Ignition Design Labs is a new company made up of well-seasoned engineers that have developed eight generations of routers for other companies. They came together for a common purpose, to make WiFi better. They knew from years in the industry that one of the biggest issues with current routers is traffic congestion, which is only getting worse as we stream more and more content. From this revelation they developed
Portal and showed their first prototype less than a year ago at CES. Since then they have successfully launched a
Kickstarter campaign and fine-tuned the device for full market release, which happened in November of this year. So let’s start by taking a look at the specs of the Portal.
Features and Specifications:
Portal is a Quad-Stream Wave-2 IEEE 802.11AC (AC2400) router that makes use of more 5GHz bands than any other consumer router on the market. They are the only consumer router to do this due to the complexity of the design; these additional channels can only be used when weather radar is not. The Portal actively monitors for this prioritized traffic and will actively move the network to another channel to avoid interference and optimize throughput. Once that weather signal is gone it will automatically pick the channel with the least interference. Most other consumer routers that utilize these channels use only a small portion and when this traffic is detected you are booted from the FastLanes and require a reboot or other manual intervention to return. Below are some features and specifications provided by the manufacturer. Some of these features may not be fully implemented yet, so for more details see Portal’s published feature
timeline.
Advanced Technologies:
» Spectrum Booster
» Adds 4 80MHz wide FASTLANES™ radio bands
» 7 Total bands of available Wi-Fi, delivers uncompromising speed and reliability in the most demanding environment
» Congestion Monitor + Agile SMARTLANES™ Radios
» Intelligent fast “lane changing” keeps you on best channels for consistent performance in the most
demanding and crowded conditions
Standard Technologies:
» IEEE 802.11ac Wave 2
» MU-MIMO for simultaneous streaming and gaming on multiple devices
» Active Beam Steering improves range and coverage
» Bluetooth Smart
» Easy setup and management from smartphones
» Support for Internet of Things Devices
Seven (7) Operating Bands:
» Band I: 5.150 " 5.250 GHz (5G, UNII-1)
» Band II: 5.250 " 5.350 GHz (5G, UNII-2, DFS)
» Band III - V: 5.470 " 5.725 GHz (5G, UNII-2e-i, ii and iii, DFS)
» Band VI: 5.725 " 5.825 GHz (5G, UNII-3)
» Band VII: 2.4835 " 2.500 GHz (2.4G ISM)
Ten (10) Radios:
» 5GHz: Quad (4x4) high powered agile wide-band, IEEE 802.11ac/a/n
» 2.4GHz: Three (3x3) high powered, IEEE 802.11b/g/n, supporting legacy devices
» Bluetooth: 4.0 Low-Energy supporting smartphones, tablets and IoT devices
» Congestion Monitor: Dual fast wideband receivers + dedicated processor
Antennas:
» Nine (9) High Gain, Integrated Conformal 3D patterned antennas for maximum range and coverage
Coverage:
» Large home, typical 2,500 square-feet from a single Portal
Modular Capacity:
» Easily add more Portals to form a mesh that increases coverage by an additional 2,500 square-feet per Portal
» Mesh expands performance to AC4100 / AC5800 / AC7600 / AC9300
Ethernet & USB Ports:
» Five (5) 10/100/1000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet ports (1x WAN + 4x LAN)
» Dual USB2.0 ports
Other Functions:
» VPN support"secure remote access
» Guest network access"separate & secure
» WiFi Protected Access® (WPA/WPA2"PSK)
» QoS prioritizes network traffic by application & device
» DLNA® server to find & play your media on TVs & game consoles
» Parental Controls to manage web filtering & accessibility
» Double firewall protection (SPI and NAT)
