Buffalo AirStation N600 Dual-Band Wireless Router Review

Buffalo AirStation N600 – Initial Set-Up

Buffalo packs the AirStation WZR-600DHP with an AC power adapter, Ethernet cable, AirStation Utility CD containing the product manual and client software, a stand base for the main unit, and an AirStation Setup Card for Wi-Fi Access.

On the outside of the box, the AirStation looks pretty sleek in black with red and white lettering. Softening up the WZR-600DHP a little are the two external antennas that looks a bit like a puppy’s floppy ears. Each one of these antennas can be moved and positioned individually. The two 3-inch antennas are not removable and there isn’t an obvious way to connect additional (or replace) antennas that are there.

When the router is powered on you can see a series of LED lights on the right-side: Power, 2.4GHz WiFi, 5GHz WiFi, Router activity, and Diagnosis. There is also an AOSS (AirStation One-Touch Secure System) button, and a “Movie Engine” switch.

Over on the other back side, you will find a Router (on/off/auto) switch, USB Eject button, USB 2.0 port, 4-Gigabit LAN ports, 1-WAN port and the AC plug.

There is a little card that contains admin and access information for easy configuration. When we connected the router to power and our computer, the WZR-600DHP prompted us for set up. Connecting to the internet and setting up our Wi-Fi network really couldn’t be any simpler.

Like most routers these days, the Buffalo AirStation N600 lets the user choose from a number of different wireless encryption options to prevent your neighbor from gaining access to your network. For the AirStation, we see that both AOSS and WPS with push button are supported. AOSS or AirStation One-Touch Secure System is a technology designed by Buffalo to allow a user to connect to a secure wireless connection with the touch of a button. AOSS uses both 64-bit WEP and WPA and automatically selects the strongest level of encryption supported by the connecting client. If AOSS detects a lesser encryption standard, the router will then apply the lower standard and reboot the router.

The Buffalo AirStation WZR-600DHP router is powered by an Qualcomm Atheros AR7161 rev 2 CPU running at 680 MHz with 128 MB of RAM. The Atheros AR7161 is designed specifically to be a robust platform for multimedia WiFi, dual-band access points, and of course high performance routers supporting gigabit and VoIP like our Buffalo AirStation.