Xiaomi also has several routers and other network devices in its portfolio, such as WiFi signal amplifiers. This time we tested the router Xiaomi AC2100, which offers an unconventional design, dual - band WiFi, and Xiaomi refers to it as a gaming router. How is he? Come look at him with us.
Chinese version. Is this a problem?
Xiaomi officially sells the AC2100 router only in China. However, they are available to us through international retailers such as Banggood or Aliexpress, thanks to which we can also purchase these devices.
We bought this router from our partner Banggood. It was available from the Czech warehouse for just over € 40. Shipping and delivery were express. The router was sent to us on the day of the order, when we immediately received an e-mail from the GLS shipping company, which informed us about the shipment. We created the order on November 2 and the courier brought us the package on November 5.
Xiaomi Mi WiFi Router AC2100
Xiaomi AC2100 does not contain English instructions. Everything, including brief instructions and descriptions on the box, is in Chinese. However, this is not a problem. Xiaomi has an application for Android and iOS in English, thanks to which you can set up your router without any problems. You can read about the application and settings below.
If you are still interested in what is written on the box or in the manual, just use, for example, Google Translator, which can also translate photos. It works quite reliably.
Package content and processing quality
Packaging is relatively simple. You will find here only a router, power cable, reduction with EU terminal and brief instructions. However, we appreciate the presence of the Ethernet cable. It is no longer the rule that such a cable is included in the package of each router.
The router has an unconventional cylinder-shaped design. You will not find any external antennas here as usual with other WiFi routers. There are ports on one side and LEDs on the other side, which inform about the system and the status of the Internet.
It is made of plastic and the quality of workmanship is good. Its dimensions are 12 x 21 cm (diameter x height). There is a heat dissipation grille on the top and bottom.
Overall, we really like the design. Finally, we have a different router in our design, which in our opinion is much more suitable for a modern household than a classic router with antennas.
Connectivity and comparison with Xiaomi Mi Router 3G
As for the available ports, you will find 1 x WAN and 3 x LAN port. Below them is a port for connecting power and a button for resetting. That is all. But it is such a common standard for home routers.
WAN and LAN ports support speeds of up to 1 Gbit / s (1000 Mbps). This is not a classic 100-megabit router. You have a higher transfer rate.
There is support for dual-band WiFi from wireless technologies. Specifically, these are the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. These are the IEEE 802.11 a / ac / b / g / n standards.
If you didn't know, in short, 2.4 GHz WiFi spreads better over obstacles, but offers a lower speed compared to 5 GHz. The maximum speed of 2.4 GHz WiFi is 300 Mbps, while the maximum speed of 5 GHz WiFi is up to 1733 Mbps. However, the speed at 5 GHz decreases significantly with increasing distance and obstacles.
The number 2100 in the router name comes from the sum of the speeds of the two WiFi bands with a small rounding up.
Although the router does not have external antennas, they are located inside. Here you will find 4 antennas located around the perimeter of the router, which take care of 360 ° WiFi signal coverage.
For a better idea, we compared this router with the Xiaomi Mi Router 3G. It is a router with a classic design with 4 external antennas. Like the Xiaomi AC2100, the Mi Router 3G has gigabit ports.
The Mi Router 3G has only 2 LAN ports, but it also has a USB port, which is missing from the AC2100.
First start - up and setting
After the first power on, the router must be set up. If you do not understand the network settings, this is not a problem at all. If you don't know Chinese, that's not a problem either. Xiaomi has an application I WiFi, with which you can set up the router very quickly and easily. The application is in English.
You need to log in to the application with a Xiaomi account. After a successful login, the application automatically detected that a router was nearby. The window in the application immediately offers a choice of 3 settings. Here you need to choose whether you want to use the router as a classic router for connecting to the Internet or as a WiFi signal extender (repeater), or a cable repeater.
After selecting one of the options, the router will automatically switch to the selected mode. If the ISP assigns IP addresses dynamically, via DHCP, the router automatically obtains an IP address and is ready to use.
The second option, for more advanced users, is to set up via the web interface. All you have to do is enter the IP address of the router into the browser, which you will find at the bottom. The web interface opens, but it is in Chinese. Here is a small problem if you want to set up the router for the first time. Google Chrome can translate this page, but it does need the Internet.
If you want to use the router as the main and only router to access the Internet, logically, the Internet doesn't work for you before setting up the router, so Chrome can't translate the page.
This can be solved by Google Translator on the phone, or it is better to make the basic settings through the application on the phone, and only then go to the web interface when the router will have access to the Internet.
Mi WiFi application
The application offers basic router settings. The home screen shows devices that are currently connected, as well as those that have been connected in the past. You will also find devices that have tried to connect unsuccessfully and you can block them. For each device, information about the current data transfer is provided.
The upper part shows the current data flow from the router (download and upload) and the general status of the network.
The lower part offers a menu with three tabs: Mi Router, Storage and Toolbox. The Mi Router tab is actually the home screen. Storage is the place to store, but the AC2100 router does not have a disk. Mi Router 3G has USB, into which, if you insert, for example, a USB key, you can view its contents in the Storage tab.
The toolbox tab offers various tools and settings. After clicking on it, other options will be displayed, such as WiFi optimization, Firewall, settings, updates and other options, which we will describe later in the article.
Internet speed test
We will start by saying that we tested the speed using a known application Speedtest. Our internet connection has a speed of 1 Gbit / s. We performed a test of the speed of the Internet via WiFi on a smartphone and we used a desktop computer for the cable connection. For each test, we will also state the speed measured via the Mi Router 3G for comparison.
Let's start with a cable connection. Here, the measured speed is, as expected, almost identical for both routers. In the case of a cable connection, there is nothing to solve. The speed is fine. When it comes to cable connections, most routers are hassle-free.
Let's move on to the more interesting part, which is wireless WiFi. The manufacturer states that the WiFi speed at 2.4 GHz is a maximum of 300 Mbps. It is an IEEE 802.11n standard, WiFi 4. At 5 GHz it is up to 1733 Mbps (IEEE 802.11ac standard, WiFi 5).
Of course, these are the maximum theoretical speeds and for such high speeds it is necessary to have a device that supports such a speed and ideal conditions.
In the 5 GHz band, the router can simultaneously transmit and receive data in 4 channels. There is 4 * 4 MU-MIMO technology (multi-user multiple-input multiple-output), which means that the router has 4 antennas with which it can communicate with 4 devices at the same time.
We started with a speed test at a distance of about 1,5 m from the router. We measured the speed several times in each test, and then we selected in the article the one that came closest to the average of all measured values.
In the next part, we measured the speed approximately 5 meters from the router, without any obstacles.
We performed the last test at a distance of approximately 10 m. There was already a wall and furniture between the router and the telephone, as we moved to the next room, where we closed the door.
You can see from the results that the Xiaomi AC2100 router is better in most cases, but the differences are minimal, especially in the 2.4 GHz band. At the 5 GHz band in the immediate vicinity, significantly higher speeds can be seen with the Xiaomi AC2100.
Both routers are so good and the average user will not notice any difference in the classic surfing on the Internet. For significantly higher speeds, a router with support for the 802.11ax standard, ie WiFi 6, would be required.
In terms of stability, we did not notice any major fluctuations and absolutely no connection outages.
Additional features and settings
The application or web interface offers a relatively wide range of settings. Of course, many of them are not needed by most people, but they are available to more advanced users. We will briefly mention at least the basic and interesting ones.
The function of automatic WiFi optimization is interesting. It checks the currently used channel, WiFi networks in the vicinity, signal strength and other parameters, based on which it then automatically changes the settings that will help for better transmission over WiFi.
There is also MAC address cloning, which you will use, for example, if your ISP allows the router's MAC address. You do not have to report the new MAC address to it when replacing the old router, but you simply change the MAC address on the new router to the one the old one had.
Advanced settings offer QoS customization, static IP address allocation, DDNS, port-forwarding, DMZ or VPN functionality.
The peculiarity is that some settings that are in the application were not found in the web interface, and conversely, the application was missing some that were in the web interface.
For example, the Firewall in the web interface is very truncated than the application. 3 security modes can be set in the application. The first, with the highest level of security, blocks suspicious devices and those on the blacklist. Sends a notification about new devices that want to connect.
Intermediate level blocks devices on the blacklist and alerts you to suspicious devices. The lowest level only blocks devices from the blacklist. We didn't find these security settings in the web interface.
Final rating
We can recommend the Xiaomi AC2100 router to everyone for everyday home use. It offers an unusual design, thanks to which, in our opinion, it is more suitable for a modern home than a classic white router with external antennas.
Despite the impossibility of adjusting the inclination of the antennas, it offers sufficient WiFi signal coverage while maintaining high transmission speeds. It supports the 802.11ac standard, which provides high speeds over the 5 GHz Wifi band.
Xiaomi Mi WiFi Router AC2100
We consider a short power cable to be a slight negative. Some may be hindered by the absence of a USB port compared to other routers, such as the Mi router 3G, with which we compared the AC2100. One extra RJ-45 LAN port would also please. Most routers sold in our country have 4 LAN ports.
