ZyXEL is one of the most recognizable brands in the Russian communications equipment market. This corporation is known as a provider of high-tech and productive routers adapted for the deployment of Wi-Fi infrastructure in home and corporate networks. Among the most popular solutions from ZyXEL, used for such purposes, is the Keenetic Ultra router. What are its main advantages? What are the features of setting up this device?
Device Basics
The ZyXEL Keenetic Ultra router, which you can often hear about, is released by the Taiwanese corporation along with 2 other high-tech models of the Keenetic line - Keenetic II routers, as well as Keenetic Giga II. They are united by the presence in the hardware of a high-performance Mediatek RT 6856 microcircuit. The indicated routers differ mainly in some parameters of communication interfaces. It can be noted that each of them is equipped with 2 USB ports in version 2.0, which makes it possible to connect various additional devices to the routers. All three devices from ZyXEL provide stable operation of the home network, reliable, universal.
It can be noted that after the market of the device in question, its updated modification - ZyXEL Keenetic Ultra 2 - has already come out. Reviews about it are also very positive. Further in the article we will study its main competitive advantages. For now, let's take a closer look at the features of such a device as the ZyXEL Keenetic Ultra router. Let's start by studying its appearance.
Appearance and design
The router is made of glossy black plastic. The device has rather small dimensions - 186 x 121 x 38 mm, although they are quite typical for home routers. Experts regard the placement of the WPS button on the top of the case as a very successful manufacturer’s decision. By using it, you can quickly connect devices to the router wirelessly. If necessary, using this button you can also turn off Wi-Fi interfaces.
On the right side of the device’s case are USB ports. According to experts, the distance between them is quite large, which allows you to connect almost any USB device to the router at the same time - they will not contact. In the back of the case there are other communication connectors - WAN, LAN, a power connector, an FN button, which is used to safely disconnect USB flash drives, as well as a switch.
Antennas ZyXEL Keenetic Ultra router has a non-removable. It can be noted that they have a power of 3 dBi and are classified as external omnidirectional.
In the front of the case there are various indicators of the device functioning, which signal:
- about nutrition;
- about the status of the connection;
- On the status of wireless modules, as well as USB ports.
The indicators of the router are green. If any interface is active, then they begin to flash. How do experts evaluate the quality of the design and build of the ZyXEL Keenetic Ultra? Feedback on this aspect is very positive. The device is assembled efficiently, the main elements of its control are placed quite conveniently. Now let's consider what hardware components the router includes, as well as how experts evaluate the equipment of the device.
Hardware components
As we noted above, the ZyXEL Keenetic Ultra router is equipped with a high-performance Mediatek RT 6856 processor. It can be noted that the corresponding chip was developed by Mediatek after merging with another well-known brand-manufacturer of electronic components - Ralink Technology.
The processor, which incorporates the communication device in question, operates at a frequency of 700 MHz, supports the connection of USB ports, as well as PCIe buses, through which the operation of wireless modules also installed in the device is provided. We are talking about the radio units RT5392L, which provides the operation of Wi-Fi connections in the 2.4 GHz band at speeds within 300 Mbps, as well as the RT3593L, which is responsible for transmitting data in the 5 GHz band at speeds within 450 Mbps . It can be noted that the second module of the ZyXEL Keenetic Ultra router (the most positive feedback from experts regarding this option) allows you to use 16 channels within the wireless infrastructure.
The device in question is equipped with a 16 MB flash memory, as well as a 256 MB RAM module, which, therefore, has a rather large resource, experts say. The operation of the network switch is carried out due to the RTL 8367RB chip that supports Jumbo Frames interfaces.
Thus, the ZyXEL Keenetic Ultra device (reviews of experts allow us to attribute it to one of the most competitive solutions in the segment) has a high-performance processor, equipped with a sufficiently large amount of RAM, as well as efficient wireless interfaces.
Configuring a router using the web interface: nuances
It will be useful to study the configuration features of the device in question. It is carried out in the models of the ZyXEL Keenetic-Ultra II line (expert reviews generally characterize the corresponding interfaces as very convenient and universal) through a special settings panel, which is used via a browser.
This web interface, it should be noted, may differ in appearance from models of routers with old firmware. In it, the main menu, in particular, is located at the bottom of the page. The main groups of settings are only indicated by icons, but not signed - however, tooltips can be used. In order to navigate between different pages, you can use the bookmarks located in the upper area of the browser window.
Configure basic router options
The considered ZyXEL Keenetic Ultra web interface (expert reviews regarding this feature are also positive) is characterized by the presence of a large number of functions that successfully complement those that are directly related to the configuration of the router. Among those are the “System Monitor”. With it, you can see if everything is in order with the current connections, get acquainted with the status of the main modules of the router.
In order to configure the settings for connecting to the network, you must enter the Internet settings group. It is noteworthy that the firmware installed on the router allows you to install several connection profiles, as well as set priorities for each of them.
Connecting to a network using a device such as a ZyXEL Keenetic Ultra Wi-Fi router (expert reviews regarding this feature is most positive) can be carried out using the most popular interfaces, such as PPPoE, PPTP, 3G or 4G, when connecting a modem that supports transmission data through the appropriate channels to the USB port of the router.
It can be noted that the router supports IPv6 protocol, DDNS interface, and also allows you to create your own network routes. You can also use VPN clients - for example, when organizing a local network in the office.
The web interface of the device in question allows you to configure wired ports, which makes it possible, for example, to use several WAN connections. Another notable router option is the ability to switch between different providers. Moreover, this procedure can be carried out either manually or automatically, depending on the priorities set by the user.
In the web interface of the ZyXEL Keenetic Ultra router, the local network is configured in the “Home Network” option group. Here you can set the IP address of the router, the parameters of the DHCP server, NAT interfaces, as well as ICMP Proxy. Wireless modules are also configured in a separate section of the web interface. In it you can set such parameters as:
- network name;
- data transfer encryption mode;
- region;
- channel type;
- wireless signal strength;
- WPS.
The interface does not allow you to select the channel width, but this is not critical, since the corresponding parameter, which is determined automatically, almost always allows you to provide network functionality. If necessary, the user can create a wireless guest network operating in the 2.4 GHz band.
As with many other modern routers, the ZyXEL Keenetic Ultra Wi-Fi router allows you to set a filter by the MAC addresses of connected devices. In addition, if necessary, you can use a firewall, which is also often used in the configuration of modern local area networks. So, you can create access rules for it, which will take into account the parameters of ports, network addresses, protocols, directly the communication interface. You can configure access to network resources using a special redirection table.
If we talk about other noteworthy network options that enable the ZyXEL Keenetic Ultra router, then you can pay attention to services such as SkyDNS, as well as Yandex.DNS. Using them, the user can significantly enhance the protection of computers from malicious content downloaded from the Internet. Both services allow you to define a separate filtering level for each device.
Firmware
The next notable group of options for the router’s web interface is “Components”. Here you can find out which version of the firmware is installed in the device, and if necessary, update it. In addition, the user can select only those software modules that he needs to solve specific problems - for example, to provide a connection via 4G channels.
After the ZyXEL Keenetic Ultra router is configured , the user will be able to use all the hardware functions of the device that are available based on its configuration. Among them is the ability to connect additional devices to the router via USB ports. We study the features of this option in more detail.
USB device connection
The device is equipped with USB 2.0 ports that support connection:
- external drives;
- 3G and 4G modems;
- printers.
In total, there are 2 free ports of the corresponding type available on the router, but if necessary, you can also use a USB hub and thus increase the number of connectors.
Drive Connection
If we talk about working with drives, the router supports devices with common file systems, such as FAT32, NTFS, EXT2, EXT3, as well as HFS +, if the compatibility module is installed with it.
If necessary, you can configure access to local resources through the SMB protocol or FTP. The user has the ability to select a specific access policy for the relevant resources. So, it can allow all interested users to connect to the media. Another option - subject to a separate login and password, allow access to the ZyXEL Keenetic router. The reviews reflect the positive opinion of experts regarding this opportunity. If you use the FTP protocol, you can restrict third-party access to resources to the level of a specific directory.
Connecting modems to access a cellular network
Among the most notable features of the device is a connection to modems that provide Internet access via 3G and 4G channels. The device supports the appropriate communication infrastructure produced by most market leading equipment manufacturers. The router is able to organize data transfer using a cellular network with the support of NDIS technology, which makes it possible to achieve high file exchange speeds.
In practice, as experts note, the data transfer speed using 3G or 4G modems when connected to a router is almost the same as when exchanging files from a computer using the appropriate type of mobile device directly.
Connecting printers to a router
Another remarkable feature of the router is the ability to connect printers with the subsequent organization of access to it through the network. In this case, it is supposed to use mainly Windows network software in order to configure this option. In this case, the user has the ability to provide appropriate access only to specific users.
Assessment of the speed of the device
So, we examined the main features of the device and studied the features of its settings. How do users and experts evaluate the effectiveness of the router in practice?
If we talk about wired USB interfaces, experts note, first of all, the high speed of data transfer when used. Which is quite logical - thanks to the router’s support for CIFC and NTFS technologies. Of course, the fact that the router is equipped with high-performance chips plays a role. If we talk about the data transfer speed when connecting to the Internet using PPPoE mode, as experts say, it is quite possible to achieve speeds of 420 or even 450 Mb / s.
In comparison with the performance of other routers of the corresponding segment, the results of the ZyXEL Keenetic Ultra device, reviews of experts confirm this, they look more than competitive. In a number of interfaces, the data transfer speed of the router is limited, this is due to the need to ensure the stable operation of a number of key functions of the device. In particular, a similar feature characterizes the exchange of data between the router and disk drives. As a rule, the recording speed of files using the appropriate channels does not exceed 5 MB / s.
Features of the device in the version of Ultra II
At the beginning of the article, we noted that a newer modification of the device under consideration, Ultra II, was launched on the market. It will also be useful to study its main features. The main competitive advantages of the ZyXEL Keenetic Ultra II modem are reviews of experts:
- Equipped with a high-performance processor with 2 cores;
- availability of a 256 MB RAM module;
- support for 8 Ethernet ports;
- compatibility with devices connected to the USB 3.0 port;
- ensuring data transfer with a speed of up to 1 Gbit / s;
- the availability of the ability to use the file server, torrent client;
- compatibility with protection algorithms Yandex.DNS, as well as SkyDNS;
- the ability to control the device using a mobile application.
Among other notable options of the ZyXEL Ultra II device:
- file server support;
- compatibility with DLNA;
- UDP support;
- providing shared access to printers;
- support for dynamic DNS.
The router provides routing speed for data transmission via PPPoE protocol up to 1800 Mbit / s, while using the PPTP standard - up to 800 Mbit / s. This allows you to use the device in order to ensure the functioning of the wireless infrastructure in networks with a sufficiently large load.
The considered modem modification from ZyXEL is adapted to ensure the operation of televisions in IPTV standards, as well as Smart TV. How do experts evaluate the quality of work of such a device as a ZyXEL Keenetic Ultra II router? Expert reviews regarding the capabilities of this device are positive, as is the case with the previous model. The device copes with the main tasks perfectly, it works stably and quickly. The device is convenient to use, as well as to configure it - both using traditional interfaces and using mobile applications.
What do they say about such a device as a ZyXEL Keenetic Ultra II router, reviews of specialists? It is a modernized version of the device in question, which has preserved, on the one hand, support for its main technologies, and on the other, supplemented the corresponding solutions with a number of modern options. The router in the Ultra II version assumes achievement of even more impressive performance indicators due to the processor with 2 cores, as well as support for high-speed data exchange standards.