ARRIS SURFboard SBR-AC1900P RipCurrent Wireless Router Review

Introduction

With ARRIS emerging as a consumer brand, we had the opportunity to look at their first solution in the SBR-AC1750. This solution performed quite well and if I remember correctly was one of the higher performing 1750 solutions. With that said, ARRIS is back with some rather interesting technology built into their latest solutions, something they are calling RipCurrent.

The SBR-AC1900P is a mid-range solution and part of ARRIS' new portfolio of RipCurrent products. This solution carries features found in many AC1900 solutions including 600 Mbps capabilities on the 2.4GHz band and 1300 Mbps on the 5GHz. To power this, ARRIS has outfitted this unit with six internal antennas that aide with the unit's beamforming technology. Taking this unit a bit further than most, RipCurrent technology through G.hn and HomeGrid allow consumers to extend their networks using existing electrical lines in their homes and via separate adapters add Wi-Fi Access Points or Gigabit Ethernet.

Diving into the specification sheet, we find this solution capable of 256QAM on the 2.4GHz band in addition to the standard protocols for Wi-Fi. We have the 3x3-antenna array mentioned as well with four SSIDs per band with two for guest access. Security modes include WPA, WPA2, and WPA2 Enterprise.

On the G.hn side of things, this solution support 25, 50 and 100 MHz with a max throughput of 1 Gbps with 128-bit AES encryption with up to 16 nodes. On the physical side of things, the SBR-AC1900P includes four Gigabit Ethernet ports next to a single WAN port. For storage and other USB functionality, ARRIS has included both a 3.0 and a 2.0 port.

The MSRP of the ARRIS SURFboard SBR-AC1900P comes in at $199.99 with a two-year warranty.