The Arris SBR-AC1900P Surfboard Wi-Fi Router with RipCurrent ($199.99) not only brings dual-band Wi-Fi to your home, it also serves as a hub for other Arris RipCurrent devices that are designed to extend your network coverage. The SBR-AC1900P($58.95 at Amazon) turned in very good scores in our 5GHz throughput tests and is a snap to install and configure, but its 2.4GHz range performance was merely average, and its file-transfer performance was mixed. Our top pick for midrange routers, the Linksys EA7500 Max-Stream AC1900 MU-MIMO Gigabit Router($119.99 at Amazon), offers better overall performance, as well as Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) data streaming, for around the same price.

Design and Features
In addition to it Wi-Fi router duties, the SBR-AC1900P doubles as a base hub for other RipCurrent devices, such as the $99.99 SBX-AC1200P Surfboard Wi-Fi Hotspot (stay tuned for the full review) and the Arris SBX-1000P Surfboard Wired Network Extender( at Amazon). RipCurrent is Arris's name for Gigabit Home Networking (G.hn) powerline technology, which uses your home's existing electrical, telephone, and coaxial wiring to deliver data transmissions at speeds of up to 1Gbps. It's the same technology used on the Comtrend G.hn PG-9172 Powerline Adapter Kit($79.99 at Amazon) that we reviewed last year.

The SBR-AC1900P looks more like a foot-long peanut shell than a surfboard. It sits horizontally, measures 5.8 by 11.7 by 2.7 inches (HWD), and has a textured, white chassis with an LED status bar on its face. The bar glows green when everything is working normally, and amber when it enters Standby mode, and it flashes red when there's a connection error. A Standby button on the top of the router disables Wi-Fi connectivity until the button is pressed again.

At the rear of the router are four gigabit LAN ports, a WAN port, a USB 3.0 port, and a USB 2.0 port. They are joined by a Reset button, a WPS-/G.hn-pairing button, and LED indicators for 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi, G.hn signal strength, and G.hn pairing. The 2.4GHz band has a maximum data rate of 600Mbps, and the 5GHz band maxes out at 1,300Mbps. The SBR-AC1900P uses six internal antennas and has circuitry that allows it to send and receive data using G.hn powerline technology. It also supports Band Steering, the same technology found in the Luma Home WiFi System($99.99 at PCMag Shop) and the Asus Google OnHub SRT-AC1900($109.99 at Amazon), which automatically picks the best radio band based on location and load. However, unlike the Asus Google On Hub and Luma routers, the SBR-AC1900P lets you disable this feature so you can isolate the two bands for QoS purposes.

The router is controlled using a Web-based management console that is easy to navigate and is loaded with basic and advanced settings. The Home page offers a Quick Start Wizard and quick links to the Manage Wi-Fi Network, Guest Network, and Parental Controls pages. At the top of the page are Status, Basic, Advanced, Wireless, Firewall, and Help tabs. On the Status page, you can run diagnostics, check event logs, and update the router's firmware. The Basic tab contains menus for basic network and WAN settings, DHCP settings, router-configuration Backup and Restore settings, and USB Connect settings for attaching peripherals, such as USB hard drives.

The Advanced tab takes you to a menu where you can change things like IPsec Pass-Through, and configure IP Filtering, MAC Address Filtering, and Port Filtering settings. Here, you can also set Port Triggers that will open a port for incoming traffic, configure Port Forwarding settings, and pair other RipCurrent devices to the router.

Wireless settings include SSID, Encryption, Passphrase, and WPS settings for each band, and it's where you go to create and configure up to four guest networks. You can also enable/disable Band Steering and access Advanced WI-Fi settings, such as Beacon Interval, RTS Threshold, and Fragmentation Threshold. Firewall settings include three levels of protection, as well as IPv6 protection and Parental Controls that let you block Web browsing by MAC address, block specific URLs, and block all Internet access for specific days and times.

Installation and Performance
Installing the SBR-AC1900P is easy. Simply plug it in, connect it to the Internet (WAN) and to a PC using the included Ethernet cable, and enter http://mysurfboard.local in your browser's address bar. This launches the management console and the Quick Start Wizard, which walks you through the basic initial settings, such as naming the SSIDs, changing security passphrases, and enabling Band Steering.

The SBR-AC1900P turned in impressive scores on 5GHz throughput tests. Its score of 502Mbps on the close-proximity (same-room) test squeaked past the Linksys (495Mbps) and also beat the Synology Router RT1900Ac($389.00 at Amazon) (479Mbps) and the D-Link AC1900 EXO Wi-Fi Router (DIR-879)($72.99 at Amazon) (442Mbps), but it couldn't catch the TP-Link AC1900 Touch Screen Wi-Fi Gigabit Router Touch P5($109.99 at Best Buy) (535Mbps). Its score of 214Mbps on the 5GHz 30-foot test was faster than the D-Link DIR-879 (186Mbps), but trailed the Linksys EA7500 (298Mbps), the Synology RT1900AC (231Mbps), and the TP-Link Touch P5 (238Mbps).

See How We Test Wireless Routers

In our 2.4GHz close-proximity throughput test, the SBR-AC1900P scored 95.4Mbps, beating the TP-Link Touch P5 (92.6Mbps) and the D-Link DIR-879 (90.4Mbps) by a hair. However, it was a bit slower than the Linksys EA7500 (97.3Mbps) and the Synology RT1900AC (95.9Mbps). Its 30-foot range performance (43.5Mbps) trailed the Linksys EA7500 (52.1Mbps) and the Synology RT1900AC (45.6Mbps), if only by a tiny margin, but it was merely average compared with the scores we received from the Asus RT-AC68U Dual-Band Wireless-AC1900 Gigabit Router($138.99 at Amazon) (81.9Mbps) and the Linksys Smart Wi-Fi Router AC 1900 (WRT1900AC)($74.99 at Amazon) (78Mbps).

We test a router's file-transfer performance by transferring a 1.5GB folder containing a mix of music, photo, document, and video files between a wired desktop and a USB drive connected to the router. The SBR-AC1900P's read speed of 48MBps was faster than the Synology RT1900AC (34.9MBps) and the TP-Link Touch P5 (25.6MBps), but slower than the Linksys EA7500 (66.7MBps). Its write speed came in at a much slower 20.2MBps, trailing the Synology RT1900AC (38.5MBps), the TP-Link Touch P5 (23.2MBps), and the Linksys EA7500 (27.8MBps).

Conclusion
The Arris SBR-AC1900P Surfboard Wi-Fi Router with RipCurrent is a good choice if you're looking to build a network that uses G.hn technology to reach those areas of the home that are beyond Wi-Fi range. It delivered fast 5GHz throughput in our testing and its 2.4GHz close-proximity throughput score was impressive as well, but its 2.4GHz range and USB file-transfer performance were merely adequate. That said, it offers many basic and advanced management settings, and it installs in minutes. Although the SBR-AC1900P 5GHz close-proximity throughput was slightly faster than that of the Linksys EA7500 Max-Stream AC1900 MU-MIMO Gigabit Router, it couldn't match the latter's range and file-transfer performance, and doesn't offer MU-MIMO simultaneous data streaming. As such, the Linksys EA7500 remains our Editors' Choice for midrange routers.

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Further Reading

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• Save 35 Percent on TP-Link AC1750 Smart Wi-Fi Router