Review on 🔁 MikroTik hAP ac2 RBD52G-5HacD2HnD-TC Dual-Band Access Point, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, 5 x Gigabit Ethernet Ports by Michael Gupta

When I opened the box and found that the router was small enough to fit in the palm of my hand, I had a brief concern that it wouldn't work. I quickly realized that size doesn't matter. I've been searching extensively for a dual-band home router that works well with DD-WRT to replace my roommate's Belkin AC1200 router, which was barely getting a 5GHz signal into my room and also an unbearably slow 2GHz signal. had signal. I looked at TP-Link and some Netgear Nighthawks and $100+ hAP AC before settling on this router. I considered buying a consumer home router but was mainly concerned about weak 5GHz bands and incredibly poor software. That's when I came across the Mikrotik brand in a Reddit post and looked at their offerings. In fact, these boards are much cheaper because they are not aimed at the consumer electronics market and are made by a Latvian company. They also run RouterOS, which is incredibly reliable, and I've barely scratched the surface. You just have to ignore the additional options. If you follow my instructions exactly as shown below you should have no problems. Don't slip. Read, understand and enjoy this router that outperforms others in its price range. SETUP: Plug the router into a power source, and then connect the ethernet from the modem (or other router) to the ethernet port. To enter the settings panel, there are three options: Mikrotik app for iOS/Android (simple), web portal (medium), WinBox (complex). Rationale for Rating: I showed my girlfriend all three options for setting up a router and based on how confused she looked. There's a pretty significant difference in how pleasing to the eye each one is, and every little bit helps. You can do the same things no matter what platform you are on. HOW TO CONNECT - UPDATE AFTER INSTALLATION: APP: Really well designed and easy to navigate, and has a DETECT function that connects to the router when you open the app and connect it to an open Wi-Fi, for that the router sends the first time. If it doesn't connect automatically, go to 192.168.88.1, the default RouterOS address. I don't think it comes with a password, the instructions on the box will have it if not. The application has a QUICK SETUP option that will make your life much easier. PARENTS: SETTING CHILD CONTROLS is much easier to find in the app - it's on the first page. The app also does pretty much everything that any other platform can, including terminal access, so it's great either way. Web browser and WinBox: Connect to 192.168.88.1, the default IP address for this router. Login and then check my attached image. Press QUICK SET and select HOME AP DUAL from the drop down menu in the top right corner. Automatic address capture should work for most US recipients. Set a username and password like you would any other router. When you connect to the web app, you also have the option to install WinBox, which resides on your Windows computer (sorry, Mac/Linux), but does the same thing as the other two options. SUPER IMPORTANT: Update both the RouterOS software and the firmware for the RouterBoard. . Select WebFig in the web app to view the menu or open the menu in the app. The setting is the same for both. For RouterOS, go to System > Packages > Check for updates (you may need to press a different button on your phone) and update to the latest version via a stable or long-term channel. For firmware go to System > Router > Update. changes! If you're having speed or stability issues, I've heard updating both will fix them. I did that as soon as I received it and had no problems. If you want to optimize this for your space, check which Wi-Fi channel works best for your router. There is free software for this on any computer or phone if you look. This router shows the channel as the actual frequency in MHz, so look up an online spreadsheet to convert between the channel number you can get in the program and the frequency the router will accept. If that doesn't work the band might be blocked in the US as this version is for the States so try a different frequency. This router has greatly improved connectivity throughout my house and gigabit ethernet is good too. It is very noticeable how much better the signal is transmitted on an enterprise class router compared to a consumer router. Even my 2.4Ghz band is much better - I use it for all smart light/home devices and Google Home and the responses are a bit quicker turning the light on and off when answering questions rather than resetting requests etc. e. This device will definitely work better to serve more devices than most home routers. After much deliberation, I decided on hAP AC. When I got this router it was $60 and the air conditioner was $110. It has an SFP port for gigabit fiber and 3-way WiFi, as well as a Power over Ethernet output port which the ac2 doesn't have, but I don't need any of those features, nor do 90% of them consumers. In turn, does the ac2 have a better processor and more memory? In any case, the three-strand Wi-Fi offered by AC will be the bottleneck for most devices that don't have proper wireless receivers to handle the extra bandwidth anyway, so having more processing power is more useful for most use cases. . I also don't need power over Ethernet to additional access points yet. When I'm close to the router I get about 300Mbps. In my room which is about 45ft from the router and behind 3 walls and a door due to unfortunate design limitations I get about 55Mbps. Much better than before, sometimes there was no signal at all. OPTIONAL STEP: Change your DNS server. Find your DNS settings and forward them to something like the Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 service for faster speeds. This is probably a pretty good improvement over the default ISP's DNS provider, which also gives them more information about your browsing. Your previous router may not have this option, or you may have configured DNS on each of your devices, but taking the time to do so can improve your internet experience on all devices without having to manually configure DNS settings on each one to update. I also read that this router is capable of running its own local DNS server for faster resolution of queries and that it can respond based on your websites? I'm not exactly sure how to set this up, but it's interesting to explore. If you have questions about the settings, I've found TKSJa's YouTube channel to be a great repository of information and guides that cover everything I need. There are over 100 clear and concise videos, check them out and see if your gear gets going. So yes. Get this router, follow the instructions, enjoy better performance without paying any consumer router scam.