Bitdefender Box 2

Published on 01 May 2019 1 min reading time Categories: Network

Just two years ago, antivirus company Bitdefender went in a new direction with a hardware solution for smart home security. Its Box device was the first to market, but not the last, and has since been joined by a burgeoning crowd of competitors.

But Bitdefender maintains a competitive edge with a centralized approach to security that lets you protect PCs, mobile devices, and even IoT devices from within a single app interface. The new Bitdefender Box 2 is meant to be the center of your secure home, guarding against attacks on your network.

As with all such security devices, the price tag includes a subscription fee. After the first year, it costs $99 per year to continue using all the bells and whistles that come with the Box 2. That might sound like a lot, but it’s actually a pretty sweet deal, considering that you get unlimited access to the company’s software, which we discuss below.

At close to $300, the Box 2 is definitely in the upper tier of routers, but it’s by no means at the top. The Netgear Nighthawk X10 AD7200 Smart Wi-Fi Router (R9000), for example, will set you back $500.

The upright, fanless design lets air travel naturally through the Box 2. Peek through the grill on the top and you see little more than a single board inside the casing. Somewhere on that little board is a Dual Core Cortex A9 1.2GHz processor, with 1GB of DDR3 memory and 4GB of internal storage. The new Box supports concurrent dual-band wireless 2.4GHz and 5Hhz with MU-MIMO in a 3x3 antenna configuration. It supports IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wave-2 at AC1900.

Powered by a single AC jack, there are only two ports: one LAN port and one WAN port of the 10/100/1000 BaseT Ethernet variety. A small reset button lets you wipe the device, should you need to.

Although we have tested all of the Box’s security features, we’re witholding a final score until its wireless networking abilities can be evaluated. This is the same process we’ve used for all such devices. We will update the story with a final score in the coming weeks.