Here’s an interesting entry in the over-crowded router market. For its price, the Xiaomi Mi 3C Wi-Fi Router is an attractive option. At ₹1,199 it comes packed with features and performs well overall. But it is kind of surprising to see that in this day and age, it is not a dual-band router.

As is now expected of Mi products, the packaging, design and look of the router is all very slick. In this case though, going for thin and light seems to cause a minor issue, as the router does not sit well on a table if you connect cables to the LAN ports at the back. It is a little too light. Also, for being launched in the Indian market, it totally lacks instructions in languages used here. The box, the quick guide, the web interface — all of them are only in Chinese. Having said that, it is surprisingly easy to setup. The reason being, the setup is totally controlled by a mobile app.

Download and install the app either on iOS or Android and setup is a total breeze. You do have to register for a Mi account if you don’t already have one but after that you can control almost every aspect of the router configuration from the app. In fact, it even takes away the need for technical expertise like figuring out overlapping and co-channels and uses the most optimal channel. In the app, it is just called “Boost”.

Once it is set up, the router performs well, though only on the 2.4GHz band and as expected, it does have a good range and will cover most households very well. It supports the 802.11 bgn standards and provides a consistent output in almost every corner of the house.

For those that do not want to use the app, the experience may differ. The web page was only in Chinese but if you know your way around a router, you will still be able to set it up.

At the price and performance point, it will be a popular device in India. If Xiaomi can add some documentation in English or other Indian languages, it would be extremely useful. Finally, if they were to add a 5GHz channel and a few more LAN ports, this would be a killer product. As of now, it will be a great entry-level router, which is easy to setup and maintain and control from anywhere.

Price: ₹1,199

Pros: Easy setup, app controlled, good Range, price

Cons: The router does not sit well at a table, only two LAN ports, not dual-band.

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