Xiaomi AC2100 Mi Router REVIEW In-Depth: Why Is This a Gaming Router?

More than a month ago I ordered Xiaomi AC2100 Mi Router in China, and it was only delivered yesterday. Given the difficult situation in the world with the coronavirus, I can’t complain about the slow delivery.

Coming back to Xiaomi AC2100 Mi Router, I can’t say it’s a new router because it was released in November 2019. However, I found only a few hands-on reviews of this router, which is very strange because I think it is a very interesting device.

First, Xiaomi AC2100 attracts attention with its design. It’s not like other modern routers. It doesn’t even have external antennas. However, the manufacturer claims it’s a game router. Why is this a game router? Let’s find out.

I suggest to start the review with unboxing, and then look at design, basic features and functions, and test the speed of Wi-Fi connection.

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Xiaomi AC2100 Mi Router Video Review

Unboxing

Xiaomi AC2100 router is released only in China, and is not officially sold on the international market, for example, US, Europe countries, etc. So, all the inscriptions on the box are in Chinese.

Inside the box, there is a router in a factory film, a user manual in Chinese, which is one piece of paper, and another small box with power supply and internet cable.

Design

As I already said, Xiaomi AC2100 router looks quite unusual. It has cylindrical shape, and looks like a wireless smart speaker like Amazon Echo.

As you can see, Xiaomi router has no external antennas, unlike other routers. On the top, there is only Xiaomi logo, while on the bottom, we can see a rubberized circle so the router doesn’t slide on the surface.

In addition, there is a sticker on the bottom with serial number, MAC address and other information.

On one side of the router you will find three LAN ports, one WAN port, a reset button and a power connector.

If we talk about build quality of Xiaomi AC2100, the router is made of matte plastic. The device is very lightweight despite its quite large size.

Perhaps that’s all I can say about the design of Xiaomi AC2100. Oh, I forgot to say that it has only two light indicators: Internet and System.

Specifications

Now let’s talk about the specifications and main features of this router. Why does the Chinese manufacturer call Xiaomi AC2100 a game router?

I think one of the main reasons why Xiaomi AC2100 is considered a gaming router, it supports NetEase UU. It is a built-in accelerator that provides high performance in online gaming on game consoles.

Also Xiaomi router supports dual band Wi-Fi. The 2.4GHz bandwidth is 300Mbps and 5GHz bandwidth is 1733Mbps.

Although Xiaomi AC2100 has no external antennas, it has four antennas inside the case with a 6-channel signal amplifier.

The router supports IPV6, IEEE 802.11 a/b/c/g/n/ac WiFi technology and IEEE 802.3/3u/3ab.

In terms of hardware, Xiaomi AC2100 is equipped with a dual-core processor with 800 MHz, 128MB RAM and 128MB constant memory.

I think only few people have finished this section because it is not very interesting to read the specifications. Let’s get down to connecting and configuring Xiaomi AC2100 Mi Router.

First Connection and Settings

I used the Xiaomi AC2100 Mi Router in repeater mode. In other words, I connected it to my main router, not directly through an Internet cable.

After you connected the power cable and the internet cable, you will immediately see two new internet networks on your smartphone or laptop: Xiaomi_A09C_5F63 and Xiaomi_A09C_5F63_5G. As you understand, the first network runs on the 2.4GHz range and the second network on the 5GHz range.

Connect to one of these networks, and you will be prompted to make the first settings.

Again, everything is in Chinese, but you just press the blue button.

Next, you will be prompted to enter the password for the Wi-Fi network.

Here we go! Basically, this is enough to start using the Xiaomi router.

Mi Wi-Fi app

More detailed settings and more functions are available in an application on your smartphone called Mi Wi-Fi or in a browser on your computer. Let’s start with the mobile app.

The Mi Wi-Fi app is available for both Android and iOS devices. You need to install the app and log in to your MIUI account.

Another important point is that I did not have the app running until I selected Mainland China region. If you can’t log in to the app either, then select the region of China.

Once you have logged into your account, the application will immediately find Xiaomi AC2100 Mi Router and ask you to connect to it. Click on – Pair Router.

Now you need to enter your password to log in to the application. The same password is used to log into the router’s control center in your browser.

Here we go!

On the home screen of Mi Wi-Fi application, you can see the devices that are connected to the router. In my case, it is a Redmi Note 7 smartphone.

At the top, you can see information about the download/upload speed and wireless network status.

In the Toolbox section you can check the Wi-Fi network speed, optimize Wi-Fi, configure the Firewall and go to the settings menu.

In the settings menu, you can set up Wi-Fi, network, reboot the router, see information about storage, hardware, system, and other options.

As you can see, not all the router’s settings are available with Mi Wi-Fi mobile application. If you need more settings, use Mi Wi-Fi control center in your browser on your computer.

Mi Wi-Fi Control Center in Browser

To access the Mi Wi-Fi Control Center in your browser, connect to one of the router’s Wi-Fi networks on your computer or laptop, then open your browser and enter 192.168.31.1.

The Mi Wi-Fi Control Center in the browser is completely in Chinese, but you can right-click on the screen and translate to English using Google Translate. This helps a lot.

First you need to enter your password. As I said before, this is the same password that you entered the Mi Wi-Fi mobile application when you first connected the Xiaomi AC2100 Mi router.

Next we see three tabs – Status, Normal settings and Advanced settings. The Status tab provides information about the status of the 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks, as well as the password and number of connected devices.

An interesting feature is Wi-Fi Dual band in one. If you turn it on, your device will automatically connect to 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks, depending on how fast the Wi-Fi connection is higher.

In principle, Mi Wi-Fi control center on the Xiaomi AC2100 Mi router has the same settings as any other router, such as black and white lists, software updates, DDNS, VPN and others.

Speed Test

Now let’s check the Wi-Fi network speeds on 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. I checked the speed on both my smartphone and laptop up to a distance of 1 meter from the router.

Should You Buy Xiaomi AC2100 Mi Router?

I think that Xiaomi AC2100 is a really good router for home Wi-Fi networks. Although I wasn’t able to test it for gaming features, just because I don’t have gaming consoles, the router offers good Wi-Fi speeds.

Also, Xiaomi AC2100 has a useful mobile app. If you need more settings, you can use the control center in your browser on computer.

The Xiaomi AC2100 Mi Router is completely worth its money – $50. If you liked this router too, I will leave a link below where you can buy it.

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