Synology RT6600ax Router Review – Next Gen Networking?

Synology RT6600ax Router Review – Premium Networking?

Reviewing the new RT6600ax router was always going to be quite a tall order. Routers, unlike the NAS drives I so often talk about, are far more common in every home or office in the world. Then there is the fact that they are available practically for free with most internet service providers and therefore are always something of a tough pill for some users to swallow when it comes to handing over cold, hard cash for. Yet, the premium router market continues to grow and into it, Synology released the latest addition to their growing router portfolio, the RT6600ax WiFi 6 and 2.5GbE fully-featured router. Remember when Synology was the brand you only knew about because of NAS? That does seem like a long time ago and in the last 5-6 years, we have seen this brand transform into quite the behemoth that is providing a wide range of network hardware and software solutions to practically every tier of the buyers market. So, therefore, their expansion into routers for home and business users makes a great deal of sense (*cough* when are the cameras and switches coming though!) and although WiFi 6 (aka 802.11ax or WiFi AX) and 2.5GbE has now been around a while, Synology has only now entered this market with their new router. This has also been accompanied by the release of their new SRM (Synology Router Manager) software up to version 1.3, which is improving an already remarkably intuitive yet highly customizable and flexible security platform. So, let’s review the Synology RT6600ax router, discuss what we like, what we don’t and ultimately help you decide whether now is the time to ditch your freebie ISP router and move to Synology’s solution.

Hardware Highlights of the Synology RT6600ax Router

• Arrives with Synology Router Manager 1.3 with new features and services included
• Quad-core 1.8 GHz Qualcomm Processor
• DDR3 1 GB Memory (2x 512MB on-board)
• Tri-Band WiFi 6 Support 6600Mbs Bandwidth Potential:
• 2.4 GHz: Up to 600 Mbps
• 5 GHz-1: Up to 4800 Mbps
• 5 GHz-2: Up to 1200 Mbps
• 6 x High gain adjustable antennae (4×4 MIMO antennas)
• 5.9Ghz / 160MHz channel Support
• Four 1GbE (Gigabit Ethernet ports) (1x WAN 3x LAN)
• 1x 2.5GbE LAN/WAN Port
• Multi-Network creation in SRM 1.3 later in 2022
• Improved DS Router Mobile Application and Browser GUI in SRM 1.3 in 2022
• Mesh Support with future AX devices, as well as MR2200ac over 5Ghz Backhaul
• USB 3.2 Gen 1 (Type A 5Gb/s) Port supporting several SRM applications

Note – This is not the first Synology router I have ever reviewed, it is in fact the 4th. That said, this review might well be read by someone who is completely unaware of Synology’s routers, SRM and the way their routers work vs other brands out there. So, I decided to write this review to cover practically everything, So, if you are already aware of Synology’s router solutions (perhaps already own one and looking to upgrade), some of the SRM stuff you will already know is available to older gen Synology routers. I present it in full here to ensure that new users to the brand’s routers get the full picture.

NEWS UPDATE on Mesh Support on the Synology RT6600ax, MR2200ac and SRM 1.3

Synology has addressed questions regarding the timeline on SRM 1.3 for the MR2200ac and RT2600ac (enabling mesh support between their routers, currently not possible between SRM 1.2 and SRM 1.3 systems). Below is their current message on this:

While SRM 1.3 in the current phase will remain restricted to our newest router, we can now confirm that all the software advancements available on the RT6600ax will be made available for the RT2600ac and MR2200ac early in the third quarter of this year, when we stand to release the SRM 1.3.1 update. With the upcoming update, both the RT2600ac and the MR2200ac will support up to 5 VLANs and 5 associated Wi-Fi SSIDs, essentially allowing users to create separate wired and wireless networks for management or security purposes, and set up rules to allow conditional one or two-way traffic between these.

SRM 1.3.1 will also allow using several RT2600ac units as Wi-Fi access points as part of a mesh network. Previously, only MR2200ac units could be used with the RT2600ac to provide seamless Wi-Fi connections throughout larger buildings and spaces. Combinations of RT6600ax and RT2600ac/MR2200ac are also supported.

B

Beata @betazz

May 11, 2022

I will continue to update this article where possible and make a follow-up video on mesh support in the RT6600ax / MR2200ac /RT2600ac when they all have SRM 1.3 available

Synology RT6600ax Router Review – Quick Conclusion

The Synology RT6600ax IS a very, very good router. So many users will never graduate from their ISP router and never understand the benefits of a premium solution, gauging the Synology RT6600ax as something of an indulgence. However, as WiFi 6 continue to rise in popularity, more client hardware arrives with 802.11ax support and adapters to upgrade towards AX wifi over PCIe and USB appear, the RT6600ax is something that family/business users are going to want to consider to monitor and customize their own networks. That said, although the hardware the RT6600ax arrives with is a big jump up compared with the RT2600ac and MR2200ac, the software is a tad less ambitious and given that SRM 1.2 will likely upgrade towards 1.3 on those legacy devices, the Synology RT6600a is less appealing as an immediate upgrade over the RT2600ac right now. Ultimately, if you were a first-time adopter of the Synology 6600ax router, you cannot fault the software and hardware right now and it more than justifies the price tag for its software alone. Add to that the increased bandwidth potential of 5.9Ghz and greater 160Mhz support and you are getting a tremendously future proof product. That said, if you are already an owner of the RT2600ac or an existing MR2200ax mesh router owner, you might find that recent improvements in virtual networks and SSID creation are not enough to justify the upgrade (unless you are already well into your WiFi 6 environment upgrade). The RT6600ax is EASILY the most powerful and capable router that Synology has ever produced and with great software to boot. Even if it is slightly overshadowed by WiFi 6E, it still stands tremendously proud in the existing prosumer router solutions in the market right now, despite its higher price tag.

SOFTWARE - 10/10

HARDWARE - 8/10

PERFORMANCE - 9/10

PRICE - 7/10

VALUE - 8/10

8.4

PROS

👍🏻SRM is still top-notch and easily still one of the best (if not THE best) router software in the market in 2022
👍🏻
👍🏻2.5GbE port for your WAN or a LAN excellent (shame there is only the one though)
👍🏻
👍🏻Huge degree of user profile and device clustering options to create an intelligently controlled by still user-friendly network
👍🏻
👍🏻LAN/WAN failover Support (including with a SIM Dongle or Phone tethering)
👍🏻
👍🏻USB Drive Support is treated exceptionally well with several Synology NAS class applications available
👍🏻
👍🏻vLAN is now available
👍🏻
👍🏻5.9Ghz Band utilization adds a good degree of future-proofing to the device + more 160Mhz connections at one time
👍🏻
👍🏻I am ashamed to admit it, it is really easy on the eye!

CONS

👎🏻Mesh Support with MR2200ac still not available (planned for H2 2022)
👎🏻
👎🏻5.9Ghz band use is good, but client hardware uptake is still early
👎🏻
👎🏻A single USB Port limits the use of both an External storage drive AND 2nd mobile SIM failover connection at once
👎🏻
👎🏻Quite expensive given more affordable WiFi 6 routers in the market and 6E making a name for itself

Synology RT6600ax Router Review – Presentation

The retail box of the Synology RT6600ax router is largely the same as a number of the brand’s NAS solutions. A Brown box, with a product detail sticker on the front that denotes a number of the key specifications. However, unlike brands that tend to slap a different label on the same brown box, Synology always adds a bunch of very product-specific details to the carton that shows more of that brand awareness they regularly exude.

Details on the retail packaging highlight what sets this apart from other premium routers (as well as others in their portfolio) such as the use of the 5.9Ghz frequency support and certified 160Mhz channel support, which make this WiFi 6 router more future proof than many in the market right now, even in spite of WiFi 6E appearing on peoples radar.

All that said, there will always be some conventions in the packaging of routers that are consistent (and in some cases, baffling) that the RT600ax router does not avoid. To date, routers are still the only mainstream device you can buy that is still packaged in this oddly shaped corrugated cardboard packaging. Whether it is ‘freemium’ ISP routers or paid-up top tier routers, they always arrive this way. If you have any idea why that is, let me know in the comments.

Despite the router’s large scale, the system arrives with all of the antennae pre-attached (no small feat, given that there are 6 of them) and the system arrives with pretty much the base level of accessories and components that you would expect:

These include the RT6600ax itself, setup instructions, an RJ45 ethernet cable and details on the included 2 years warranty. All fairly standard stuff and in spite of this being a 5x (1 WAN 4 LAN) router, I can appreciate for reasons of wastage that Synology wouldn’t provide more. Additionally and somewhat predictably, the RT6600x arrives with an external 42W PSU, but it’s quite the chunky number (with a changeable regional plug clip).

Overall this is all fairly safe and competent packaging and you cannot even really fault the inclusion of Cat 5e, given the single 2.5GbE and no 10GbE/Cat7 consideration to factor in. Let’s get to grips with the RT6600ax router itself and discuss the design.

Synology RT6600ax Router Review – Design

The Synology RT6600ax router is quite a decent sized router at 175 mm x 320 mm x 200 mm (with antennae up) and is covered in ventilation on practically all sides.  The Synology logo embossed in the centre is fairly standard for the brand’s slick image and despite there being quite a few 6 antennae prosumer routers on the market in 2022, there is something distinctly ‘Synology’ throughout the design.

The vents across the entire surface of the RT6600ax are there because the system relies heavily on passive airflow in conjunction with a very large internal heatsink and no active internal fans. Few routers feature active cooling internally but given the three separate internal Qualcomm processors internally (two for those three bands and one for managing the system with SRM 3.1 onboard), this would have been a suitable candidate. Still, despite the system no doubt running a little hot at peak times, it definitely worked perfectly in testing.

The top of the system features seven LEDs that denote the internet/WAN connection, the status of the Wi-Fi connection, one for each of the four LAN/RJ45 ports and a final one to denote system status. All fairly standard stuff.

Focusing more on the six antennas, these are completely adjustable and are quite rigidly attached (something that is often not the case with budget routers), supporting three active and simultaneous bands of coverage (2.4Ghz and two 5.Ghz bands), which can be used independently to support multiple SSIDs (upto 15x) or can be used intelligently with systems like Smart Connect that will juggle a connected user to the more suitable band as their distance from the router(s) changes. The coverage of these antennae, as well as their being movable by hand means that you are going to have quite an impressive range of coverage available with this router.

In total, the RT6600ax’s tri-band coverage means that you have upto 600Mb/s bandwidth available on 2.4Ghz, 1200Mb/s available on the 2nd 5Ghz band and a crazy 4800Mb/s available on the other 5Ghz band, thanks to Wifi6 and that 5.9Ghz band being opened up here. This allows connectivity over 802.11 a/n/ac/ax over the three bands, with support of numerous encryption and wireless protection protocols supported on the RT6600ax, such as WPA/WPA2-Personal, WPA/WPA2-Enterprise, WPA2/WPA3-Personal, WPA3- Personal/Enterprise, Wi-Fi Enhanced Open (OWE) and use of Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) 2.0.

5.9 GHz spectrum support enables additional high-speed 80 and 160 MHz channels to be utilized. Given how much WiFi 6 has utilized the 5Ghz band in recent years and router solutions, as well as WiFi 6E hitting the 6Ghz band, the relatively lesser used 5.9Ghz band that was long restricted to government assigned to transportation communication has been sitting there, massively underused. Till now! The Synology RT6600ax is one of the very few routers right now that’s commercially available that can take advantage of 5.9Ghz and take advantage of the additional frequency/bandwidth potential. Before we go through the how’s and why’s, let’s discuss the physical ports and connections available.

Synology RT6600ax Router Review – Ports & Connections

It would be fair to say that the lion share of the attention that has been directed towards the Synology RT6600ax router has been about its wireless capabilities, however, the physical connectivity and general LAN standards of the system are a good mix too. That said, the RT6600ax does appear to lose a few things over the older RT2600ac that some users might be bugged by, such as the lack of an SD card slot or reduced number of USB ports, but this is largely mitigated by the inclusion of a 2.5gigabit ethernet (2.5G copper connection) on this router. This is the first example of the adoption of 2.5GbE by Synology in their entire hardware portfolio, which we hope is the start of more widespread adoption in their NAS series over the rather long in the tooth 1GbE.

This 2.5G port can be used as a regular LAN port to connect to a 2.5GbE equipped NAS, a 2.5G switch or even directly towards a 2.5G equipped client device (either directly or via a simple $25+ USB-to-2.5GbE adapter – loads of versions are available to buy now here on amazon). Alternatively, the system will let you use it as a WAN port if your incoming internet connection is greater than a gigabit (eg more than 100MB/s or 1000Mbs) and the availability significantly greater than gigabit internet speeds worldwide has grown in multiple regions thanks to the likes of fiber becoming more affordable and the scalability of its cabling over time being less rigid than legacy installations of the 00’s. That said, it IS worth touching on something raised over on BlackVoid regarding those that apply custom VLAN IDs on their incoming internet connection and are hoping to take advantage of the 2.5G port as a WAN, as the persistent issue of custom IDs on secondary WAN ports (still in SRM 1.2) is still an issue that is awaiting a fix.

There is (of course) a dedicated WAN port on the RT6600ax router that is designed for your incoming internet connection. As the system features the option of deploying it as your primary router, or connected behind your existing router as an AP, it’s quite balanced in how you can choose to use it. Additionally, the SRM 1.3 software that you use to control and configure your router changes a number of options internally depending on whether you chose to deploy it either way. Choosing between these setups can be done during the initialization of the device, but can also be changed easily and in about 60-90 seconds from within the RT6600ax SRM browser GUI. Alongside the gigabit WAN and the 2.5GbE LAN/WAN choice, there are also 3 more standard 1GbE RJ45 (i.e copper) connections for the rest of your connected devices. These are..well… fine I guess. But many would argue that this is quite a tentative step into 2.5GbE for the router and the brand, with multi-port 2.5GbE routers in the market right now and even 10GbE SFP+ routers being available from brands like Netgear in their Nighthawk series for several years now, the RT6600ax arriving with a single 2.5GbE and 1GbE covering all the others do seem a little tight in 2022. These ports all support features such as the LAN/WAN failover, linking to vLANs in SRM 1.3, priority of service control and some incredibly sophisticated control customization within SRM in general – but we are still talking about 1Gb Ports and therefore still cutting apart slices of a much smaller potential cake.

HOWEVER, where the Synology Router series still continues to consistently impress me is when I see the pedigree of their NAS development get divulged into their routers and SRM. By this, I mean that the simple USB Port on the RT6600ax port supports a wide variety of uses In the system with the likes of File Station, Download Station, Media Server and more. Rather than a tremendously basic breadcrumb directory being available to storage connected to the router, Synology allows you to interact with the external drive with the full file manager package. This includes browser file/folder display, archiving and extracting, sharing files (with lots of security/viability options), play locally or streaming over UPnP and DLNA. Additionally, you can make shared folders with ease and then mount those folders locally to your PC/Mac as mapped network drives, just as you would a NAS (with remote WebDav sharing also available). Alternatively, you can use the drive in conjunction with the download management tool (supporting BT/NZB/FTP/RSS and more) to automatically search and download files from the internet with ease. Then you have Media Server tools to stream your multimedia to home consoles, smart TVs, sound systems and more.

Yes, you need to get an external USB drive, but after that, you can run this router like a NAS-lite system very easily. Finally, you can use this USB port to connect a USB SIM dongle or Mobile phone in tether mode to attach an additional internet connection (either as the main internet source or as a secondary connection for use in a failover setup in SRM). I’ve barely scratched the surface on the utility of this port (with several more tools in the app center, as well as the support of the DS File and DS Get applications for iOS and Android) in the RT6600ax. However, this is somewhat undercut by the Rt6600ax router only arriving with a single port, despite the older RT2600aac arriving with two, meaning you will have to make a difficult choice about which accessories you need most (with USB multi-port adapters simply sharing the bandwidth and power inefficiently). The side of the Synology RT6600ax features a couple of buttons for activating the password-free WPS service between devices that do not have manageable GUIs and a button for disabling/enabling WiFi on the fly. Both are quite straightforward things and there isn’t much more to say on that really.

Overall, the connectivity and physical management of the RT6600ax are all pretty standard stuff. The fact there is only a single 2.5GbE port is something of a pain (forcing hard choices between external internet connectivity and shared bandwidth with devices such as NAS and larger bandwidth switches) and only a single USB port seems odd when you compare it against the older RT2600ac and RT1900ac with multiple ports and/or SD Card slot – but those aside, everything else about the RT6600ax ticks the boxes for me and what you have is a very sturdy, well designed and highly capable router here. Let’s discuss the internal hardware and see what exactly makes the RT6600ax tock.

Synology RT6600ax Router Review – Internal Hardware

With each release in the Synology router series, we have seen the general standard of the hardware improve (though the mesh system was something of an add-on really) and these improvements have more often than not affected the bandwidth potential of these devices. They all take advantage of MU-MIMO and multiple antennae, but the maximum frequency covered, the maximum simultaneous streams, wireless standards and total bandwidth differ quite substantially and that is only partially to do with the implementation of WiFi 6. Improvements in the CPU architecture and available memory also play their part, with the standard of hardware increasing at each tier too. Below is how the Most recent three Synology routers compare in their specifications, wireless compatibility and bandwidth:

So, as you can see, a notable increase in total available bandwidth, thanks to RT6600ax including support of the 160Mhz frequency, as well as more space to utilize with access up to the 5.9Ghz band. The antenna that the RT6600ax uses is divided into a 2×2 block and a 4×4 block internally and if you remove the external casing, you can see how their respective antennae cabling heads in different directions.

The antenna connects to the controller board in 2 different sectioned blocks on board. The controller itself is covered in a HUGE heatsink panel that you can just about make out in the system if you look closely through the vents. Again, as this system does not have access to an active cooling system (fans etc), its reliance on passive cooling and heat dissipation in peak periods is going to be hugely important.

Removing this heatsink is no easy task and you can immediately see the huge amount of tactical/precise thermal padding that has been applied to the key areas inside the router. The heatsink itself is what seems to make up the bulk of the weight of the RT6600x in fact. Let’s take a closer look at that controller board and processor arrangement.

The three main quadrants of the controller board that are going to be doing all the work are pretty clear and have even been surrounded by a metal border to ensure the thermal padding and heatsink connection are as direct and efficient as possible. Let’s take a closer look at the components under those thermal pads.

In the first block, where four of the antennae were connected, we find a Qualcomm QCN-9024 / QCN9024 WiFi6 MU-MIMO 4×4 network controller, that is reported to feature a 5.15GHz – 5.95GHz frequency, OFDMA: BPSK, QPSK, DBPSK, DQPSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM, 256-QAM, 1024-QAM, 4096-QAM modulation and it supports 20/40/80/160MHz at 5GHz.

In the middle of the board, we find the brains of the outfit! The Synology RT6600ax Router runs on a Qualcomm Atheros IPQ6018 Quad-core ARM 64-bit A53, at 1.8 GHz. This processor (yes, I googled) is part of the Qualcomm Networking Pro 400 family and is a highly flexible but power-efficient Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) network solution, supporting 4 spatial streams of Wi-Fi 6 connectivity. The Qualcomm Networking Pro series supports next-generation Wi-Fi 6 features like optimized multi-user scheduling of both uplink and downlink MU-MIMO and OFDMA across all spatial streams. It also supports 1024QAM, BSS colouring, and WPA3 security, all delivered on an architecture designed to successfully associate and maintain connectivity for hundreds of client devices simultaneously. This processor also arrives with two visible blocks of memory which comprise 1GB of DDR3 Memory.

The third and final clearly separated block is where the other two antennas are connected into. Again, the details on these are a little unknown at the moment, with one block having the two antenna connectors and an additional Qualcomm processor and a further block below it that is not too clear. and I will revisit this area of the article as soon as I know more (or if/when someone can detail it in the comments!).

Finally, we have a single block/module of Kingston 4GB eMMC MLC flash (EMMC04G-M627). This is where the Synology Router Manager software and the changes you make/apply to the system will be applied and stored. Unlike Synology’s traditional NAS systems, the RT6600ax does not feature any internal SATA bays that you can easily populate with HDD/SSD storage media (though USB storage additions are possible). This is fairly common practice among intelligent/smart routers and in the case of Synology including their rather premium router management software (which receives regular updates and has a number of additional option add on features), I can imagine a decent chunk of that 4 gigabytes being used quickly. The RT6600ax arrives with the latest version of SRM 1.3 (Synology router manager) which, at the time of writing, is still unavailable on any other Synology Router system.

And that largely breaks down the hardware we have here inside the RT6600ax. This is all certainly a big step up from what we have seen so far from the brand in the RT6600ax and RT1900ac, but how does that translate in the software, services and its day to day use? Let’s why 5.9Ghz support on the RT6600ax is a bit of a game changer.

Why is the Synology RT6600ax Router’s use of the 5.9Ghz band such a big deal?

It is a valid question. Synology has talked a big game about their new RT6600ax supporting the 5.9Ghz band and 160Mhz channel support, but what do they mean in real terms to the end user? To get to grips with this, we first need to understand what prevented 5.9Ghz use till recently. Whenever we broadcast anything, it needs a way to get from point A to point B. When delivering goods, the mode of transportation is a truck. When delivering information, the mode of transportation is the airwaves. The same can be said of wireless radio frequencies and especially those that we now use in our homes every day for wireless internet/network connectivity.

Radio frequency is broken down into spectrums from 30 Hz to 300 GHz. Spectrums are further broken down into sections called bands. Governments regulate those bands and spectrums by allocating them for specific uses. For example, the 30-300 MHz spectrum is used for radio and television broadcasts. The extremely high frequency of 30-300 GHz is for stuff like radio astronomy and directed-energy weapons. The point of regulating frequencies is to make sure no band or spectrum is congested to the point of rendering it useless.

Currently, most Wi-Fi devices communicate using the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz bands. The lower bands deliver farther, whereas the higher band travels faster. That’s why there will need to be more transmitters for 5G cellphones, for example. For the past two decades, the entire 5.9 GHz spectrum (5.850-5.925) was reserved for intelligent transportation systems like C-V2X. Meaning, that only devices for transportation-related purposes have been allowed access to that spectrum. Now that most of the bands in that spectrum are accessible to devices like prosumer routers and the Synology RT6600ax is one of the first to take advantage of this, that is what makes this very special router indeed right now. 160Mhz frequencies are a factor here as this is the frequency when you will get the best performance out of WiFi 6 but until the 5.9Ghz band was opened up for use, it limited the range of shared bandwidth afforded to WiFi 6 and the total volume of 160Mhz frequency that could be used is increased (as well as the potential for increased smaller channels). Let’s discuss SRM 1.3 inside the RT6600ax router.

Synology RT6600ax Router Review – Software

The Synology RT6600ax arrives with SRM 1.3 (Synology Router Manager), the latest version of the brand’s popular router management system software. I don’t think it would be a tremendous overstatement to say that more than half of the price tag of the RT6600ax goes towards this software and, fair play to Synology, SRM is by FAR the best router management software that I have ever used. The brand has already produced one of the best NAS management platforms in the market in DSM and you can clearly see that ALOT of the logic, methodology and attention to the customer UX has been applied here. SRM has been around now for a good few years and despite my high praise, it is also worth highlighting that the platform has generally received fewer significant updates and feature improvements compared with DSM 6>6.1>7>7.1 in the same time frame (though regular security and database updates have been reliably constant).

Pretty much ALL routers arrive with a software GUI that you can access via your web browser (that includes your free IS router too) and from here you can manage the connections, security settings, ports and users on the system. So, what is it that makes Synology Router Manager any different? Well mainly, it is in how easy it is to comprehend the controls and the extent to which you can configure and customize the system to your own network needs. SRM 1.2 always had this and it would take a long time to go through the full range of services and features of SRM (which is why I made a FULL review of SRM 1.3 HERE that covers everything new and old) but for this review of the RT6600ax I will just focus on the new additions, as well as the standout features that continue to impress.

One of the new features of SRM 1.3 on the RT6600ax that arguably should have been there much, MUCH sooner was the option to create vLAN (i.e virtual networks) that can exist inside the router system for sub-networks that can be separated/connected as needed to the wider system network – such as for IP cameras, VOIP systems, or collected users in a single network. This is something that is more often associated with network switches than routers, but is still an available option on many premium router systems for a few years. There is also the means for priority of the incoming internet connection to go towards VOIP or IPTV services if needed.

vLANs were sadly not available in SRM 1.2 and it’s arrival in SRM 1.3 is very useful, but still massively overdue (see below). These virtual networks can be customized in several ways in their identity and address, but also can be bonded to a specific network interface (LAN) port, which is useful if you are going to attach a switch to one of these ports for connecting a bunch of other network devices. These virtual networks can also be attached to existing wireless SSIDs or even have a new SSID created specifically for that network.

Navigating the browser interface of SRM 1.3 is really, really easy and if you have ever used an operating system such as MAC OS, Windows or Android (which clearly you have if you are reading this!) then you will typically find that all the configuration and options for navigating SRM on the RT6600ax are exactly where you would expect them to be. Leaning ever so slightly more towards the Mac side of design and placement (Synology has always had a lot of Mac branding influence, even if their support and compatibility of services always seems to end up with Windows users first – blame Apple I guess), the main desktop can be changed in a few lite ways, as well as desktop shortcuts and additional applications can be downloaded and installed easily from the App Center.

As touched on earlier in the review, the USB port on your router is hugely useful to the SRM 1.3 platform, with it allowing use of several Synology NAS-generation applications that you can install in SRM that including File Station, Download Station, Media Server and more. Additionally, it is recommended that in order to fully utilize the database software to catalogue remote threats and potential intrusions, you have a USB drive installed to maintain those databases.

One key element of using SRM 1,3 and the RT600ax to their fullest extent is in how the system is deployed in your network environment. You can choose to deploy the router either as your primary internet access point or operate the system as your secondary router with another router/modem (such as one provided by your ISP in between.

If you use the RT600aX and SRM as a secondary later, a number of the security and network management features will be absent, but if used as the main management point for your internet connection, the full range of services will be available to customize. This configuration can be easily changed on the fly at any time.

The coverage and network connectivity of the three bands of wireless coverage of the RT6600ax can be monitored and adjusted very easily on the RT6600ax, with the extent of their maximum bandwidth and frequency changed easily.

When testing of the Synology RT6600ax router started, we decided to test the wireless 160Mhz WiFi connection with the Killer AX m.2 802.11ax adapter AND connect to the router via its 2.5Gps connection over wired LAN. Straight away, windows reported both connections as 2.4Gobs and 2.5Gos respectively. This still left ample wireless connectivity on the 80Mhz and 160Mhz bands to share and in both cases, we were able to fully saturate the ethernet connection with ease.

Of course, one of the biggest draws of the Synology Router systems is their support of intelligent profiles and management. Alongside the ability to create user profiles for all connected users, you can connect individual devices to those users and then spread access rules to be applied to that user’s devices easily and borderline instantaneously. This extends to creating website access rules, internet access rules that are shared between devices and preset rules that allow you to impose access conduct configurations in around 3 clicks that are tailored towards friends, family or professional colleagues.

Despite the usability and ease of use that SRM 1.3 brings in the RT6600ax, it is worth highlighting that, at least at the time of writing, mesh router support of this system in conjunction with existing MR2200ac mesh router systems is not supported until they roll out an SRM 1.3 update. Until then, you can only utilize mesh router deployment with the use of other RT6600ax routers, which is arguably less than ideal. This will no doubt be addressed soon, but for those looking at replacing the RT2600ac in their mesh system set up with an RT6600ax, it might be worth sitting on the fence a while longer.

SRM 1.3 is arguably not a huge upheaval from SRM 1.2 on the RT2600ac and MR2200ac, adding only a few extra features and tweaking the GUI. That said the improvements in Synology DS Router 2.0 for Android and iOS (as well as the utilities of SRM generally) result in by far the easiest to use router management software that I have ever used. For more information on the software and services included with SRM 1.3 on the RT6600ax router, I recommend that you read the massive FULL router manager software review below:

Synology Router Manager 1.3 Review Chapters SRM 1.3 Synology Router Software Review, ALL Parts - HERE SRM 1.3 Synology Router Software Review, Part 1, Design & Control - HERE SRM 1.3 Synology Router Software Review, Part 2, Safety & Security - HERE SRM 1.3 Synology Router Software Review, Part 3, Network Management - HERE SRM 1.3 Synology Router Software Review, Part 4, Safe Access - HERE SRM 1.3 Synology Router Software Review, Part 5, USB Storage Services & Conclusion - HERE

Alternatively, you can watch the FULL review of Synology’s SRM 1.3 Router Software on YouTube via the link below:

Synology RT6600ax Router Review – Review Conclusion

The Synology RT6600ax IS a very, very good router. So many users will never graduate from their ISP router and never understand the benefits of a premium solution, gauging the Synology RT6600ax as something of an indulgence. However, as WiFi 6 continue to rise in popularity, more client hardware arrives with 802.11ax support and adapters to upgrade towards AX wifi over PCIe and USB appear, the RT6600ax is something that family/business users are going to want to consider to monitor and customize their own networks. That said, although the hardware the RT6600ax arrives with is a big jump up compared with the RT2600ac and MR2200ac, the software is a tad less ambitious and given that SRM 1.2 will likely upgrade towards 1.3 on those legacy devices, the Synology RT6600a is less appealing as an immediate upgrade over the RT2600ac right now. Ultimately, if you were a first-time adopter of the Synology 6600ax router, you cannot fault the software and hardware right now and it more than justifies the price tag for its software alone. Add to that the increased bandwidth potential of 5.9Ghz and greater 160Mhz support and you are getting a tremendously future proof product. That said, if you are already an owner of the RT2600ac or an existing MR2200ax mesh router owner, you might find that recent improvements in virtual networks and SSID creation are not enough to justify the upgrade (unless you are already well into your WiFi 6 environment upgrade). The RT6600ax is EASILY the most powerful and capable router that Synology has ever produced and with great software to boot. Even if it is slightly overshadowed by WiFi 6E, it still stands tremendously proud in the existing prosumer router solutions in the market right now, despite its higher price tag.

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Summary

Reviewer

Robbie

Review Date

2022-05-06

Reviewed Item

Synology RT6600ax Router Review

Author Rating

4