Buffalo AirStation AC1300 / N900 Gigabit Dual Band Wireless Router - WZR-D1800H

I will write this review having come from a mixed background of home devices as well as a professional networking background.First, some information:I've used many wireless devices over the years, most recently the D-Link DIR-655 and Cisco E4200 V1. Both of these devices were sufficient to suit my needs for various situations without being excessively well featured, lacking various things such as VPN endpoint termination or (in the case of the 655) even a 5GHz band. However, when I found myself in the situation to replace my E4200 (died less than one month out of warranty), I decided that new technology was in order.You may ask why I dont run something a little higher end, it comes down to available funds. Believe me, I'd like to, but one cannot always afford enterprise grade Cisco APs and routers.In researching a new wireless router for myself, I had found that Draft 802.11AC is in the process of being ratified and new devices are on the market based on this technology. While I did not have any other devices that are currently AC capable, I decided that I did not want to restrict myself to slower N technology as AC will be the next step in the Wireless evolution.When comparing devices I found that the Buffalo WZR-D1800H had this AC capability at a much cheaper price than many other manufacturers while maintaining an extensive amount of capabilities. In addition, Buffalo is well known for supporting and implementing DD-WRT open source router firmware.I found that the Buffalo WZR-D1800H had relatively good reviews on the SmallNetBuilder website and had many capabilities that the other routers lacked without the premium price tag. The downside of this was that it is only an average Wireless N performer.With this in mind, I made my purchase after weighing the price and capabilities of the Netgear AC devices as well as the current Cisco AC device.The Aspects I enjoy about this device include native VPN tunnel endpoint, of course the AC capability at an affordable price, support for network printer or NAS devices (FAT and XFS filesystems only, No NTFS, sorry), high throughput, notification of firmware updates, and other things. The portforwarding is quite granular, almost to the point of tedium, but if you have a basic setup its not too bad.In my own experience I've come to the conclusion that the speeds of N on this device are sufficient for my needs, which include multiple wireless devices (2x tablets, 2x phones, 1 laptop, 1 TV, 1 PS3, 1 XBox 360, and occasional guest devices). Where the device truly lacks from my perspective is signal strength.It does have a few issues however:First, the device sits on the second floor of the house above the garage but as close to the center of the house as I can and remain in that room. Moving across the house renders signal strength (in Layman's terms) of 1-2 bars. Moving down a level and across the house to the kitchen nets only a single bar of strength. This is a definitive drop in signal strength from my previous E4200 device. The house is not terribly large for a 2 story, at only 1906 sqft, and the device definitely struggles to cover that area.In looking at a cross section of an opened device (from a thread on the DD-WRT forums), it appears the antennae reside on the top end of the router (when installed standing up so the word "Buffalo" is upright and legible), so in order to achieve better signal strength, I may need to reorient the router with the antennae facing the rest of the house. I havent been able to do this just yet and will update this review with the results when I am able.Additional information that I have since discovered about this device is that it is not currently running a version of the DD-WRT firmware despite Buffalo's tendency to use that firmware. There IS a version available that will boot on this device, but it appears development of it has stalled.The firmware that ships with this router is very convoluted and difficult to work with due to lack of documentation. It was unclear in many cases, even for a network professional, what steps were needed to be taken in order to enable certain of the more advanced settings in the router, including re-registering WPS if you chose to release the settings (be sure to set up both 5 and 2.4GHz networks to fix this). In addition to this, there are a couple of pages within the firmware that specifically say "do not adjust these settings" in bold at the top of the page. I'm unsure why these pages are viewable, much less changeable if they do not want users to adjust them. However, in my experience, these settings are for very advanced users only and the vast majority will see nothing but negative effects if toying with these settings.Overall I am happy with the router, although the firmware needs some work for usability sake.EDIT: 12/7/12As I mentioned earlier I thought I would try reorienting the router to increase the range in the house. I did this to a bit of success. I've increased the signal strength in portions of the house from barely 1 bar to 2-3 bars, although it decreased it in other areas. It will take a little bit of trial and error to orient just right, but bear this in mind when you are positioning the device. Move the router around until it offers the best strength in your highly used areas.In reviewing that image of the inside of the device with the antenna orientation. There are 3 along the front and 3 along the top. Depending on which you are more likely to use (5GHz or 2.4GHz) would determine your best orientation. The layout is as follows: 3 antennas along the front (where the Buffalo word is) 3 along top as previously mentioned. They alternate from each wireless controller, although I'm unsure which side has 2 x 2.4GHz antennas vs 1 x 5GHz antenna and vice versa.

I happened to be in the market for a new wireless router after my Belkin N1 (MiMo) died after 6 years of use. This router future proofs the home with the new standard but also ensures that all of your current devices can stay connected. Initial setup took about a half hour. (I am an advanced user so I was checking out all of the feature available.) I chose to go through and manually set up everything though they do offer a quick set-up wizard to connect you to the router and internet and to set up security for the wireless network.A couple of things I think are really nice about this router is that it is essentially 2 wireless routers in one. You can assign SSIDs to both the new ac/n/a standard and the n/g/b standard. I gave them separate names to easily distinguish which one is which. The other option that is nice is the ability to plug into the router an external hard drive as a NAS device. I have not played around too much with that feature yet.Overall I have had no problems with it. Everything connects to the wireless flawlessly. I have seen signal and performance increase over my old router. My laptop was getting about 5-6Mbps downloads on speed tests and now it's getting around 25 which is the same as my desktop plugged in.

I used this router to replace a Linksys E3200 that wasn't cutting it streaming high def video wirelessly.Pros:-It's fast. With the router/bridge pair I get between 4x-5x increase in speed (1 mbps -> 4.5 mbps).-Easy to setup. Tap the buttons on the router and the bridge and they're paired.Cons:-The firmware sucks. It's unintuitive and difficult to manually configure. The web interface doesn't work with Google Chrome. The automatic update feature always fails to contact the update server. Contacted customer support who could not even ballpark a release date for the next official update (v1.88).-Could probably get better features and similar with a cheaper high-end 802.11N router.If I could do it again I'd opt for one of the Asus routers and a high-gain simultaneous dual-band wireless bridge.

After my Netgear N900 router died ( another review to come later) I bought this Buffalo wireless router. I have a Buffalo NAS that I like a lot and this had pretty good reviews, so I bought it, but I don't think mine works all that well. Never had any Buffalo devices before my NAS I decided to give it a try. I have it located on the second floor of my house but I only get 2 bars on my laptop in the kitchen on the first floor. Doesn't seem to push a signal very far at all. I loose connection to my cell phone all the time and have to reconnect to the network. I can't connect to the faster side of the router at all. When I browse the available wireless networks it only shows my one network and not the two that should be broadcasting. I hate sending things back but I really am disappointed with this router. Still better than the Belkin 1200 but not as strong as the Netgear N900 wireless router. My next try will be either the DLink AC1750 or the Netgear AC1750 router.Tom

This product is excellent. I first discovered Buffalo about ten years ago, because they had some unique hardware to setup a WiFi network, the kind of stuff you will not find at Best Buy. This time around, I figured that Buffalo engineers know their stuff so took a leap of faith and went with the AirStation. I am barely exercising the full capabilities of the AirStation, but am impressed with the fact that my WiFi is as fast as my wired connections. My house is like 2,600 sqf, and the unit is mounted to the wall about 3' from the ground -- the reception is good throughout. I am only using regular WiFi, and can stream HD via my laptop to any TV in the house. The AirStation also supports new technologies for TV and gaming, but am not familiar with the new stuff yet. The setup was like plug and play.