mine setup with static ip, dhcp disabled and it acts as an extender in another room and my kids stuff are on it free`ing up space on my nas. the device is great, its a router, it has gigabit lan ports (yes, only two but a switch is only a few pounds really), it has a 1tb hd and it works well.
i have used this as a router for a few days just to try it out but it dont compare to my usual r7800 so i just gave it an ip and use it as another storage device.
im on virgin media and i have the stupid hub in modem mode going to my nergear r7800 which then goes to a managed switch which then feeds everything. gigabit lan is a godsend, even only having two ports, having it setup as i do i have it connected via its LAN port to my switch. this gives it network (and internet) access so the xiaomi can then use its wifi to distribute as an AP and its other lan port also acts as a pass through so you can connect something else to it if you need to.
i appreciate my setup is far from a home users normal setup. given this router is £63 from the eu warehouse and it only took 3 days to get to me, it came with a plug adaptor as the power brick is the two STRAIGHT pin type, NOT UK or EU (two round pin type) then this little addition is needed and included at no cost. this saved me £20 over going to the uk warehouse and i cant understand why people would choose uk warehouse because of this saving.
hope this helps.