Last week I took delivery of a Xiaomi Mi Router with 1TB of onboard storage, and dual internal antennas. It is the best piece of hardware I have bought for the home to date. Here are 5 reasons you need one. The Xiaomi Mi Router, or simply the Xiaomi Router is a small (smaller than you are imagining) black box with dual internal antennas and a 1TB hard drive. The small black package packs dual band Wifi 802.11ac, a Broadcom dual-core processor, and runs an Openwrt operating system. In China it costs around 699 Yuan, and it is now easily available through international resellers. I chose Xiaomishop.it, where it costs slightly more but you get fast delivery and a 2 year warranty.
5 reason you need a Xiaomi Mi Router
Xiaomi Router – WIFI Signal
I can go anywhere in my apartment, regardless of the number of walls between me and the Xiaomi Router and get a solid signal, but so can any half decent router. So what happens when I go further a field? Well I can head out of my home, down the stairs and sit on the corner at the local cafe and still use my own WIFI thanks to the Mi Router! In fact I can sit across the road and get a signal at the bus stop should the need arise too! A strong signal is only half of it though, the speed and stability of the signal also means I never lose WIFI and that using, Miracast, Video streaming or other similar technologies I am never left hanging.
Xiaomi Router – Router app
When setting up your Xiaomi Router you will be asked to visit the MiWifi.com website where you can download an application. The app is available for Android, Mac, Windows and other operating systems, and makes set up a breeze (although it is mostly in Chinese). 
The Router app allows to you check your storage, view files, see who and what is connected to your WIFI, and even allows you to download a few plugins to download video, and other useful features.
Xiaomi Router – Easy backups
One of those great plugins is a way to connect your Mi Router to your Mac’s Time Machine backup so that scheduled back ups are saved to the 1TB of memory in the little black box. You can do this with pretty much any storage solution, but the easy of set up on the Xiaomi Router makes it a really great feature even for the less technically minded.
Xiaomi Router – Connect from anywhere in the world
I’ve installed the app to my phone, tablet and Mac, and also connected my router to my Xiaomi account. This allows me to login to my router even if I am not connected to my own WIFI network. If I am out and about I can simply login over a 3G, LTE or another WIFI signal using my Xiaomi account credentials, check details, move files and make back ups. Even when I am in another country I can have quick access to my storage!
Xiaomi Router – Price
The Xiaomi router is a fully loaded piece of kit and well worth the money, but it is the application that really makes the package and makes for a very flexible piece of office equipment. Even if you buy the router at a higher price though a reseller, this flexibility and the fact you can easily access your files and backups at anytime around the globe more than make up for the higher purchase costs.
Xiaomi Router Photo Gallery
A full Xiaomi Router review is in the works and will be published very soon. Thanks again to Xiaomishop.it, and for anyone thinking to order one from them remember to use this discount code: GIZXIAOMI
This is definitely a nice piece of hardware, I’ve been eyeing it since it was announced and I have already read full detailed reviews of it.
I was planning to buy it together with the MI4 but I have to give up the MI4 because it doesn’t have NFC. Btw this router HAS NFC so you can simply connect just by tapping it with your NFC enabled phone. A nice feature so you don’t have to give out your password for friends or guests.
Wow, I didn’t even know it had NFC! And Xiaomi decided to remove if from the Xiaomi Mi4….
Another reason why I’m buying the Mi3, hopefully they will reintroduce it for the Mi5.
What’s port forwarding like on this router?
This why I am so baffled by their decision when they themselves started to add NFC to peripherals and then launch a flagship which can’t even take advantage of this functionality.
I wonder though what technology does the Mi Band use for proximity unlocking? I was convinced it was NFC until you posted the article about Mi4 not having it.
Yep, NFC is an odd one. Lei Jun confirmed that they scrapped it at the last minute and apparently an NFC setting is still found in MIUI on the Mi4. In the past Xiaomi fans have pressured Xiaomi to make changes (32GB for the Mi2 for example) we could see something similar with NFC.
sadly no coax connection
Setup your cablemodem as bridge and connect your router.
Your connection will be managed by your router.
Where can you read this router got NFC ?
There is this blog post with lots of detail.
http://kiswum.tweakblogs.net/blog/10267/xiaomi-mi-wi-fi-router-review-%28uk-version%29.html
Thanks for the link man, it is still in progress, but it is hard to test the router in a house where you can just shut down the internet for testing 🙂
Been watching that article for updates, you do a pretty thorough testing and review 😉
Well.. This was my first router review and it is a bit tough for me. My next review will just be a Smartphone (UMi C1 probably) or my current Xiaomi MiPad.
No more router reviews for me at this moment 🙂 When the review is ready, it will be mentioned in the changelog.
ooops, right, there’s NFC
In order to get fast shipping, which shipping method did you choose and how much did it cost ?
We had it delivered within Europe not sure which method it was but took around a day to arrive.
I’m planning on buying an Mi3 soon, so perhaps i’ll use the same site.
This is definitely a nice piece of hardware, I’ve been eyeing it since it was announced and I have already read full detailed reviews of it.
I was planning to buy it together with the MI4 but I have to give up the MI4 because it doesn’t have NFC. Btw this router HAS NFC so you can simply connect just by tapping it with your NFC enabled phone. A nice feature so you don’t have to give out your password for friends or guests.
Wow, I didn’t even know it had NFC! And Xiaomi decided to remove if from the Xiaomi Mi4….
Another reason why I’m buying the Mi3, hopefully they will reintroduce it for the Mi5.
This why I am so baffled by their decision when they themselves started to add NFC to peripherals and then launch a flagship which can’t even take advantage of this functionality.
I wonder though what technology does the Mi Band use for proximity unlocking? I was convinced it was NFC until you posted the article about Mi4 not having it.
Yep, NFC is an odd one. Lei Jun confirmed that they scrapped it at the last minute and apparently an NFC setting is still found in MIUI on the Mi4. In the past Xiaomi fans have pressured Xiaomi to make changes (32GB for the Mi2 for example) we could see something similar with NFC.
What’s port forwarding like on this router?
sadly no coax connection
Setup your cablemodem as bridge and connect your router.
Your connection will be managed by your router.
Where can you read this router got NFC ?
There is this blog post with lots of detail.
http://kiswum.tweakblogs.net/blog/10267/xiaomi-mi-wi-fi-router-review-%28uk-version%29.html
Thanks for the link man, it is still in progress, but it is hard to test the router in a house where you can just shut down the internet for testing 🙂
Been watching that article for updates, you do a pretty thorough testing and review 😉
Well.. This was my first router review and it is a bit tough for me. My next review will just be a Smartphone (UMi C1 probably) or my current Xiaomi MiPad.
No more router reviews for me at this moment 🙂 When the review is ready, it will be mentioned in the changelog.
ooops, right, there’s NFC
In order to get fast shipping, which shipping method did you choose and how much did it cost ?
We had it delivered within Europe not sure which method it was but took around a day to arrive.
I’m planning on buying an Mi3 soon, so perhaps i’ll use the same site.
With Broadcom SoC, meh.
We prefer routers from MikroTik, Ubiquiti Networks or TP-Link.
Does it have built-in 3G modem to get network from WCDMA 3G networks?
With Broadcom SoC, meh.
We prefer routers from MikroTik, Ubiquiti Networks or TP-Link.
Does it have built-in 3G modem to get network from WCDMA 3G networks?
It will be great if you can compare it to some mid-end Asus routers, they can do torrent, streaming with web and app for mobile, great stability and range too, while not pricey at all. If this thing can come close to those Asus device at low price then maybe I’m interested.
The problem with this router is, no.1 its only available in the Chinese language. no.2 it does not have many advanced features right out of the box (ie. qos). I can’t even figure out how to do port triggering or port forwarding with it.
I agree that it has great potential as a smart device, with excellent hardware offered at a really good price but presently the software is not developed enough to put it on par with what you can get with stock Tomato, Dd-wrt or Openwrt.
It will be a much more functional device when somebody figures out how to replace the xiaomi software and just put stock openwrt on it.
disclosure: i own one!
The only real problem is the system and client app language. With the latest upgrade it now has QoS, UPnP, PPTP, port forwarding… And also integrated torrent client (just copy-paste a magnet link in the client app). It can download also from ftp or http links. A real amazing device for a fair price!
It will be great if you can compare it to some mid-end Asus routers, they can do torrent, streaming with web and app for mobile, great stability and range too, while not pricey at all. If this thing can come close to those Asus device at low price then maybe I’m interested.
The problem with this router is, no.1 its only available in the Chinese language. no.2 it does not have many advanced features right out of the box (ie. qos). I can’t even figure out how to do port triggering or port forwarding with it.
I agree that it has great potential as a smart device, with excellent hardware offered at a really good price but presently the software is not developed enough to put it on par with what you can get with stock Tomato, Dd-wrt or Openwrt.
It will be a much more functional device when somebody figures out how to replace the xiaomi software and just put stock openwrt on it.
disclosure: i own one!
The only real problem is the system and client app language. With the latest upgrade it now has QoS, UPnP, PPTP, port forwarding… And also integrated torrent client (just copy-paste a magnet link in the client app). It can download also from ftp or http links. A real amazing device for a fair price!
I own this router but the firmware is written very badly. There must be something wrong with the DHCP as my NAS cannot access the Internet with this router.
I own this router but the firmware is written very badly. There must be something wrong with the DHCP as my NAS cannot access the Internet with this router.
I really don’t understand why there is no English language! It seems like there is a secret plan to implement chinese as next World Wide Language.
Because it is only officially sold in China. Simple as that.
I really don’t understand why there is no English language! It seems like there is a secret plan to implement chinese as next World Wide Language.
Because it is only officially sold in China. Simple as that.
I got this router as a gift during a visit to China but all of the setup is in Chinese so I have no idea what to do. Can anybody help? Is there an English guide with screenshots somewhere?
I got this router as a gift during a visit to China but all of the setup is in Chinese so I have no idea what to do. Can anybody help? Is there an English guide with screenshots somewhere?
can i have xiaomi modem router in india
can i have xiaomi modem router in india