Official: Portal Router - High Tech router technology, move your WiFi to the Fast Lane

KWSW

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Apparatus

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https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/33079-ignition-design-labs-portal-reviewed

Cons:

1. Wired router throughput may be iffy for gigabit-grade services
2. Storage sharing is very slow
3. Features still a work in progress

I'm not so concerned with 3 since i am sure more still will come out with firmware updates but can you do a test for 1 and 2? My main devices at home are still wired up so this is a concern.

Thanks for the link

From the tests it seems the Portal is good for the newer 5GHz devices as it shows poor performance for 2.4GHz devices. Also, this Portal has many issues as reported in their forum/blog. I think I'll wait for the Portal v2 then
 
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evildoctor

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For Asus Trend Micro, they have a anti-virus engine integrated into the router? If so, how do we know how often is the database updated?

Ok thanks for the replies again.

From what I know a firewall with IDS cannot prevent against virus/malware attack just like in your PC. Firewall with IDS is to prevent unwanted external network intrusion and not against virus/malware. If you use a PC with firewalll and IDS you should know this.

You'll need an antivirus or antimalware product to do it. And that's why ASUS teams up with Trend Micro to provide protection for IoT devices.

Can you check with Portal on this? Otherwise user will need another device to connect to the Portal router to protect their IoT devices like the Norton Core, BitDefender Box, Bullguard Dojo etc

BTW, what chipset is Portal using ie. Broadcom, Qualcomm etc?


Thanks again
 

Apparatus

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For Asus Trend Micro, they have a anti-virus engine integrated into the router? If so, how do we know how often is the database updated?

I think they are auto updated since the router is always connected to the net unlike say your PC/laptop
 

renfred89

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MichaelTan

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Thanks for the link

From the tests it seems the Portal is good for the newer 5GHz devices as it shows poor performance for 2.4GHz devices. I think I'll wait for the Portal v2 then

Smallnetbuilder's article was criticized for testing the old way and was inaccurate. However, please just take my statement as a placeholder while I get accurate critique on that.

In any case for most people there is no more 2.4GHz. In my home, I have turned off 2.4 for some years already, because there is always a risk that my devices will connect at 2.4 and slow down instead of the better 5Ghz signal. My suggestion to everybody: please turn off 2.4 it is your worst enemy in most cases.

Refer to here for aiprotection:

https://www.asus.com/support/faq/1012070/

Aiprotection isnt antivirus per say. It doesn't work on the level of scanning your computers as some malicious code can also bypass aiprotection but not antivirus..

I find these systems misleading and dangerous, and gives people a false sense of security. Picture the most effective attack vectors today, like the wannacry attack, these systems are totally useless against them. Personal discipline, best practices, and if you are really serious, enterprise grade security equipment, are much more important, and must be practiced, rather than things which claim to automate protection but end up as just a false sense of security. These features are nice on paper but you must take care of yourself, they won't do much to take care of you.

In any case, let me reiterate that, while the Portal router does all it can to protect in ways which are effective, it does address the most problematic parts of Wifi tech, which is congestion and neglect of 60% of the available channels. Refer to this excellent article from IEEE (also mentions the Portal)

http://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/wireless/why-wifi-stinksand-how-to-fix-it
 

Apparatus

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Refer to here for aiprotection:

https://www.asus.com/support/faq/1012070/

Aiprotection isnt antivirus per say. It doesn't work on the level of scanning your computers as some malicious code can also bypass aiprotection but not antivirus..



Thanks for the link.

According to the link there's no protection against virus/malware infection although it's designed to protect the router and IoT devices against others as listed in the link.

You'll need a device like Norton Core to do that

https://us.norton.com/core-secure-router-features
 

Apparatus

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Smallnetbuilder's article was criticized for testing the old way and was inaccurate. However, please just take my statement as a placeholder while I get accurate critique on that.

In any case for most people there is no more 2.4GHz. In my home, I have turned off 2.4 for some years already, because there is always a risk that my devices will connect at 2.4 and slow down instead of the better 5Ghz signal. My suggestion to everybody: please turn off 2.4 it is your worst enemy in most cases.



I find these systems misleading and dangerous, and gives people a false sense of security. Picture the most effective attack vectors today, like the wannacry attack, these systems are totally useless against them. Personal discipline, best practices, and if you are really serious, enterprise grade security equipment, are much more important, and must be practiced, rather than things which claim to automate protection but end up as just a false sense of security. These features are nice on paper but you must take care of yourself, they won't do much to take care of you.

In any case, let me reiterate that, while the Portal router does all it can to protect in ways which are effective, it does address the most problematic parts of Wifi tech, which is congestion and neglect of 60% of the available channels. Refer to this excellent article from IEEE (also mentions the Portal)

http://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/wireless/why-wifi-stinksand-how-to-fix-it

I only like to speak on the 2.4GHz issue.

You are wrong in that 2.4GHz is no longer in use.

Are you aware that wireless video doorbell and its doorbell chimes (which I own) are using 2.4GHz WiFi? Also, smart devices like wireless door locks, window alarms, fire alarms etc are also using the 2.4GHz band and especially for those IoT devices.

FYI, any smart wireless device to be used at long distance or have obstructions in-between will need 2.4GHz for better connection over the 5GHz band.

In fact, almost all devices comes with 2.4/5GHz even in smartphones, laptops etc. You can't always assume you'll have a good 5GHz connection if you use your laptop and sitting at a corner in the library, ok?
 
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MichaelTan

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I only like to speak on the 2.4GHz issue.

You are wrong in that 2.4GHz is no longer in use.

Are you aware that wireless video doorbell and its doorbell chimes (which I own) are using 2.4GHz WiFi? Also, smart devices like wireless door locks, window alarms, fire alarms etc are also using the 2.4GHz band and especially for those IoT devices.

FYI, any smart wireless device to be used at long distance or have obstructions in-between will need 2.4GHz for better connection over the 5GHz band.

In fact, almost all devices comes with 2.4/5GHz even in smartphones, laptops etc. You can't always assume you'll have a good 5GHz connection if you use your laptop and sitting at a corner in the library, ok?

Thanks for pointing that out. I never said 2.4 was not in use. I said turn off 2.4 for better performance. As you pointed out, all the 2.4 devices you mentioned are devices which speed don't really matter. And at the margin of reception, 2.4's speed at peak doesn't really matter, what you want is hopefully reception without interference.

If I had 2.4 devices, I would buy a cheap and good S$35 AP/router to handle them, under totally different SSID than the fast 5ghz AP I want to handle my mobile devices and fast laptops. Why? So that my fast device will NOT be confused and try to connect at 2.4 rather than 5 - I'd rather not depend on band steering to steer my device from 2.4 to 5 even though on the Portal band steering tends to work quite well.

Let me give you a scenario on a normal router, on why i think 2.4 should be disabled for your main AP.

both 2.4 and 5 enabled on normal router

Mobile phone, you are walking home from outside. at 50m away from home your mobile phone connects to home wifi 2.4, when you reach home, still at 2.4! 5 is ready and present but it will take a LOOONG time for band steering to coax your mobile to 5 if you're lucky!

Only 5 enabled - Mobile phone will connect to 5 at 35m away. Stays at 5.

Obviously 2.4 has longer distance than 5 - and that's its weakness because neighbor 2.4 will stray into your signal space and screw up everything with interference. in a library etc where you have NO control, can't help it. But if you're in control of your house wifi, 2.4 is an quite bad and has terrible interference issues unless you're a billionaire staying far away from others with a big house area.

Just having a connection, but without ability to detect and counter inteference issues, results in really bad speed.

Just for interest's sake, the Portal router you can always set your 5GHz bandwidth at VHT80 and interference won't be an issue as it will switch channels if your VHT80 bandwidth has interference.

This is a much better experience than my previous experience with some other solutions, when you set at VHT80 bandwidth neighbor router will screw around with my wifi and distance and speed decreases dramatically. So router vendor actually mentioned to me to set my 5ghz bandwidth to VHT20 or VHT40 to reduce interference, but in doing so reduced speed so much that I wondered why I bought that router which advertises (but doesn't deliver) so high speed at the first place.
 

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Hi MichaelTan

Wrt your aforementioned explanation can you explain why Portal puts a lousy 2.4GHz band into their device? Why not remove it and just have a single band 5GHz will do? And you expect me to turn off the 2.4GHz band and use only the 5GHz band in the Portal?

I know you want to promote the strength of Portal's 5GHz but, as a user, if the device comes with dual bands then we'll need to use them, right?

Also, I noticed from the forum/blog at Portal website that this model is also having many issues ah

Do you have a unit with you? If yes, I believe the EULA should be inside. Can attach a copy here?
 

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Hi MichaelTan

Wrt your aforementioned explanation can you explain why Portal puts a lousy 2.4GHz band into their device? Why not remove it and just have a single band 5GHz will do? And you expect me to turn off the 2.4GHz band and use only the 5GHz band in the Portal?

I know you want to promote the strength of Portal's 5GHz but, as a user, if the device comes with dual bands then we'll need to use them, right?

Also, I noticed from the forum/blog at Portal website that this model is also having many issues ah

Do you have a unit with you? If yes, I believe the EULA should be inside. Can attach a copy here?

Most router have dual bands, whats wrong with that ?
 

Apparatus

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Most router have dual bands, whats wrong with that ?

What's wrong with what?

If the Portal has a lousy 2.4GHz then it should not be there in the 1st place. Just designed and sell with only a 5GHz will do. Did you read the report of the Portal's performance in the 1st place?

And, like Michael Tan said, add a cheap 2.4GHz router for the 2.4GHz devices
 

MichaelTan

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haiz. no need to pick a fight over this. Don't be offended.

I was just giving a friendly suggestion. Nothing to do with Portal. I'm not really alone in saying avoid 2.4. Here's something: http://www.networkcomputing.com/wir...-should-disable-24-ghz-radios-wlan/1583544862

I don't have a unit with me right now, will post tomorrow. As mentioned my house still using ubnt. Here's a pic of the dedicated 5ghz APs. There's one spare AP I had which is giving free 20mbit to neighbouring foreign workers and maids using 2.4 for distance.

FuTj1nA.png
 

manyu882

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Thanks for pointing that out. I never said 2.4 was not in use. I said turn off 2.4 for better performance. As you pointed out, all the 2.4 devices you mentioned are devices which speed don't really matter. And at the margin of reception, 2.4's speed at peak doesn't really matter, what you want is hopefully reception without interference.

If I had 2.4 devices, I would buy a cheap and good S$35 AP/router to handle them, under totally different SSID than the fast 5ghz AP I want to handle my mobile devices and fast laptops. Why? So that my fast device will NOT be confused and try to connect at 2.4 rather than 5 - I'd rather not depend on band steering to steer my device from 2.4 to 5 even though on the Portal band steering tends to work quite well.

Let me give you a scenario on a normal router, on why i think 2.4 should be disabled for your main AP.

both 2.4 and 5 enabled on normal router

Mobile phone, you are walking home from outside. at 50m away from home your mobile phone connects to home wifi 2.4, when you reach home, still at 2.4! 5 is ready and present but it will take a LOOONG time for band steering to coax your mobile to 5 if you're lucky!

Only 5 enabled - Mobile phone will connect to 5 at 35m away. Stays at 5.

Obviously 2.4 has longer distance than 5 - and that's its weakness because neighbor 2.4 will stray into your signal space and screw up everything with interference. in a library etc where you have NO control, can't help it. But if you're in control of your house wifi, 2.4 is an quite bad and has terrible interference issues unless you're a billionaire staying far away from others with a big house area.

Just having a connection, but without ability to detect and counter inteference issues, results in really bad speed.

Just for interest's sake, the Portal router you can always set your 5GHz bandwidth at VHT80 and interference won't be an issue as it will switch channels if your VHT80 bandwidth has interference.

This is a much better experience than my previous experience with some other solutions, when you set at VHT80 bandwidth neighbor router will screw around with my wifi and distance and speed decreases dramatically. So router vendor actually mentioned to me to set my 5ghz bandwidth to VHT20 or VHT40 to reduce interference, but in doing so reduced speed so much that I wondered why I bought that router which advertises (but doesn't deliver) so high speed at the first place.

Why buy an AP? A simple solution to avoid this is not to add the 2.4Ghz SSID to the list of network in the client.
 
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MichaelTan

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Why buy an AP? A simple solution to avoid this is not to add the 2.4Ghz SSID to the list of network in the client.

Duh. You're right. In my (personal) quest of purity and not wanting my main APs to be corrupted by 2.4 I forgot you could just set the 2.4 as another ssid and don't connect your fast devices to it.

You see what happens when zealotry comes into play? Lol my bad and thank you for your suggestion.
 

tungsten2

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What's wrong with what?

If the Portal has a lousy 2.4GHz then it should not be there in the 1st place. Just designed and sell with only a 5GHz will do. Did you read the report of the Portal's performance in the 1st place?

And, like Michael Tan said, add a cheap 2.4GHz router for the 2.4GHz devices

With this kind of poor logics, than you might as well tell ASUS, hey your 5Ghz suck, all your $400+ routers should design with the 5Ghz disable. Haha..............
 

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Got my hands on a review unit and finally had some time to play around with it and test it out with my MioTv/SingTel Tv.

Just some quick images of the packaging and the device itself.

The Portal Router's packaging with 3 Year warranty by Convergent.

4IFQ3yX.jpg


Included in the package:
A Quick Start user guide, Portal Router, Ethernet cable, Power Plug and FCC specifications sheet.

Mg2fyqT.jpg


3 Pin and 2 Pin adaptors included to use with the provided plug.

2jML24j.jpg


View of the Portal Router's IO:
DC In Power, WAN Port, 4x Ethernet Ports, 2x USB Ports and Reset Button.

VV5Oqeq.jpg


Will do more tests and slightly detailed review over this weekend.

Just some quick impressions -- it's extremely easy and user-friendly to set up.
5Ghz WiFi performance has been outstanding.
 
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MichaelTan

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Question: Can handle how many session???
Sorry for the delayed response but we wanted a confirmed. one.

Maximum connections supported: Portal supports up-to 16K NAT sessions. QA team has tested the Portal with 15K concurrent NAT sessions with UDP connections.
 
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