Buffalo AirStation AC433 WMR-433 Travel Router Review

TweakTown's Rating: 87%

The Bottom Line

Buffalo's AirStation AC433 is the first portable 802.11ac solution to come through the lab, and one that sets the bar for the future.

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Travel routers have garnered quite a bit of popularity over the last few years, as they allow you the flexibility to setup a personal network, no matter where your travels take you. With the introduction of 802.11ac, this technology has now made its way into these portable solutions.

The Buffalo AirStation WMR-433 is a dual-band selectable travel router featuring 802.11n capabilities on the 2.4GHz and 802.11ac on the 5GHz band. Adding to this, the WMR-433 features a single gigabit WAN port to allow you to extend a hotel Internet connection or any wired connection.

MSRP of the Buffalo AirStation AC433 is set at $59.99 with a three-year warranty.

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The back of the packaging highlights many features of the AC433.

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Scope of delivery includes the travel router, USB cable, and reading materials.

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Above, we have the gigabit port located on the side of the WMR-433.

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Here we have the USB port, which powers the travel router, and the WPS button for simple connection.

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The bottom of the WMR-433 houses the default username and password for the travel router.

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We first setup the travel router in 2.4GHz mode and ran it through our range testing. As you can see, we were able to connect at 73Mbps at 45 dbm. Moving away from the travel router, the signal rate dropped to 67 dbm at 25 feet.

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Switching over to the 5GHz band, we connected to the router at 434 Mbps, peak rate for the AC band on this solution. Signal rate started out at 60 dbm, and dropped off to 80dbm as we moved out 25 feet away.

The Buffalo AirStation AC433 might just be in the running for the smallest router in the world. As you could see in the photos, the footprint of this device is small, coming in at an inch and three quarters square. The build quality is remarkably great, and having the ability to manually switch between 2.4 and 5GHz band is a feature I really enjoyed.

Performance of the travel router was rather good. We were able to connect at peak rates on both the 2.4 and 5GHz bands, and while signal quality wasn't what we normally find with full size solutions, it was ample enough for a hotel room setting.

PRICING: You can find the Buffalo AirStation AC433 Wireless Travel Router (WMR-433-BK) for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.

United States: The Buffalo AirStation AC433 Wireless Travel Router (WMR-433-BK) retails for $51.24 at Amazon.

Canada: The Buffalo AirStation AC433 Wireless Travel Router (WMR-433-BK) retails for CDN$73.42 at Amazon Canada.

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