Western Digital My Net N900 Central
Looking for a new router and a new network hard drive? Here we test a two-in-one product that’s both.
If you’re still using the router your ISP supplied with your internet connection, you might be missing out. Wi-Fi technology has improved significantly in the last year or so, and while your ISP’s router may have made it to the basic 802.11n standard, the latest crop of advanced models have oodles of extras, from faster networking to sophisticated additional features. The My Net N900 Central is at the top end of the router hierarchy. It doesn’t yet have the latest 802.11ac standard, but it is dual-band, so it can operate two simultaneous networks on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies. But what makes the My Net N900 Central special is its built-in 1 or 2TB hard drive, which gives you a great router with a Western Digital network hard drive (or NAS – Network Attached Storage) in one neat box.
Physical attributes
NAS devices usually look bulky, and Western Digital models are often designed to stand upright, so they can be stored like a book on a bookshelf. The My Net N900 lies flat, like most routers, and despite encasing a hard drive, it’s no larger than other high-end routers we’ve reviewed previously. It has a fan in the bottom to cool the mechanical hard drive within. We didn’t hear it operating during our tests, so it may only kick in when intensive drive activity is making the device heat up. The aerials are built into the device. We’ve never been convinced that this is the best idea, since routers with external aerials often provide better reception, but in this case it didn’t seem to negatively affect performance. There are five Ethernet ports at the back of the router – one for the internet connection and four Gigabit ports to share the network, if you want to connect devices with cables. If you have ADSL broadband with a standard phone connection, you’ll need an Ethernet modem (available for around £20) to transfer the internet to it, although you won’t need one if you are using cable broadband. There’s also a USB port for plugging in extra storage or temporarily sharing another drive across the network.
Setting up
Setting up the device is very straightforward. Western Digital has developed an interface with the essential settings revealed on the top layer, which makes it very easy to use. Everything is broken down into simple steps, so you can work through and set up the essentials, such as your internet connection and Wi-Fi, then move on to optional extras, such as storage. The internal hard drive can be set up as a standard Windows shared drive, as a DLNA or iTunes server to share media files, or as an FTP server. It’s also very easy to access from the internet, making it feel like your own personal cloud storage service. If you set it up as a network share, the public folder immediately pops up in Windows Explorer’s Network section, both as a hard drive you can access as if it were sitting in your computer and as a media streamer. If you find something you can’t do in the basic settings, click the Advanced Settings icon, which gives a broad range of further options. Optional functions, such as parental controls and setting up a guest network, can be done from here.
Performance
We compared the My Net N900 Central to a test model – a standard ISP router from O2 – and were very impressed by its performance. We tested using the Network component of PassMark PerformanceTest (www.passmark.com), using two computers, one wired to the router and the other connected via Wi-Fi. The O2 router clocked a speed of 14.38Mbps with the Wi-Fi laptop in the same room as the router. The Western Digital router did better, transferring files at 19.3Mbps. It performed even more impressively when we took the Wi-Fi laptop to a room at the opposite end of the house and up a floor, where the signal is usually very weak. O2’s router dropped to 11.4Mbps (a fall of more than 20 per cent), but the My Net N900 Central performed exceptionally well, with a speed of 17.11Mbps. This showed a drop of just 11 per cent, and is faster than the O2 router managed with the laptop in the same room.
Value for money
Because the My Net N900 Central offers a good network speed and all that storage, its high price should come as no surprise. We couldn’t find the 1TB model for less than £200, whereas the cheapest 1TB NAS drives cost around £70, and you can buy a dual-band router for even less. However, the My Net N900 Central delivers quality hardware (demonstrated by its network performance) coupled with an easy set-up and an excellent interface. It’s an innovative and well designed device, and we think it’s worth splashing out on.
OUR VERDICT
With this two-in-one device, you no longer need to have a router and a network hard drive taking up lots of space and two separate power sockets. The My Net N900 Central is a good-quality dual-band router that significantly improved on the Wi-Fi speed and coverage of a standard, ISP-supplied router in our tests. Its NAS offers 1TB of storage space while keeping the device’s size compact.
With the hard-drive built in, you configure both the router and NAS through the same easy-to-use interface, which makes the installation and set-up very smooth.
The price reflects the fact that this is two products in one, and that all the component parts are top quality. Western Digital has also put considerable effort into ensuring you have a stress-free time setting up and configuring the device. It’s not cheap, but it offers good value for money because it performs well and is easy to use.
If you’re still using the router your ISP supplied with your internet connection, you might be missing out. Wi-Fi technology has improved significantly in the last year or so, and while your ISP’s router may have made it to the basic 802.11n standard, the latest crop of advanced models have oodles of extras, from faster networking to sophisticated additional features. The My Net N900 Central is at the top end of the router hierarchy. It doesn’t yet have the latest 802.11ac standard, but it is dual-band, so it can operate two simultaneous networks on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies. But what makes the My Net N900 Central special is its built-in 1 or 2TB hard drive, which gives you a great router with a Western Digital network hard drive (or NAS – Network Attached Storage) in one neat box.
Physical attributes
NAS devices usually look bulky, and Western Digital models are often designed to stand upright, so they can be stored like a book on a bookshelf. The My Net N900 lies flat, like most routers, and despite encasing a hard drive, it’s no larger than other high-end routers we’ve reviewed previously. It has a fan in the bottom to cool the mechanical hard drive within. We didn’t hear it operating during our tests, so it may only kick in when intensive drive activity is making the device heat up. The aerials are built into the device. We’ve never been convinced that this is the best idea, since routers with external aerials often provide better reception, but in this case it didn’t seem to negatively affect performance. There are five Ethernet ports at the back of the router – one for the internet connection and four Gigabit ports to share the network, if you want to connect devices with cables. If you have ADSL broadband with a standard phone connection, you’ll need an Ethernet modem (available for around £20) to transfer the internet to it, although you won’t need one if you are using cable broadband. There’s also a USB port for plugging in extra storage or temporarily sharing another drive across the network.
Setting up
Setting up the device is very straightforward. Western Digital has developed an interface with the essential settings revealed on the top layer, which makes it very easy to use. Everything is broken down into simple steps, so you can work through and set up the essentials, such as your internet connection and Wi-Fi, then move on to optional extras, such as storage. The internal hard drive can be set up as a standard Windows shared drive, as a DLNA or iTunes server to share media files, or as an FTP server. It’s also very easy to access from the internet, making it feel like your own personal cloud storage service. If you set it up as a network share, the public folder immediately pops up in Windows Explorer’s Network section, both as a hard drive you can access as if it were sitting in your computer and as a media streamer. If you find something you can’t do in the basic settings, click the Advanced Settings icon, which gives a broad range of further options. Optional functions, such as parental controls and setting up a guest network, can be done from here.
Performance
We compared the My Net N900 Central to a test model – a standard ISP router from O2 – and were very impressed by its performance. We tested using the Network component of PassMark PerformanceTest (www.passmark.com), using two computers, one wired to the router and the other connected via Wi-Fi. The O2 router clocked a speed of 14.38Mbps with the Wi-Fi laptop in the same room as the router. The Western Digital router did better, transferring files at 19.3Mbps. It performed even more impressively when we took the Wi-Fi laptop to a room at the opposite end of the house and up a floor, where the signal is usually very weak. O2’s router dropped to 11.4Mbps (a fall of more than 20 per cent), but the My Net N900 Central performed exceptionally well, with a speed of 17.11Mbps. This showed a drop of just 11 per cent, and is faster than the O2 router managed with the laptop in the same room.
Value for money
Because the My Net N900 Central offers a good network speed and all that storage, its high price should come as no surprise. We couldn’t find the 1TB model for less than £200, whereas the cheapest 1TB NAS drives cost around £70, and you can buy a dual-band router for even less. However, the My Net N900 Central delivers quality hardware (demonstrated by its network performance) coupled with an easy set-up and an excellent interface. It’s an innovative and well designed device, and we think it’s worth splashing out on.
OUR VERDICT
With this two-in-one device, you no longer need to have a router and a network hard drive taking up lots of space and two separate power sockets. The My Net N900 Central is a good-quality dual-band router that significantly improved on the Wi-Fi speed and coverage of a standard, ISP-supplied router in our tests. Its NAS offers 1TB of storage space while keeping the device’s size compact.
With the hard-drive built in, you configure both the router and NAS through the same easy-to-use interface, which makes the installation and set-up very smooth.
The price reflects the fact that this is two products in one, and that all the component parts are top quality. Western Digital has also put considerable effort into ensuring you have a stress-free time setting up and configuring the device. It’s not cheap, but it offers good value for money because it performs well and is easy to use.
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