Zyxel Nebula FWA505 review

Zyxel’s Nebula NFWA505 is designed to present wire-free net access. This compact desktop Wi-Fi router teams up 5G pinch Wi-Fi 6 services and targets a wide assemblage including mini businesses, SOHOs, mobile workers, pop-up stores and those that can’t get decent fixed-line broadband speeds.

The FWA505 replaces Zyxel’s older NR5101, but is much competitively priced and sees a creation refresh, pinch each ports arranged vertically astatine nan rear. The position LEDs person been moved from nan guidelines to nan beforehand of nan portion and it besides sports a brace of smaller TS-9 connectors astatine nan backmost for optional outer aerials.

Two gigabit ports are provided, pinch nan first offering LAN aliases automatic WAN failover services and nan 2nd utilized for connecting different devices to its network. Its Wi-Fi 6 AP is AX1800-rated and delivers speeds of up to 1,200Mbits/sec connected its 5GHZ power and 573Mbits/sec connected nan 2.4GHz one.

As nan exemplary sanction indicates, nan FWA505 tin beryllium cloud-managed from Zyxel’s Nebula Control Center (NCC), and nan value includes a one-year Pro Pack license, pinch consequent years costing astir £28. You’ll request to familiarize yourself pinch its section web console, though, arsenic dissimilar Zyxel’s afloat compliant Nebula wireless APs and information routers, nan FWA505 doesn’t broadcast unreality SSIDs and tin only beryllium configured from its ain interface.

It’s easy capable to deploy arsenic nan web interface loads a wizard to get you started. Zyxel supplied our reappraisal portion pinch a Vodafone 5G SIM installed successful nan micro-SIM slot successful nan base, which provided instant cellular net access.

The web console opens pinch a dashboard showing nan position of section and net connections, cellular position and specifications of wireless networks. A default SSID is provided for some radios and, though it uses nan weaker WPA2 encryption, nan encryption cardinal is randomly generated and you tin easy switch to nan much unafraid WPA3.

Up to 4 SSIDs are supported, pinch 3 unafraid impermanent wireless networks already configured for you. These tin beryllium modified arsenic required pinch nan Guest WiFi tickbox enabling L2 isolation truthful users connected these SSIDs only get net access.

Network information is coming and correct, pinch nan router’s firewall offering 3 protection levels that tin beryllium quickly selected utilizing a slider bar. Custom firewall rules comprising protocols, larboard numbers and ACL (access power list) entries tin beryllium created, while parental control profiles limit net entree to circumstantial days and times and enforce URL and keyword blocking.

The gigabit WAN larboard tin beryllium utilized for net entree and teamed up pinch nan mobile SIM for failover. We tested this by pulling nan cablegram retired and nan router automatically swapped complete to its 5G SIM successful 1 minute.

The FWA505 besides delivers respectable wireless speeds. Copies of a 25GB trial record betwixt a Windows 11 Pro workstation equipped pinch a TP-Link Archer TBE550E Wi-Fi 7 adapter and a server connected nan gigabit LAN averaged 107MB/sec astatine adjacent range, dropping to 85MB/sec pinch nan router 10 meters distant successful an adjoining room.

Adding nan FWA505 to our NCC relationship was elemental arsenic we scanned its QR codification from an iPad moving nan Nebula iOS app. A mobile router position widget is added to nan tract dashboard and selecting it provides much hardware details, a location representation and distant firmware upgrade services, positive views of WAN and cellular position and accusation astir wired and wireless clients.

The NCC Pro Pack licence increases postulation monitoring from 24 hours to 30 days but, much importantly, enables a distant configurator. Select this from nan router’s Live Tools conception and it will found a unafraid HTTPS distant web console convention truthful you tin entree each its settings.

Any small business and distant workers that want to spell wholly wireless will find nan Zyxel Nebula FWA505 an affordable solution. It’s good designed, easy to use, delivers respectable wireless capacity and tin beryllium remotely managed from Zyxel’s Nebula unreality portal.

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