"Isn't it just a WiFi, what flowers can you play?"
I believe that most consumers have such an impression of "wireless routers", and at most they pay attention to the "signal is not strong enough to access the Internet or not." Friends who know a little about digital hardware may have tapped into and used some additional features of the current router. So, the router is just a digital tool that is actually important, but looks inconspicuous?
Like two sides of a coin, in the eyes of a certain group of people, the router is an omnipotent and fun treasure. A simple "swipe system" can make the mediocre router have many more functions, and even turn it into a game/TV box. The god with strong hands-on ability will even "rip open the belly" of the router and apply various tools to a hardcore upgrade. Think it's a fantasy? Enshan Wireless Forum to understand ~
Many friends have long been convinced by the various operations of the gods, hoping to experience the happiness brought by the router. Compared with tossing other digital products, the economic expenditure of tossing routers is indeed lower, but overturning is also commonplace, even if the gods have already shared all their experiences. Can playing with routers only gradually become legends of the digital age?
Recently, I came into contact with the SFT1200 Gigabit Wireless Router (hereinafter referred to as the SFT1200) launched by GL·iNet. The company that manufactures this router has been more engaged in 2B network and Internet of Things software and hardware solutions, which means that the technical strength is definitely excellent. In order to ensure product quality, they built their own intelligent manufacturing factories and developed an independent cloud platform, which makes the author look forward to the ability of this product.
Back to the product itself, this seemingly small and exquisite router, the brand side said that it contains unlimited possibilities. Before introducing its possibilities, I would like to start with the pain points that most consumers are concerned about.
Small and cute everyday essentials
In order to ensure performance and heat dissipation, today's routers are generally relatively large, and the size of the SFT1200 is quite small in comparison. How small is it? I took a photo of the SFT1200 and a certain brand of router I was using.
If that's not intuitive enough, I also have the SFT1200 vs. iPhone 13. Considering that this router supports access to USB traffic cards and mobile phones for network sharing, this volume is indeed quite nice. Combined with the folding dual antenna design of the fuselage, we can easily put the SFT1200 in the bag and let it work on business.
Speaking of which, you may not understand why you want to connect your mobile phone to SFT1200 via USB for network sharing. The first is network stability, through the SFT1200 network sharing, the loss of network speed is almost negligible, and the coverage of the network signal is also larger, compared to the mobile phone's own hotspot function is undoubtedly better. Secondly, the power consumption consideration, when the mobile phone is connected to the SFT1200, it can be charged while sharing the network, so as to achieve longer network sharing.
The USB interface on the fuselage can not only connect USB traffic cards and mobile phones for network sharing, but also plug in storage devices to achieve NAS function. It should be noted that the NAS function of the SFT1200 is implemented through the Samba service. Most ordinary consumers are not familiar with Samba service, fortunately there are many information about Samba on the Internet, interested friends can learn about it, and will not be repeated here.
Speaking of interfaces, we can see from the above figure that in addition to providing USB interfaces, the SFT1200 also has a WAN port and two LAN ports. Considering the product volume and the current consumer use environment, the two LAN ports are also enough. The LAN port can adapt to 10-1000M broadband, which basically covers the performance of the current civil network card.
To use the SFT1200 in your home, the process is actually quite simple. Taking the Unicom 100M network package used in my home as an example, you only need to ensure that the network cable and power supply are connected normally, and then wait for the SSID of the SFT1200 to appear in the WiFi list and connect. After connecting, we enter the router background address and we can start the configuration. The whole configuration process can be achieved without reading the manual, and there is no need to configure the dialing method.
Compared with the common router interface on the market now, the user interface of the SFT1200 is not difficult to get started, and the basic functions are also sufficient. Friends who have previously learned about the function of the router can easily find the configuration they want inside. To dig deep into the infinite possibilities of the SFT1200, it is necessary to study in depth.
Before sharing the gameplay of the SFT1200 with you in depth, let's first take a look at the more concerned network performance. Through the SpeedTest software, the author tested the performance of the SFT1200 in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands, respectively. The results show that the SFT1200's 2.4GHz transmission speed is relatively weak, while the 5GHz band can reach the mainstream level.
Subsequently, the author used the popular mobile game "Glory of the King" as a practical scene test project. In the case of connecting a 2.4GHz network, the speed measurement results given by the system can ensure the smooth operation of the game. In the actual game, the SFT1200 can achieve a minimum delay of 30ms, and the delay performance of the entire game is quite stable, and friends who like to play games can use it with confidence.
Small and powerful geek toys
As I mentioned above, digging deep into the infinite possibilities of the SFT1200 is to delve into its menu items. The SFT1200 menu does contain a lot of treasures in the "Applications" and "Advanced Options". First of all, let's look at the application piece, when we click on it, we can find that there are a lot of plugins, and the official claim is that there are 1000+ packages.
Among them, there are commonly used plug-ins such as blocking advertisements, as well as some plug-ins that can turn the SFT1200 into a carrier of business functions. You can harvest a large number of plug-ins without flashing the machine, play with various possibilities of SFT1200, and the power of SFT1200 can be expressed here. The only headache is that the instructions for these plugins are all in English, setting a certain threshold for users. However, friends who will notice the possibility of SFT1200, even if the English is not very smart, should have some experience and information to help.
If you feel that the massive plugins provided by the SFT1200 are not enough, then you can definitely install the Luci plugin in "Advanced Options". Router players should know that Luci is the front-end interface of the OpenWrt system. The reason why the SFT1200 supports so many plug-ins is precisely because it is a router that uses the OpenWrt system.
OpenWrt can be seen as an embedded Linux system that provides a fully writable file system that allows users to customize the device to suit a variety of applications. As soon as you see "Linux", the minds of the old DIYer and Geek should be moved, right?
In the past, players had to query the supported routers through the official list of the OpenWrt system, select the router according to their own needs, and then brush the machine to get a router of the OpenWrt system. In contrast, the SFT1200 is a hardware that natively uses the OpenWrt system, which not only eliminates the trouble of brushing, but also has the stability that native hardware should use.
Considering the 2B background of GL·iNet, it is completely reasonable to use the OpenWrt system on its own 2C products. This undoubtedly makes many friends who are interested in custom firmware router products want to start with the SFT1200 to feel the charm. However, whether it is the OpenWrt system itself or the reference materials on the Internet, it is basically in English. Since you want to use this as a selling point, GL·iNet can do a little more localization, even if it is too easy to say and too difficult to do.
Summary: If you want to "hold the whole scene", this is a good stage
Through comprehensive exploration, we can feel that GL·iNet SFT1200 Gigabit wireless router is a product in the show, facing a consumer group with a certain purpose, it can show an eye-catching selling point, and in the actual use of the process of showing the rapid knife to cut the mess of the immediate combat power.
But if you're an adult who "I want it all" and want to easily get started with the various features of the GL·iNet SFT1200 Gigabit Wireless Router, it may not be able to meet your requirements. From the above, we can understand that the GL·iNet SFT1200 Gigabit Wireless Router is indeed rich in advanced functions, but most of them are not "one-click reach". If you want to study through official information, you will find that the information is basically in English.
This means that if you can play through the SFT1200, you will basically become a network master in the minds of the people around you. Whether or not to choose "crossing the robbery" depends on how much interest, patience and time you have.