A few years back when we got Gigabit broadband there were many routers that literally couldn't route it. Even your higher-end consumer-grade routers would struggle and even today this is still the case. Simply put, if you wanted a router that can route Gigabit you essentially needed to stick to your ISP provided router or pay an arm and a leg for an off-the-shelf consumer router with buzzwords such as "IMPROVES GAMING" or "REDUCES LAG". Well, as we know most of those buzzwords are false and whilst WiFi performance may be great on many of these consumer grade routers, not everything else is.
I got offered to test out the cnPilot r195W which on the box doesn't mention any of the above. In-fact, it has one of the more boring boxes I have ever seen but that is not the point. The point here is you're able to get a router with a number of features the very expensive "consumer" routers have for a price-point that most can afford (at just $130.00 RRP at the time of writing). This router can do it all, it can route Gigabit, it can provide you with pretty-good and strong WiFi and even has advanced parental controls built right in. Best of all, it appeals to both your average home / office user and also internet service providers due to the fact it can be managed by Cambium's excellent cnMaestro cloud management portal.
Lets start off with the basics - this router can indeed route full Gigabit without breaking a sweat on a VLAN 10, PPPoE connection. In-fact, I couldn't make it sweat or barely heat up under my stress testing. My cat was not interested in laying on it unlike some other routers. It's WiFi performance is good, but not great being only a 2x2 configuration - I am able to get around 250Mbit throughput through it which to be perfectly honest is totally fine for most people. In-all, as a router it just gets the job done and pretty well.
It's web interface reminds me of DD-WRT (screenshot) however it is anything but. This does appear to be a Linux based router but you can't access the CLI to tinker with it - it is fully locked down. HTTPS is standard on the web interface and the router supports full IPv6 along with separate 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi control. I've managed to provision both a 2.4GHz + 5GHz along with a 5GHz only network. You also get your basics sorted with port forwarding, static routing, QoS and DDNS support with the ability to change the URL (so can use other DDNS services).
On the back of the router you get your standard array of ports. A physical power switch, WPS button, reset, 4x Gigabit ethernet ports and 1x Gigabit WAN port. That is all, no USB port and no RGB lighting to be seen here. The router is very clean looking with bright, but not light-up-your-room bright Green LED's indicating separate 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi status, WAN status, power and a LED for each of the 4 Ethernet ports.
Something that is excellent for families is this router supports "Router Limits" which is a subscription cloud-based server with the ability to fully manage your home network and devices on it. In the web interface there is an option to turn this on and display a pairing code - once paired to https://routerlimits.com you're given the ability to limit devices and what they can access (turn off social media at certain times, block dodgy material, key sites etc:
As this is a subscription service it helps keep the cost of the actual router low. Router Limits also has both an iOS and Android app for full control of your network. I have personally not fully tried Router Limits as my lab only consisted of 2 devices but the tests I did confirmed it worked pretty well. Being a cloud service, and integrated into the router itself means there is no devices curious kiddies can unplug and during my testing it didn't appear to limit internet speed with having it enabled.
I've already touched on cnMaestro in the past but with this it allows ISP's and even more advanced users full control of their infrastructure. ISP's can simply scan the code on the box of the router to provision it in a centrally managed cloud-based portal. The great thing about cnMaestro is it is totally free making it easy for anyone to get started. cnMaestro allows for full remote provisioning of this router.
I am actually rather impressed with this router especially given the price and can see it a great fit for many users. It offers great performance and during my testing I have found it to be quite reliable. The r195W is available from Go Wireless here.
