What initially piqued our interest in the RG-E5 was the suggestion that it has a really really long range. Now after reviewing and testing dozens of standalone routers, the results are in and yes, it has the best tested speeds at 120 feet than any other router we’ve tested to date.

So, how good is the range? We recorded a 330Mbps average at 120 feet with an iPhone 12 Pro Max, a length that includes two doors, a few walls, and some furniture along the way. The Pixel 3 had a 143Mbps average, but it’s a Wi-Fi 5 device, so we expected the lower speed.

By comparison, the TP-LInk Archer AX6000 tested with a 280Mbps average at 120 feet, while the Nighthawk XR1000 tested with a 275Mbps average in the same spot. Both routers cost $100 more.

Overall, a 330Mbps throughput is excellent at that range—more than enough to stream 4K movies while standing in your neighbor’s yard (cough). The fastest speed we recorded was 843Mbps at close range, while the slower Google Pixel 3 tested a 695Mbps average, which isn’t bad either.

The RG-E5 is as plain as you can get. It doesn’t have media sharing, printer sharing, or native support for smart assistants. But you can add smart devices to a secondary 2.4 GHz SSID that uses a different channel than your primary one.

The RG-E5 also doesn’t include the built-in VPN tools we’ve seen on other routers at this price. You probably don’t need VPN tools on a local business network anyway—the company likely has its own server and client software. But a built-in VPN server is handy for residents accessing the internet from a coffee shop, for instance.

The parental controls aren’t even labeled as such in the web interface. You click into the Clients section and set times to block internet access to each device. In the app, you tap on Scenario followed by Parental Control to do the same thing. There are no age-specific filters to use or profiles to create.

What this router does include, however, is free protection against Address Resolution Protocol poisoning and attack prevention. It’s an important feature for business networks but not really useful at home. The Ruijie Cloud service is a handy remote management tool, but it’s best for companies with multiple access points and related networking devices.

What we wish the Reyee RG-E5 did better

• USB sharing
• WPA3 support

We get why there are no USB ports—it prevents you from spreading malware to your boss and coworkers (as fun as that sounds). But the lack of USB prevents printer sharing too, which could be helpful in an office or home environment.

What’s surprising here is the lack of WPA3 support. It’s the latest security standard we normally see on Wi-Fi 6 routers, but not here. The WPA2 protocol is your best line of defense.

The router looks like a giant CPU sitting in a motherboard socket, only with two antennas parked at each corner. It doesn’t look cheap by any means, but it has a low price for good reason: It avoids many features businesses simply may not need.

First, it doesn’t have more than eight Ethernet ports because, generally, wired office environments converge at a hub that connects to the router. As mentioned before, the lack of USB connectivity reduces the chance of malware spreading across the local network.

What’s surprising is the lack of multi-gig connectivity, whether it’s an internet connection or a two-lane NAS tethered to the router. It doesn’t even have a Wi-Fi on/off switch or a power button.

The RG-E5 has one of the fastest setups we’ve tested to date, and competitors like TP-Link should really take note. But we had to create a cloud account to use this router, plus we experienced registration issues with the Reyee Router mobile app afterward—those are the main drawbacks.

The web interface has one of the best layouts we’ve seen to date. Reyee crams everything you need under five tabs displayed along the top. For example, click on the Clients tab, and you have instant access to data like signal strength, channel, IP address, MAC address, and more for each device. You can easily block a device too with one click, or add a blocked time.

The Reyee app clearly caters to home users with terms like “parental controls” and “smart home” that you don’t see in the web interface. Here Reyee divides the layout into three tabs instead of five: Home, Scenario, and Settings.

Overall, the RG-E5 requires you to use the web interface and the mobile app to get the most out of it. Plus, the two interfaces lack proper on-screen instructions, so chances are you’ll end up searching Google to find out what Smart Wi-Fi does or why you should or should not enable ARP Guard.