Introduction
QNAP is a known name when talking about network storage. In recent years, QNAP is starting to focus on network apparatus. In this review I will be looking at the Qhora-301W.
Specifications
QNAP has a big list of specs, I’ve summarized these a bit. If you wish to see all of them, I will refer you to the website of QNAP.
Number of Ethernet Ports: 6
10GbE BASE-T (RJ45): 2 x 10GBASE-T (10G/5G/2.5G/1G/100M)
1GbE (RJ45): 4
CPU: Qualcomm IPQ8072A Hawkeye 2 Quad-core 2.2 GHz 64-bit CPU
Memory: 1GB
Flash: 4GB eMMC
Wireless Antenna: 8 Internal Antennas
Wireless Standard: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax
Wireless Speed Rating: AX3600
Wireless Speed 2.4 GHz: 2.4G (1182Mbps): 4×4 (40MHz)
Wireless Speed 5 GHz: 5G (2475Mbps): 4×4 (80MHz), 2×2 (160MHz)
Frequency Band 2.4 GHz, dual band
Frequency Band 5 GHZ, dual band
Wireless Bandwidth: 20/40/80/160 MHz
Transmit Output Power: Depends on country code
Wireless Antenna Type: 8 Internal 5dBi Antennas
Antenna Gain 2.4 GHz: 4.5dBi
Antenna Gain 5 GHz: 5.2dBi
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax): Yes
Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac): Yes
USB 3.2 Gen 1 port: 2
Button: Power, WPS, Reset
Power: 12V DC
Power consumption: 24W
Dimensions: 250×180×48 mm
Weight: 1.9kg
Packing weight: 2.2kg
Operating Temperature: 0°C ~ +40°C
Operating Humidity: 5% to 95% non-condensing
Certifications: JATE / CE / FCC / BSMI / NCC / IC / SRRC / CCC / VCCI / RCM
QNAP SD-WAN solution, QuWAN: Yes
System Status and Management:
Device connection status
Device health status
WAN status
Wireless status
Firmware schedule management
Operation Modes:
Wireless router mode
Access point (AP) mode
Wired Network Management
Recommended WAN port configurations and usage scenarios:
1GbE-1 port
10GbE-1 port
1GbE-1 and 1GbE-2 ports
WAN/LAN port configuration
Network port connection status
IEEE 802.1Q virtual LAN (VLAN) (Support for wired and wireless interface)
IPv4 routing management
DDNS
Security:
Protocol-based firewall (TCP, UDP, ICMP, TCP+UDP)
Firewall rules based on domain names and IP addresses
Port forwarding and Network Address Translation (NAT)
Support FTP ALG, PPTP ALG and SIP ALG
UPnP
VPN:
Secure remote access with L2TP, OpenVPN and QBelt (QNAP proprietary) protocol
Client IP pool configuration
VPN client management
Connection logs
Secure remote access as VPN client with OpenVPN protocol
Access Control:
Parental control
Domain Name System (DNS) filtering and content filtering
System Setting:
Restart, Reset, Backup, Audio Alert
Local account, QNAP ID, Remote management
USB Settings: FTP Server, Device User, USB usage condition
Even Logs
QuWAN SD-WAN Service
Auto multi-site VPN
WAN optimization
WAN aggregation
Failover
Load Balance
Traffic monitoring using QuWAN Orchestrator
Quality of Service
Maximum tunnel scale: 30
300Mbps VPN throughput
50,000 concurrent sessions
Unboxing
Time to unbox the QNAP Qhora-301W.
The following is being shipped with the QNAP.
– Qhora-301W
– AC Power Adapter
– Ethernet Cable 1x
– Installation Guide
The Qhora itself is in a white box with a neat finish. Different devices are indicated by the LEDS.
The QNAP logo can be found on top, the sides are open to help reduce heat inside. Despite that, the router is silent. Especially compared to the QSW-M408-4C which has a small fan.
Ordered from left to right you can find the following.
– Adapter connection
– On/off button
– WPS button
– Reset button
– 2x USB 3.0
– 2x 10GbE (RJ45)
– 4x 1GbE (RJ45)
The bottom is just as important. The Qhora can use Vesa mount to attach it anywhere. Or using the 4 caps on the bottom, placed down anywhere.
Let’s turn the whole upside down! The LEDS indicate the routers’ status and connected devices. The LEDS are not too ‘bright’, which makes it ideal for a bedroom if you wish in my opinion.
Software
QNAP filled the Qhora-301W to the brim with options. I’ll walk you through it!
The WAN settings are DHCP/Static IP and PPPOE. Using a standard connection, I will choose DHCP.
During installation, you’re able to update immediately. And I’m happy with that, nothing more frustrating than tinkering, having everything done, to see a new update with more options…:)
Once fully done, you can log in. Of course you’ll immediately be asked if the update actually worked or not, followed by the ability to edit your username/password.
The router will ask what region you are operating in.
After a few steps we arrive at the dashboard/homepage which you will see after surfing to your router. You can not edit this.
Through the Qhora you can configure the QuWAN. If you’re interested, I’ve added a video below that goes more into the specifics.
Under ‘Client’ you can find all the devices that you have connected to the router. You are also able to block users here. And manage them in the ‘Blocked list’.
Using the ‘Network’ menu you can find the following options:
– Port Definition
– Wan
– Lan
– Vlan
– Routing
Via Wireless/Virtual Access Point menu you can edit the wireless settings. Up to a maximum of 3 wireless access points. Of course there’s also a Guest Wireless Network and WPS option available. Using the guest wireless network you can choose its name, security protocol (like WPA2-PSK) and set up passwords. And the option to enable a guest network, or not at all.
When turning on WPS, you are able to press the WPS on both your router and printer to connect them without passwords or any hassle.
The menu NAT/Firewall obviously can be used to enable/disable and configure NAT/Firewalling. You can even make a firewall rule and manage the NAT & UPnP.
The QNAP Qhora-301W also has a DDNS option. By using DDNS you can approach the NAS through a domain name, not just an IP-Address. Especially comes in handy if your ISP rotates the addresses in a pool. Saving you the hassle of changing over your settings.
Well, the mass amount of options that have been put in the Qhora should be clear by now. You can also find an option for VPN tunnels. Using QVPN you can set up complete virtual private networks on your QNAP routers/NAS. Included of course with a logfile to read who did what and where.
The router can act as QVPN router and as a client.
Through the parental controls filters you can even block certain domains. And using the safe search function you can also limit what users can see. And yes, you could do this separately for devices/clients that are linked with the router. For example, user A with device A can be blocked access to Tiktok.com.
If you own multiple Qhora’s in your network, but you don’t want every Qhora to be a router, you can also dedicate them to being an access point. In logging under event logs you can also see who is logged in when, and what the connections/firmware have done.
With system settings you can change the name and audio alert. You can also find the restart/reset/backup/restore options here.
Through the system menu under access control you can manage the account of the admin. Via a submenu, access control settings, you can also enable/set up remote management on the router, or disable it altogether. Including the options of HTTP or HTTPS.
Because the Qhora has 2 USB ports, you can configure these as well. Through USB settings found under the system menu you can manage the USB-stick/drive by using a FTP-server. On the bottom you can manage users for this.
Last menu is dedicated to firmware. Using this window you can decide if the router automatically updates, perhaps on a specific date. And manually is an option too.
10GbE test
This test went fast (pun intended).
Using a PC with a 10GbE port I’ve used the QNAP QHora-301W to download/upload files to a TS-h973AX. I’ve ran these tests a few times and the results were mostly the same concerning speed.
Using the PC (With a WD Black NVMe-SSD) to the TS-h973AX with 4 SSD’s in RAID-5 speeds were reached of 805 MB/s. And that is not bad. The bottleneck here was the SSD’s. Downloading it from the NAS I was shown different numbers.
With ‘almost’ 1 GB/s the line saw its full potential. Bottlenecked once again by the SSD’s. Usually 1.1GB/s is the maximum. Still, it’s fairly close.
The funny thing is that during these tests, I’ve used multiple TV’s and a phone to boot up YouTube/Plex and FaceTime gestart, without a single stutter.
Safe to say that the 10GbE ports on the QHora are working well.
Conclusion
A standard modem isn’t everything. Everyone knows that if you’re a room/floor farther from it buffering problems start to happen. Me with a shabby ISP modem had the same issue. Walking out the living room and it starts to buffer.
And that is cause for frustration. Especially if you are a pacer like me during Facetime. “Hey mom and dad….” *connecting* “awww !#%@&BEEP”…. The Qhora reduces that frustration to a bare minimum.
Oddly, I’ve started noticing using the QNAP Qhora-301W for a while, that my connection is pretty good. Of course it can’t produce magic like me walking to the living room to the kitchen, 12 meters away with a few walls in between. But where my standard modem from my ISP can barely do 1 room/wall, The Qhora-301W manages to do loads better. A wall extra, means extra pacing space!
It would be neat if QNAP adds a sort of mesh-system on the router. That would mean a solution in every household.
But here is the odd thing, I was able to access my router from in my car, which means 5 floors up, more than enough power…
The QNAP Qhora-301W is a good router in my opinion. And one with 2x 10GbE connections. What more would you want? I’ve been looking for something like this for years. As a solution, I had to purchase a 2x 10GbE switch (with a few 1GbE ports), just to get myself that 2x10GbE connection. Having it in my router is amazing.
And that’s the neat thing about QNAP. I’ve noticed that QNAP is further ahead in their systems compared to Synology. They show this by all their network connections on all their NAS’ and on different network apparatus. I truly hope QNAP will continue that trend.
That the 2x10GbE ports were fast enough was shown in the test. With a 10GbE connection the lines are filled to the brim using a QNAP nas to download/upload from a PC with a 10GbE port.
The router and WiFi are also beefy enough. You can easily use multiple systems/TV’s/consoles/streams without a single problem.
The only thorn in my side is the price tag of 300 Euros. Despite it being an amazing machine with 2x 10GbE it still remains to be a lot of money. As a counter argument to the price tag, it’s VERY easy to set up.
Having used the router over the course of a couple of months, I have nothing negative to say about its use. The internet is fast, stable and the coverage is quite good for not having out of the box antennae.
Despite its price tag, it’s a super fun product. There are 6!!! network ports with 2x 10GbE on the router, WiFi 6, easy to use interface with a plethora of options…Well, you had me at 10GbE, truly!
The QNAP Qhora-301 rightfully earns 5 out of 5 stars. A router that takes a step forward.
