Buffalo AirStation AC1300/N900 Gigabit Dual Band WZR-D1800H

Buffalo is the first networking hardware vendor to bring an 802.11ac router to the market?the AirStation AC1300/N900 Gigabit Dual Band WZR-D1800H. Not only is 11ac functionality added to the AirStation, but the actual design has been refreshed from previous AirStations to make for a modern-looking, stylish device. Performance results show that the 802.11ac standard is technology to get excited about, as the device set a new router throughput record in testing (and that's testing with an 802.11n client). The only unfortunate aspect to the D1800H is an atrocious, cluttered management interface that looks like a frame-based website from the 1990s.

802.11ac and the AirStation Design
The first thing you should notice about the latest AirStation router is that its name does not contain the words "802.11ac." This is because the 802.11ac standard has not yet been ratified so no routers can be given the Wi-Fi Alliance?s certification as 802.11ac devices. The packaging details (in very small letters) that the router is?802.11ac draft.

The D1800H?s chassis deviates from the standard black, shiny plastic housing of other AirStation routers such as the Buffalo AirStation Nfiniti High Power Giga Wireless-N Router & Access Point (WZR-HP-G450H). Instead, the chassis has a matte, black casing (which is very prone to smudge)?with a dark grey decorative framing. Gone are the external antennas of previous AirStations.

Inside, the router uses the Broadcom chipset, which makes sense as Broadcom is the first chip maker to manufacture Gigabit 802.11ac chips. The D1800H also uses a 3x3 MIMO antenna configuration.

The back panel has a button to power the router on and off, a USB port, USB device eject button, WAN port, and four Gigabit Ethernet ports. There's also a button to turn on and off the WAN connection.

The front of the router has an AOSS button. AOSS is Buffalo's proprietary version of WPS (Wireless Protected Setup) although the D1800H also supports WPS. There are also three LEDs on the front for Wi-Fi connectivity, WAN activity, and a Router LED indicating if router functionality is enabled.

The unit ships with a stand to operate it horizontally, but you can lay it flat as well, although the sides bulge out just slightly. Wall mount screws are included and there are pre-made holes in between the frame and chassis to mount the device.

Other contents that come in the package include an illustrated setup guide, a connection guide for Android devices, an AirNavigation CD, and a handy plastic card that has the pre-configured SSID, password key, and wireless security type printed on it.

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Setup
On power-up, the D1800H's Buffalo logo glows red. Once the router is fully initialized, the emblem glows a soft white and the LEDs light up blue.

You can use either the instructions printed on the setup guide or the AirStation CD to set up the device. Advanced users can use the setup guide but newbies may get confused because there are a few steps missing in the guide. For instance, the guide instructs Windows users to go the wireless settings in the Windows 7 system tray and enter the credentials printed on the plastic card for setting up wireless connectivity. The step missing is that you have to actually click from the wireless settings into Windows' "Open Network and Sharing Center" and then setup a new wireless connection. From there, you can enter the proper credentials.

Setup using the CD is simpler although Buffalo still has not created a "no-brainer" wireless, automated setup experience such as Cisco Linksys offers with its EA series routers. However, most users should have little problem following the CD's setup wizard.

Of course, you can also bypass the CD and guide and simply connect a cable to one of the LAN ports. You can then fire up a browser to the IP address of the router which is 192.168.11.1 and configure the router, provided the computer you are using to setup is DHCP-enabled.

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