TEST: Nowsonic Stage Router

 To be honest, I could never have imagined writing a review about a router a few years ago. Yes, in the studio at home perhaps as a mediator between the worlds in the form of a Fritzbox and consortia, but as a stand-alone test device in the hard everyday life on stage? Well, you can see for yourself.

In the meantime, tablets, smartphones and digital consoles have long since found their way into the environment on small and large stages and demand secure yet simple access to the Internet. Since in this Neanderthal environment the office plasticheims of the usual manufacturers and even shapely base stations from Apple are hopelessly overtaxed in terms of conception and stability, the company Nowsonic has brought a product onto the market with its Nowsonic Stage Router, which opens up all important LAN and WLAN utensils in road suitability.

Design

To start with, the Nowsonic Stage Router is basically a full-fledged router, which would also find its place in a private office environment. However, to what extent the fair wife can be convinced to place a 1U 19" rack in the hallway is up to each person to decide according to their private hierarchy. Nevertheless, the Nowsonic Stage Router has DHCP, VPN access and a NAT firewall, which makes it look good in other environments than just the stage. Conceptually, the device has two WiFi standard frequency bands working in parallel: 2.4 GHz up to 802.11g and 5 GHz corresponding to the 802.11n standard.

All common smartphones, tablets or laptops can log into these bands and perform their service. Especially in times where various iPads manage and remotely control docking stations such as Mackie's DL series, the Nowsonic Stage Router can act as an access point and open up a secure wireless connection beyond the local promoter's home network. However, using the internal tools, you can also run the router as a repeater to extend the range of an existing WLAN network.

However, in this case, as with all other repeaters, the data throughput is halved. Just by the way, this is also the reason why most manufacturers prevent you from setting up a series connection of repeaters. In contrast to the star variant, already with the second repeater in series connection from a 50,000 line only a scarce 10,000 network arrives.

In terms of stability, there is nothing to complain about, the standardized 1 U body is made of sturdy sheet metal. Fortunately, the on/off switch is located on the front of the device and saves the annoying fumbling in rack operation. At first glance, the four movable antennas on the front of the case are noticeable compared to an office router. If you try to hide these in the private sector, the signal can still be transmitted well when the router is in the rack. Two receiving antennas each take over a frequency range and guarantee the True Diversity format per band, which automatically routes the signal to the second antenna in case of dropouts.

Both frequency bands can be operated independently of each other. For example, the 2.4 GHz range can be deactivated so as not to interfere with the operation of wireless microphones. In order to assign the antennas to the correct screw connections, they have been labeled according to the frequency band.

As expected, the router can be installed with both PC and Mac, and this can be done via an automatic setup or manually in expert mode. The imprint of the Mac and IP address on the back of the case is very nice, so you always have all the relevant data at hand and don't have to tediously search for it in the manual or in Internet forums.

All of the device's connections are also found on the back, which are primarily made up of RJ45 sockets. Besides the cold-device plug, you'll find 5 of these sockets, whereby 4 sockets are assigned to the LAN network and one to the WAN network. LAN 4 and the WAN socket are also designed in a locked Neutrik socket for maximum stability. Standard CAT5 cables are used as suitable connection cables.

On the front, a total of nine blue LEDs provide information about the operating status of the Nowsonic Stage Router. Indicator 1-4 shows the assignment of the rear LAN ports, if a CAT5 cable is in the socket, the LED lights up. A WAN LED works the same way, but it also flashes during data transmissions. The LEDs 5Ghz, 2.4GHz, CPU and PWR inform according to their designations. A small pin, such as a paper clip, is used to reach the recessed RST/WPS push button, which restores the factory settings when pressed for longer than 5 seconds during operation. A short press, on the other hand, initializes a secure connection between the various clients.



Practice

When you screw the Nowsonic Stage Router into the rack, you are faced with a choice. Either unscrew the antennas during transport, or leave some space above the rack. If you fold the antennas to the side, the two pairs of antennas interfere with each other in the transverse axis, unless you have nine centimeters of depth to the rack lid. On the one hand, this doesn't look good and could have been easily solved by simply moving the holes.

Manually configuring the router was just as easy, or difficult depending on how much experience you have in setting up a network. After connecting the Nowsonic Stage Router to my DSL router and my MacBook, I was able to configure both networks easily after entering the IP number via the computer's HTML page. Both networks were immediately recognized by my iPhone, iPad and all computers that were connected to the network via WLAN.

However, there is also the option of running the Nowsonic Stage Router via automatic configuration, in which the Stage Router gets the essential information from the DSL router. Again, there were no problems whatsoever with the setup. The overwhelming selection of encryption methods offered by the Nowsonic Stage Router is interesting. In addition to WEP64 and WEP128, TKIP, AES and TKIP/AES are also available.

In terms of transmission performance, I compared the Nowsonic Stage Router with my Fritzbox 7390 and an Apple Airport Extreme of the penultimate generation. To be honest, I had expected in the short term that Nowsonic would have built an above-average power transmitter that would also penetrate the classics of the data brake like reinforced concrete ceilings or load-bearing solid walls more easily than the usual Customer parts.

In the same train of thought, however, I also remembered the German telecommunications system, which imposes strong restraints on devices for private use in terms of transmitting power. I'm sure that Nowsonic could have easily come up with a transmitting power of over 100 meters distance through 3 floors like the illegal Asian goods from the Internet, but then the nice gentlemen with the antennas on their van roof will be at your door in the foreseeable future.

Therefore, I could attest the Nowsonic Stage Router the same values as Apple and AVM regarding the faraday cage. In terms of distance, it was 10 meters more than Apple and 5 meters more than AVM, all in the 2.4 GHz range. The data transfer rate was also the same.



Conclusion

The Nowsonic Stage Router is a professional WLAN router on the market that has it all. Due to its rack-mountable design, it is easy to transport and guarantees a crisis-proof access point between all kinds of smartphones, tablets, fablets or digital mixers that are used on stage nowadays.

The setup is very consumer-friendly, the measurement values very good, the interfaces above average. A clear recommendation as soon as it comes to wireless communication at the venue.


Additional Informations:

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