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#1:Certified Refurbished Amazon eero 6 dual-band mesh Wi-Fi 6 router, with built-in Zigbee smart home hub
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Customer reviews
Tech Dude
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Router that Punches Well Above its Price Point -- Buy It
Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2016
Style: Router - AC1750Verified Purchase
I found this router through a third party website review (the Wire Cutter), that aptly called this, "the Best Wi-Fi Router (for Most People)." I would probably amend that title and say, "the Best Wi-Fi Router (for Virtually Everyone)." Do not let the low price fool you into thinking it's an entry level or low-end model. It only costs around $100 but, from my observations against four other routers that cost considerably more, it performs well beyond its price point.
I have purchased a number of routers over the years as the technology and performance improves, and the number of devices my family uses has increased. Over the past few years, I had migrated to the more expensive ($300+) routers in the hopes of greater performance. Right before this, I had an Asus RT-AC5300, a beast of a router that exceeded $400 when I bought it. But what I found was that as the price point goes up, the performance does not, and the reliability goes down. These expensive routers tend to be buggy and drop connections; they simply have too many features and are way too complex, all to provide functionalities that no one uses, or that none of your connected devices support anyway. The ASUS got so bad it was rebooting itself every few hours. The days of the rock-solid Linksys WRT54G seemed long gone... So I returned the ASUS RT-AC5300, gave my WRT1900ACS to a friend, and bought an Archer C7 (v2).
After two weeks of testing it, I have four words: it just works -- period. The signal is strong and punches through the lathe-and-plaster walls of my nearly 100 year old house. Its signal is considerably stronger than the WRT1900ACS that I had (which cost almost three times what this one did), and rivaled the signal strength of the $400 ASUS. It doesn't drop connections, doesn't reboot itself, and delivers a strong and steady stream of data to all devices, wired and wireless.
Only one word of warning; you need to make sure the Archer C7 that you purchase is NOT a first version. Everyone on the web has reported that TP-LINK badly botched the V1, especially for Macintosh/Apple devices (which is most of my house); most of those should be out of circulation or in landfills by now. The one I bought from Amazon was a V2, and it works perfectly with all of my Apple and non-Apple devices.
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Lloyd De Jongh
5.0 out of 5 stars A very good choice for high speed WiFi.
Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2015
Style: Router - AC1750Verified Purchase
I purchased one of these in March 2015 to replace and old Linksys 802.11g WiFi router that was failing, after trying a Netgear unit that just didn't do it for me, and loved it! It's an attractive unit, though a fingerprint magnet if you leave it where it can be touched. This unit is impressively fast and can handle a heck of a lot of devices.
I have around 18 devices attached to it at any given time. Typically these are 3 Bose SoundTouch speakers (the 130 + two 10s + WiFi/Internet adapter), 2 to 3 laptops, 2 tablets (Android and Amazon Fire), a PS3, Xbox 360, a Panasonic smart Bluray player and Viera Smart TV, a high end PC, 3 smartphones (iPhone 6, Android and BlackBerry Z30), an Amazon Fire TV (with Amazon Prime, Hulu and Netflix subscriptions) and an Amazon Echo - it handles them all, and more, without a hiccup. When guests come over there are no hassles at all.
I have all of this running on a 32MBit unlimited internet link.
My first unit was replaced by Amazon hassle-free when it failed after 6 months even though it was outside the stated warranty period and they weren't under obligation to do so. (Amazon has always treated me right - which makes me a loyal customer.) It started to act erratically and required constant reboots, and would cause various networked devices in my household to act up, even to freeze. The new unit has been running for 2 or 3 months without a hitch, stable and reliable as you would want it to be, which led me to realise there were issues with the first one from the beginning, though I hadn't realised it. The 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports are a fantastic addition, I have it paired with an 8-port TP-Link Gigabit switch and performance is top notch.
Interestingly, at the local TP-Link office the staff use the Archer C7 as their office router. That says a lot right there, and they have 20+ devices attached to it. That said, TP-link service wasn't exactly falling over their feet to replace the unit for me or help me get it repaired when they learned I bought it on Amazon, though they did have have a tech check it and informed me that it was permanent failure and replacement was the only option. They told me to email the repair centre in China for help, and wished me good luck. Their service is a tad poor, as has been noted elsewhere in the reviews and comments.
I stream Deezer (discounted Bose offer), Pandora, Internet Radio services and YouTube, sometimes from 2 or 3 different devices at the same time - it's never been an issue.
The web interface is easy to use, and it's easy to do firmware updates. It was simple to set up, though I wish there was a VPN option. I would love to connect the Archer C7 to my VPN server as a client and then connect my mobile devices through it. This is the one feature I feel it is lacking. Other than that this is a great unit, with excellent performance.
The 5GHz signal does not reach as far or penetrate as well as the 2.4GHz signal - which is normal. Still, it's powerful and I have no issues in my apartment. despite the walls. I moved the 2.4GHz Channel to one that is unused by other WiFi routers in my vicinity (you can select 1- 14) and have a constant, steady signal.
Other reviews discuss other features and so on, but this is what I use it for with at minimum 18 devices and over 20 on occasion.
Should you buy it. Yes.
If it breaks, will Amazon replace it? Yes
Can it do what it says on the box? Yes, and then some.
** For those who may consider replacing the firmware with OpenWRT, the V2 firmware works perfectly with the replacement. The caveat, as I have learned is that performance (overall link speed, not range) may be affected. I would recommend the stock firmware for optimal performance. This affects the Gigabit Ethernet throughput as well as the WiFi from what I can gather.
I've just bought another TP-Link, the C20i AC750 as a Christmas gift for a friend who needs a replacement router. So despite my first router having hardware failure and the questionable service, I'll risk it. The Archer C7 experience has left me feeling positive about their products.
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Blocknlot
5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific Router! If your looking for a solid
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2016
Style: Router - AC1750Verified Purchase
Terrific Router!
If your looking for a solid, stable, up to date, quality router at a fair price with the bonus of being priced better then the competition then this is the router for you.
I installed the TP-Link AC1750 in my home a few months ago, after realizing that my well liked Netgear N300 was getting a bit overwhelmed by the dozen or so devices in my home that connects to it at any given time.
I am as happy as I could be with the TP-Link ac1750. Of course I read all the reviews on Amazon and also in the press. The router has performed as well and as best/better as I could have expected. I think the price is a bargain in todays world of WAY grossly overpriced routers. The TP Link been rock solid stable and more then sufficient using our 3 Ruku players, Channel Master, 2 desktops, 2 laptops, Ipad, 2 wifi cell phones when we are home, Ooma home phone line, Epson Printer, Magic Jack (getting rid of that, Ooma rocks) plus our daughters wifi stuff when home from college and whatever else I am forgetting!
Set up was extremely easy and I have found the interface MUCH better then I expected, some people have said the interface seemed dated/confusing, honestly I found it very refreshing, very informative, full of options/extremely complete and simple to use. Maybe its just me but seems like some people need to see buttons and symbols in programs instead of straight forward words. Anyway, I fell in love with the interface, very complete.
A little background, I am in the security industry and work with customers routers almost on a daily business for their home security cameras, you cant believe the junk or outdated routers I see in most houses, including the garbage that the internet providers give their customers, they all do their job for light duty stuff but easy can get confused with the more demanding stuff, range being a big issue. So what I am saying is I only wish they all had this TPLINK router, if they did our job would be a lot easier and more trouble free for the customer. The price is a bargain and no reason to settle for less by buying a name brand that you may feel more comfortable with.
Im into electronics, computers, etc and service and install security systems and cameras, I have no relationship with this (TPLINK) company, nor have I ever used their products before, well, I am sold, as long as they produce products like this at really good prices I will be a customer, I was so impressed I also bought their Cable Modem, once again, I could not be more happy with its performance, I actually at all times get a better advertised speed then I am paying for, normally you get slightly less speed depending on time of day, I always get slightly more speed.
Anyway, I just wrote this short review for anyone like me who reads through countless reviews before buying something. If your reading this, I can tell you, if you buy this router, you will be happy and it will perform just as good and better then the "name brands" at 50% more cost.
Am I saying this is the best router in the world? No, I am saying at this price point I do not think any other name brand router will beat its stability and performance at cost of up to 50% more. I will say, now owning TPLink cable modem and this router that I am sold on TP Links products and if I were to ever upgrade I would certainly look into purchasing another one of their products. Right now this combination is working very well in our 3000 sq ft home.
Update - April 2018 __
We have owned this router for 2.5 years now.
It has been rock solid, I have been computing for 2 decades now, this is the most stable router I have ever owned.
We have no less then over a dozen wifi devices running in our home, including 4 Roku streaming boxes.
This router (and our internet connection) performs flawlessly, honestly never even have to reset it.
If your shopping price, without exception I dont see how you can buy a better router for under a $100.
Im not saying not to buy something more expensive, but just think for the average home up to 3000 sq ft this one does a job well done.
TPLink has made a believer out of me, as far as their routers and modems go.
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K-lub
5.0 out of 5 stars Good router
Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2024
Style: Onemesh RouterVerified Purchase
Works well in my 3 story, 3000 sqft home, mildly diminished connection on third floor, but still is able to stream on tv. Setup was easy, coverage great.
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Sui
5.0 out of 5 stars A Solid Wireless Router
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2014
Style: Router - AC1750Verified Purchase
The TP-Link Archer C7 is an AC1750 class router with gigabit ports and dual band Wi-Fi that supports up to 450mbps on wireless-N and 1300mbps on wireless-AC. Here's my take on it:
The box and connectors:
As far as consumer routers go, this is a pretty standard router that offers a couple of nice extras that generally are not found on most routers. On the back panel, the Archer C7 has four gigabit Ethernet ports, and the accompanying WAN port is also gigabit making it suitable for use with the newer class of modems. It also houses a pair of USB 2.0 ports for attaching NAS devices and/or setting up a print server directly off the router without a host computer. The router also supports IPv4 and IPv6 protocols making it a bit future proof (I use this term loosely - as we all know, standards have a way of changing overnight). The unit also uses a standard AC adapter/wall wart combination for power. The connectors for the 5gHz connectors are also located on the rear of the box, as is the WPS reset button.
Last but not least, this router has a dedicated wireless on/off switch in the back AND a power on/off button - seeing as most routers do not have these - this is very cool. These two switches allow the user to disable wireless, and/or perform a cold reboot of the router independently - without having to unplug it from the AC jack (to say nothing of this reducing greatly the risk of the box getting fried by constantly plugging and unplugging this jack). Kudos to TP-Link for this.
On the front panel it's a pretty typical modern display for a router (with the cutesy icon shaped LED indicators of course). From left to right, you get: a power on indicator, a sun shaped icon displaying the overall status of the router, two separate on/off/active indicators for each wireless band, four indicators for the Ethernet ports, internet activity/active light, and a WPS indicator light. It would have been cool had the Ethernet lights had different colors to indicate 10/100/1000Base-T connections, but this is probably just me wishing to see more information at-a-glance.
The router has a very shiny black finish - which looks fantastic, but you better keep a microfiber cloth handy if you expect it to always look that way - the surface is a big-time fingerprint and dust magnet. You could almost say that one of the Archer C7's sub functions is to tell you how polluted the air in your house is.
Setup:
Setting up this router is fairly easy to do when it comes to instant gratification. Generally the quick setup (which can be done either through the web interface or included mini-CD) allows one to quickly set up all the rudimentary stuff to get up and running quickly. This will only address the most basic settings, such as setting up the wireless network's SSID's, channels, and security keys. This method of setup is probably the best method for novices.
Tweaking this router to your personal tastes and preferences takes a good bit more patience - they are only available from the web interface - and the interface itself, while fairly well laid out is a bit cumbersome to say the least, and requires a lot of clicks to get to certain aspects of the router's configuration parameters. Changes made that require reboots also take a bit longer than the average router. The bottom line is, while this router can be fully configured, it's just not a very fast process - put aside a good block of time to do the modifications you want to do to the router.
The first thing I personally would recommend doing before you start diving into the heavier tweaking is to upgrade the firmware. This device will not retain any settings that were modified once the firmware is upgraded, so it can result in a lot of lost time and effort if you don't do this beforehand. Also it is very important to upgrade to the latest version of the firmware as several critical issues in the original firmware have been fixed.
I am happy to report that once configured to my liking, the Archer C7 has been rock solid - it retains its settings and hasn't required a single reboot and/or dropped connections anywhere. This makes the time ones puts into customizing very well worth the effort.
Security settings are pretty standard for a consumer router. You get the hardware NAT firewall along with the SPI firewall. You also get DoS protection with assignable flood filters. There is VPN tunnel management and also ALG filters for the NAT firewall. Local and remote management of the router is also fully programmable to make accessibility to the web based interface as tight or as loose as you want.
Other setup features involve the USB ports, as you can set them up for an FTP server, shared storage, print server and also a media server for the entire network. There are also a slew of other features, such as port triggering, setting up a DMZ or virtual server, and so forth.
Wireless Features:
I kind of made wireless the focal point of this review because the simple fact is, that's about 90% of the reason anyone gets a wireless router of any kind. Let's take a look:
The TP-Link Archer C7 comes with a pretty comprehensive wireless feature set. You get dual transmitters on 2.4gHz and 5gHz, which can be run simultaneously or in one band only. There is also a hardware master wireless on/off switch on the back of the router, which saves one the trouble of having to login to the router to disable the wireless system. Each band is completely programmable and independent of the other, and both bands also offer a guest network - effectively giving the ability to offer four wireless networks (all with unique SSID's) in a single box. Both bands also offer WDS bridging for expanding coverage, and I suspect there is also a way to manually bridge as well. Each band has three antennas - the 5gHz antennas are external and detachable, and the 2.4gHz antennas are fixed internal.
Both bands also offer WPS connectivity, wireless MAC filtering, WEP (up to 152bit keys) WPA/WPA2 PSK Personal and WPA/WPA2 Enterprise (both WPA/2 modes offer TKIP and AES encryption). You also get three power setting levels (low, medium and high), the ability to adjust the beacon interval, RTS threshold, fragmentation threshold and the DTIM interval. You also get the ability to enable and disable WMM and short GI. Lastly there is also the option for enabling/disabling AP isolation. Guest networks are fully controllable in accessibility, wireless security and bandwidth limiting.
The Archer C7 is compatible with wireless A, B, G, N and AC. 2.4 gHz offers wireless B, G and N while 5gHz offers A, N and AC. The flexibility of assigning bands left a little to be desired as the router does NOT offer single modes (IE - Wireless-N only, etc). Rather, each band offers two sets of mixed modes. 2.4gHz offers B/G and B/G/N mixed modes while 5gHz offers A/N and A/N/AC mixed modes. This is probably my biggest gripe about the Archer C7.
I would have liked to have had the options of being able to run single modes in both transmitters, at the very least have the options of wireless N only and wireless AC only. Now while the slower wireless G adapter in my older Toshiba laptop did not seem to effect the connection speeds/transfer rates of my N devices on the 2.4gHz band, the simple fact is the potential for devices with slower modes to have an adverse effect on overall performance of the devices with the faster modes is a real possibility.
I should say this is at best a small turnoff in the face of an otherwise solid set of wireless features, but what makes this a bit more of a head scratcher is the fact that according to the manuals, single modes seemed to have been available in the version 1 models of the Archer C7, but were done away with in the V2 and V3 models. So why did they decide to get rid of the single modes in the later versions of the Archer C7? TP-Link: PLEASE bring the single modes back.
Channel width setting options also were a little on the lean side. The 2.4gHz transmitter's options were standard with B/G mode fixed to 20mHz (as it should be) and the options of Auto, 20 and 40mHz on B/G/N mode. The 5gHz transmitter curiously offers NO options for channel width at all. The only choices present in the 5gHz transmitter are either choosing a channel manually or setting it to auto. I am presuming that the channel width is auto in the firmware (or could it possibly be fixed to a certain width?) - I personally would have preferred being able to either set it to Auto or a fixed width of my preference. Perhaps this can be addressed in the next firmware update.
Wireless Performance Testing
My house is not a large house, but also does not have an open floor plan. Wireless signal strength has always been a problem on the far side of my house because I have lots of walls to deal with, and I have to hook up a main router on the other side of the house. My testing conditions therefore are as such that the truth definitely will come out about the abilities of any wireless transmitter I use. For the long distance testing my router was located in the front right corner of my house and the clients were located in the left rear corner of the house - the maximum possible distance between clients and router inside my house. For close testing my clients were located in the next room over from the router with a bathroom directly between the two rooms.
Please note that the speeds listed here are the connection speeds and not the actual throughput rate. But in regard to transfer rate, one can generally get a quick ballpark estimate of the actual maximum possible data transfer rate by taking the wireless connection speed and dividing that number by 2. I focused more on the actual signal strength, because in reality the connection speed AND actual data transfer rate is 100% dependant on the signal strength of the wireless connection. Simply put, the weaker the signal, the slower the data transfer rates are going to be.
The devices I used in this test were a Google Nexus-7 2013 android tablet, LG LS970 android phone, a Toshiba Satellite 5825 laptop with the original built in wireless 2.4gHz B/G adapter and a newer Dell laptop with an i5 processor and 300N built in dual band wireless adapter. Finally, with the aforementioned Toshiba laptop, I tested TP-Link's T4U AC1200 dual band USB adapter which sports connection specs up to 300mbps on wireless-N and 867mbps on wireless-AC.
2.4gHz - mixed B/G/N @ 11 feet through 2 walls:
Client Mode Average Speed Signal Strength
Nexus 7 2013 N 72mbps -40dBm
LG LS970 N 65mbps -51dBm
Dell laptop N 144mbps excellent
Toshiba Laptop G 54mbps excellent
Toshiba w/T4U N 144mbps excellent
2.4gHz - mixed B/G/N @ 40 feet through 4 walls:
Client Mode Average Speed Signal Strength
Nexus 7 2013 N 26-65mbps (usually 52mbps) -57dBm
LG LS970 N 12-24mbps (usually 24mbps) -65dBm
Dell laptop N 40-144mbps (usually 72mbps) good
Toshiba Laptop G 48-54mbps (usually 54mbps) good
Toshiba w/T4U N 58-130mbps (usually 86mbps) very good
5gHz mixed mode A/N/AC @ 11 feet through 2 walls:
Client Mode Average Speed Signal Strength
Nexus 7 2013 N 150mbps -41dBm
LG LS970 N 150mbps -51dBm
Dell laptop N 300mbps excellent
Toshiba w/T4U N 300mbps excellent
Toshiba w/T4U AC 867mbps excellent
5gHz mixed mode A/N/AC @ 40 feet through 4 walls:
Client Mode Average Speed Signal Strength
Nexus 7 2013 N 40-90mbps (usually 60mbps) -69dBm
LG LS970 N 12mbps -72dBm
Dell laptop N 60-180mbps (usually 120mbps) fair
Toshiba w/T4U N 120-180mbps (usually 150mbps) good to very good
Toshiba w/T4U AC 260-325mbps (usually 325mbps) good to very good
It is clearly obvious that 2.4gHz is a stellar performer on this router - and offered signals around 10-15dBm stronger than my old Linksys WRT150N. Signal strength and connection speeds were very respectable on the far side of the house. On 5gHz, the transmit range is very similar to that of the WRT150N's range on 2.4gHz - that is to say - the 5 gHz range on the Archer C7 is ok, but you possibly will need a repeater or adapter with a strong transmitter to get reliable full coverage and/or good performance in either a large house or a house that does not have an open floor plan. In my case the performance of 5gHz was significantly degraded on the far side of the house, but it did stay connected without a repeater. The
lone exception to this was TP-Link's own T4U adapter, which clearly has the strongest transmitter of all the test devices in 5gHz - as it maintained a good to very good 5gHz connection on the far side of the house.
Also clearly obvious (and what a lot of people seem to either forget or not realize) is the fact that the useable range is just as dependant on the transmitters of the clients connecting to the router as the router itself - not all device's radios are created equal, and the performance chart I compiled reflects this. I also have seen a lot of people complain about the performance on certain devices not passing certain speeds, but one needs to take into account that the maximum speed is limited to the transmitter with the slowest rate. The only real way to test a wireless-N signal at the advertised 450mbps (and wireless-AC at 1300mbps) rate on the Archer C7 is to connect it with an adapter that can run at those speeds. I didn't have a 450N/1300AC device to test it with; however I can report that the T4U adapter on the Toshiba laptop ran at its maximum possible connection speeds of 300N/867AC when close enough to the router. On a side note, the performance I got from my Toshiba laptop's built-in wireless-G adapter on 2.4gHz was virtually the maximum 54mbps throughout my entire house.
In both the case of 2.4gHz and 5gHz, I only experienced dropped connections when the signal strength was extremely weak (below -85dB), which is really as it should be. Otherwise all my devices stayed connected without any interruptions.
The power output settings left me a bit befuddled. I was expecting to see very noticeable differences between the power settings at greater distances, but the actual differences were so minimal that it left me to wonder if this feature is really effectively enabled in the Archer C7. Whether I had the setting to low, medium or high, there was very little difference between the actual signal strength - even at beyond 50 feet through several walls, and in some cases there was no difference at all. It would seem the only real world usefulness this feature MIGHT have is to run at router at a lower power setting when you have devices in close proximity to the router as to avoid the overshoot effect, where too strong of a signal becomes just as problematic with connectivity as a very weak signal would.
Overall performance:
This router has been very solid in performance, the gigabit ports are what I would expect to see performance wise with either CAT 5e or CAT 6 cables attached. It hasn't lost connection with my modem or randomly rebooted itself, or created any kind of bottlenecks. I stream video from a Roku player through 2.4gHz wireless N and it has performed very well when it comes to buffering and picture quality - there have been no buffering interruptions of any kind. All of my other wireless devices stay connected flawlessly and the router itself plays nice with all my older routers (that are being used as switches in my network) and all of my wired computers. The Magic jack I'm running sounds crystal clear and never gets any skippy audio during phone calls. In all I have 18 devices patched into the network (about a 60/40 split between wired and wireless) and everything works perfectly without the router even breaking a sweat (it runs very cool).
Pros:
Price. For the average street price of around $75-$95 it is very hard to go wrong with this - you get a lot of functionality and reliability.
Good Wi-Fi transmitters and antennas, particularly on 2.4gHz.
Gigabit ports and very stable gigabit connections.
Simple to get going quickly out of the box and lots of options for tweaking your network to run the way you want it to.
Good security features.
Detachable 5gHz antennas
Runs very cool.
Cons:
Very cumbersome interface, and slow restart times, making this a bit of a pain to set up.
Only runs in mixed wireless modes - no options for running one mode only (eg - Wireless-N only).
No options for channel width in 5gHz.
Power level settings seem to have little or no effect on the actual power output.
The glassy smooth casing is a total dust magnet.
In conclusion
The TP-Link Archer C7 replaced a Linksys WRT150N that had given me 7 years of solid service as a main router, and I only replaced it because it was getting a bit long in the tooth and I wanted to go to a gigabit network. The wireless considerations generally have always been an afterthought in my own home network simply because I prefer wired networks for several reasons - most notably for the easy connectivity, faster performance overall and less security concerns. However with the age of smart phones, tablets, video streaming boxes and other devices, wireless capabilities have become more of a concern lately, and it won't be long before we start seeing AC as a common feature in these types of devices, which my old router doesn't support. As my new main router, the Archer C7 hasn't disappointed me.
I generally buy networking equipment using what I call the power curve theory. That is to say - get the most features and reliability for a reasonable price, and if possible, buck the concept of cutting edge. The Archer C7 certainly fits this description - you get a lot of router for a very pedestrian price - so much so that stepping up to its own more expensive siblings (Archer C8 and C9) or more feature laden models from other brands is really unnecessary for most people.
The bottom line is - while not quite on the cutting edge of technology, one gets a very capable router with a few inevitable shortcomings and curiosities (mostly in the wireless feature set). The good news is the Archer C7's overall performance far overshadows the aforementioned shortcomings. It's generally pretty easy to get set up out of the box within a short period of time for instant gratification, and has a much deeper (and more cumbersome) set of parameters in the admin menu - one can do a lot with this router just as long as you have the patience for it. Once it is set up the way you want it however, this device runs rock solid and is very reliable - I have had mine in for six weeks and have not had to do a single reset, and it passed the first power outage with flying colors as the settings did not get corrupted or forgotten.
5 star-rating.
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Brett Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars This is the upgrade I hoped for and then some. NOW ADDED A 2nd AS A BRIDGE
Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2013
Verified Purchase
I usually wait a couple of weeks for my reviews of tech products, but I am so thrilled with this purchase after 24 hours that I can't wait.
This is replacing my D-Link DIR-825 that I have had for more than 4 years. I have been happy with the D-Link but it has been dragging when it comes to actual routing. Seemed to be dropping connections (even if just momentarily) and browsing shared files between computers and devices on the network just seemed to be getting more and more buggy with each passing week. So I figured I might as well future proof. At some point I plan on using the 5ghz AC band to wirelessly bridge the router upstairs with the server downstairs. Right now I have a Cat 5e cable running through some duct work. I had used 5Ghz N for home media serving before with good success but the bandwidth limitation just made it less than 100% smooth. Reviews seem to give a real world benefit of 2x to 3x better performance from AC so as soon as prices come down on AC equipment I will probably do that.
Anyway, I am only using the 2.4Ghz N band right now and I am stunned. My plan was to keep the old D-Link as an access point connected via 100 feet of CAT 6 so that I could have good wireless in the backyard. After setting up the Archer C7, the D-link is in its box and in storage. The range is simply awesome. I haven't found a weak spot, yet. Simple networking across cable or wireless is definitely snappier. With any PC using a wired connection, accessing shared files is like I am accessing a local drive. My D-Link did a fine job with transfer speeds, maxing out all but my 2TB Seagate 7200 drives and the Archer C7 is no different. I don't have any SSDs, so I don't really have the capability of maxing the gigabit connection but the speeds are running 70-80 MB/s (which is the top read/write rate for the drive I am using for file transfer). I will temporarily move my USB 3.0 external that usually transfers about 120MB/sec to my tower PC and copy some files over to my server. That should give me a pretty good test.
Setup was done in about 30 minutes and that includes setting up my DHCP reservations and setting the Date/Time. I just popped the mini-cd in my tower and followed the steps. I even had my D-Link router set up as an access point and working nicely with the Archer C7 (hand offs were nice and smooth) but I disconnected it shortly thereafter because the final position of the router plus the greater range made it moot.
Can't wait to try out the 5Ghz AC band.
UPDATE: 1 WEEK LATER
I can safely say that my enthusiasm for this router has not waned. Networking between computers is much smoother than before and the little blips and hiccups that I used to experience are gone. Often, with my old router, it would take several seconds (and what often felt like a minute or so) before certain devices would show up in my network for remote access. Sometimes a reboot of the devices or the router was necessary. Now, everything is instant. I click <Network> in the Windows Explorer and the attached devices are all there in less than 2 seconds if not instantly. Accessing my server is no longer a click and wait game. I just don't think the D-Link had the horsepower to act as a true Gigabit router. I chose this router because of the reviews that showed it had some of the highest total throughput for any consumer grade router and it seems to be living up to it.
Range on the 2.4Ghz band is greatly improved. I don't know if it is twice as far as my D-Link but it is awfully close.
Wired and wireless transfer speeds seem to be unchanged, just limited by the speed of the hardware at the each end (HDD speed for wired and wireless adapter speed).
The interface is smooth and easy to learn for those of us with a basic knowledge of networking. My only complaint is that it doesn't allow you to assign an arbitrary name to permanently reserved IP addresses. That is one feature I will miss from my D-Link.
Shipped with the July 29 firmware. I had noticed that reviews from several websites mentioned issues with the 2.4Ghz band. Several had mentioned contacting TP-Link about it and that they had planned a fix with a firmware upgrade. Looks like that was the truth because I have been nothing but impressed with the 2.4Ghz and no problems with transfer of large files over the wireless connection among a variety of devices from cell phones to laptops to tablets.
I briefly connected the old D-Link as an AP, but the range of the TP-Link is so good that I disconnected it. I guess if I wanted to run a couple hundred feet of Cat6 then there might be some benefit, but my home is too small to really need that unless I dig a trench and bury some Cat6 out to the detached garage.
UPDATE #2: About a month in
Tired of looking at that grey Cat5e cable that runs along the wall, through the heating vent and along the duct going to the basement where the server and my tower PC and my DirecTV ethernet connection are located. I noticed the price drop on the Archer C7 so I bought a 2nd one that I will be using as a bridge in 5Ghz 802.11ac mode to join the two levels of my home. My cable modem will be upstairs with the original Archer C7 router. All the wireless devices in the house will connect through this one along with being hardwired to my WDTV Live Hub that I use to stream my Blu Ray rips and other media from the server. The server is downstairs and is a WHS 2011 homebrew based on an AMD FX 6100 with 4 x 2TB Seagate ST2000DM001 HDDs for storage and a 2TB WD Green that's used for parity via FlexRAID. Most testing transfers on the gigabit wired connection are between 80MB/s & 100MB/s. Can't wait to see how HD media streams between the 2 routers to the WDTV Live since I just couldn't quite get it to work really well with 802.11n.
UPDATE #3: Added Archer C7 #2 as a wireless bridge
I have cut the cord.
The Setup: My Homeserver, PC Tower and DTV are cabled into Archer C7 #2 (downstairs) that has been set up as a wireless bridge on the 5Ghz AC band. Archer C7 #1 (upstairs) is still the main router with all DHCP and routing being handled there. My modem and WDTV Live are cabled directly in to Archer C7 #1 and all wireless devices connect there as well. I put it into dual band mode and turned off 2.4Ghz on #2. Distance between the 2 is about 15-18 feet in a straight line, through a wall, a floor and some metal ducting for the AC/Furnace.
Baseline & Results: Had the 2 C7s connected via a Cat5e cable that runs along the climate ducting. When I tested it out with the free 'LAN Test' from CNet, transferring 500MB test files would come in around 700mbps (about 84MB/s). Plenty fast for home use. Reconnected the cables so that the Homeserver was wired directly to #1 and the PC Tower was connected to #2 (The Wireless Bridge). Running the tests from the Server side (WHS 2011) came back about 200mbps; a little south of what I had hoped. I ran it that way through the weekend. Watched a couple of HD movies with no problems so I was starting to soften and think about keeping the setup anyway.
Well, my daughter got sick so I came home early from work today and while she was napping I took special note of the location of #2 directly below the metal ducting. Decided to make a lateral move of about 3 feet so that the ducting wasn't direct line of sight to #1 and re ran the test, again from the server side. BANG!:
Test 1 - 364mbps Write/345mpbs Read (300MB transfer)
Test 2 - 275mbps/426mbps (300MB transfer)
Test 3 - 358mbps/415mbps (500MB transfer)
Test 4 - 346mbps/448mbps (500MB transfer)
Transferred a 4GB .iso file from the PC Tower to the server and got the same consistent results of about 46-48MB/s as reported by Windows 7. Transferred in less than 2 minutes.
I am convinced. I will be pulling the Cat5e off the floor and off the ducting. I can't help but think that I'm a little crazy since it is taking me $270 to replace a $10 cable at half the speed, but looks count and I'm tired of looking at that Cat5 cable along the edge of my floor.
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tangofan
5.0 out of 5 stars Hardware version 4: Very nice router for the price, some minor flaws in AP mode.
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2018
Style: Router - AC1750Verified Purchase
Hardware version 4: Very nice router for the price, some minor flaws in AP mode.
I originally purchased this router from a local store in early August 2018, receiving hardware version 2. After checking online for a firmware update, I realized that version 4 is the latest hardware revision. Then I ordered this router from amazon (as the seller) on Aug 10th, 2018 and was please to actually receive version 4.
My device shipped with a firmware that was over a year old, but the first thing I do after buying any networked device (and you should as well !!! ) is to upgrade the firmware to the latest version from the manufacturer's website. This review is for firmware 1.0.7 Build 20180425 rel.62587(5553).
Some comments on the differences between v2 and v4:
- v4's web configuration interface has a different look and feel. It also provides some more useful information, e.g. in v2 I couldn't see the current router date and time.
- v4 provides more features: You can turn off the LED's permanently or specify a daily off period, e.g. at night. This is extremly useful, if you keep the router in your bedroom.
- v4 provides an AP (access point) operating mode out of the box (with some restrictions). While you can run v2 (and also v4) as an access point in router mode, using the built-in AP-mode makes configuration a lot easier for the networking novice. Since I intended to use the router as an access point, I tried AP-mode first, but I noticed a few restrictions of AP-mode: Router LEDs can't be turned off and you can't disable WPS (a potential security risk), because the corresponding menu entries are not available in AP-mode.
As a consequence of these limitations of AP-mode I am running the device in router mode and configured it manually to work as an access point. I am loosing certain features (obtain router time automatically, obtain firmware upgrades automatically), but for me it's worth the extra hassle of setup and maintenance.
Based on the first 24 hours or operation, I am very happy with my purchase so far:
- The Wifi range is very good and very stable, no connectivity issues. In fact I did lower the radio power from high to medium and still have very good connectivity for the devices in my environment.
- I'm pleased with the speed, it is fast enough for my needs.
- Since the device is in our bedroom, it's great to be able to turn off the LEDs at night on a time schedule.
What I'd like to see improved:
- Built-in AP-mode needs to be enhanced to provide LED control and WPS mode control (as well as other relevant settings that I might have missed).
- It would be great to turn off the Wifi radio on a schedule.
Deducting 1/2 a star for the minor firmware limitations in AP mode (see above), I'm giving this device 4.5 stars, rounding up to 5 stars and I'm hoping that the device will stay as reliable going forward as it's been for the first day.
A site note on how to configure this router to run as an access point in router mode , if you don't want to use the built-in AP mode (as always this info is given without accepting any liability for any problems or damages as a result of following the information. If at some point you can't connect to the device anymore, perform a factory reset and start over):
1. Look at your main router and note it's internal IP address as well as the number range of the internal DHCP service. If for example the router's internal IP address is 192.168.x.1 and it's DHCP service starts using numbers from 192.168.x.100 then the numbers 192.168.x.2 to 192.168.x.99 are free for static IP address assignments. (Note that "x" stands for a number between 0 and 255), for most routers it is 1, but I've seen it to be 0 or 10 as well. Look at your router's internal IP address to get the value of x). Let's assume x=1. Now with the assumptions above we pick any number that isn't yet in use (by the router, the DHCP service or another device on your network). Let's say we pick 20, so the static IP-address to use would be 192.168.1.20.
(Wow, that was the hard part...)
2. Power on your Archer C7. Don't connect it to your main router, yet! But connect to it from your computer (via a cable to a LAN port) or via Wifi.
3. Give the router a new password (and write that password down!).
4. You start in Quick setup mode. Press "Exit" to cancel this mode and then click on the "Advanced" tab on top of the page. Please note that being in Advanced mode is the prerequisite for the following steps.
5. Click on "Network -> DHCP server", uncheck the option "Enable DHCP server" and click "Save". Do NOT rebot your router, yet!!!
6. Click on "Network -> LAN" and enter the static IP-address, we determined in step 1. (e.g. 192.168.1.20) in our example. Leave the subnet mask at 255.255.255.0 and click "Save".
7. The router will reboot now automatically. (That's the reason why we did step 5 before step 6, because they need to happen in one swoop.)
8. Now connect the LAN (!) port of your C7 to your main router. The WAN port cannot be used anymore, so do not plug in anything into that port.
9. The tplinkwifi symbolic device name may no longer be available to connect to the configuration portal, so instead use the statis IP-address from step #1 in the browser address bar to connect to the web interface ( in my example: 192.168.1.20 )
10. You have to configure the router time (System Tools -> Time Settings) manually and you can turn off WPS under (System Tools -> System Parameters). (Once again please note that you have to be in Advanced mode to do this).
11. The built-in firmware upgrade check (System Tools -> Firmware upgrade) also doesn't work in this configuration, so be sure to check the manufacturer's website every couple of months (or after major router vulnerabilities have been published).
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Luis Emilio Lopez
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome!
Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2015
Style: Router - AC1750Verified Purchase
This will be kinda long, since I like the product and I'd like to give the review this product deserves.
First of all, why I needed a new router? The router my ISP gave me dropped connection sometimes when I had about 5 wireless client and 2 wired clients. So now all that router does is feed Internet to my new router. I made sure to assign DMZ to the router so I can have full management of ports as well.
The router I received, and of course that I'm reviewing, is V2. (Most of the apple problems with this device is from V1, but it seems TP-Link can RMA them with a V2 if you have problems with it)
Now, my Internet connection. ATM it's optical fiber with about 10Mbps download and about 4Mbps upload. Needles to say that this router can handle that without any problem at all.
Now, some of my devices, their capabilities and how they are connected. (All wireless connection are 5GHz unless specified otherwise)
1.- PS3 CECHA01, connected to the WUMC710 (Which is an ac client) wired 1 Gbps.
2.- PS3 CECHA01 connected directly to the router. Wired at 1 Gbps.
3.- Nintendo Wii U connected as n client. 2.4 GHz and 150 Mbps (Support for 5 GHz is only for the gamepad)
4.- Nintendo Wii connected as g client. 2.4 GHz and 54 Mbps.
5.- Nintendo 3DS connected as g client. 2.4 GHz and 54 Mbps.
6.- Nintendo 3DS XL connected as g client. 2.4 GHz and 54 Mbps.
7.- Media connector WUMC710 connected as ac client. Rated as 1300 Mbps, but really showing 1170 Mbps.
8.- HP dv2125la laptop connected as a client (a/b/g capable). 54 Mbps.
9.- Custom desktop (2006), wired at 100 Mbps. Also wireless as n client 150 Mbps.
10.- Xperia Z2 (D6503) smartphone connected as ac client. 450 Mbps~433 Mbps.
11.- Xperia Tx (LT29i) smartphone connected as n client. 150 Mbps.
12.- Samsung Y S6310 smartphone connected as g client. 2.4 GHz and 54 Mbps.
I'm only mentioning them because it's a great variety, and I haven't experienced any problem at all with any client. I also have one DS and one DSi, but since those don't support WPA2 they are connected wireless to my old router. I tested them with WEP once and they work OK, tho.
I'm also planing to get a PS4 at some point, but this will share the WUMC710 with the PS3. I don't want to use the PS4's wireless because IMO it has a crappy antenna.
In the USB ports I have:
1.- Toshiba HDD 500GB 5400 rpm 2.5" with USB 2.0
2.- HP Photosmart D7160 with USB 2.0 (This is not listed in TP-Link web page, but it works like a charm)
About performance, I haven't been able to test the Ethernet at its full capacity (1 Gbps), since I only have the PS3 with 1 Gbps connection at home (I have a newer desktop, but I moved it to my school since I spend a lot of time there due my Masters It has 1 Gbps and ac 2x2 at 867 Mbps). But I've tested 100 Mbps and as expected, they work OK and at full speed.
Ping times to wired devices is less than 1ms. To wireless, it depends on the signal, but the average is about 10ms, which is good, if you ask me. The router has a "Diagnostics" tab where you can ping any device in your network or even web pages.
The max speed reported is in the WUMC710, but I cannot fully stress that connection. This is a 3x3 ac client. So technically, it can take the most advantage of the wireless of this router.
On the USB department, the printer has like a 10 sec delayed, compared when it was directly connected to the desktop. But once the work starts, it's the same time.
I can stream full HD content (about 6 Mbps) with 5.1 channels to the PS3 or the Xperia smartphones without any buffering time. This was not possible for me before with g clients (expected). This router is DLNA capable.
The storage is accessible as well from my computers and smarphones, but max writing speed is about 8 MBps. It's not a limitation in the ethernet ports per se, but I'm guessing the USB port is not as fast as it could be. USB 2.0 can give speeds of about 30 MBps in laptops/desktops. I won't complain here, since there are devices with worse performance in the USB ports.
Range:
Even while A/N/AC (5 GHz) has less coverage, I can see good signal in every room that I need it. My house is about 100 square meters and the router is in the center, more or less.
B/G/N work OK, even when the antennas are internal.
Setup:
With at least little knowledge about network, it takes about 5 mins. You don't need the CD that comes in the box.
Extra:
Make sure to install the latest firmware. It'll let you use the TP link tether app.
This router has a 2.5 A, which is enough for powering HDD with the USB.
Since I wanted to install OpenWRT I also checked the full specs of the router. Here are some:
CPU: MIPS74Kc@720 MHz
Flash: 16 MiB SPI
Flash model: Winbond W25Q64FV
RAM: 128 MiB
RAM model: Winbond W9751G6KB-25 x 2
Wireless 1: QCA9558 (QCA9558-AT4A) 3x3 b/g/n
Wireless 2: MiniPCIe: QCA9880-BR4A 3x3 a/n/ac (This is what changed from V1. V1 is: MiniPCIe: QCA9880-AR1A 3x3 a/n/ac)
Wired: GbE AR8327N-BL1A
2 USB 2.0,
It suports Serial and JTAG (Programing ports)
From this specs I can tell that it has a decent CPU, and good RAM and Flash. So I should be able to install different packages and run them in the router.
This router is fully supported by OpenWRT. Sadly for the moment I don't have time to "play" with it.
It also does almost everything I'd need, so no need atm. (I'd love to have a torrent client in the router, tho. Possible with OpenWRT)
If you think I missed anything, let me know in the comments. I can check it and modify this review.
I'll update it once I finish my Masters and my desktop is back home.
L8er!
5 people found this helpful
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Parati
5.0 out of 5 stars This little thing is amazing!
Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2024
Style: Onemesh RouterVerified Purchase
It's small it's sleek and it works great! I was tired of Spectrums big brick size roughter that took up so much room so I replaced it with this one. Even tho it was very inexpensive it works so much better than the cable companies router. I have house cameras wired into it and when I go to the app the cameras load instantly. I don't have to wait 2 to 3 minutes after turning on the t.v. for it to connect like I had to before. The range works great in my house and have had no issues. I can drive 3 houses down before my phone disconnect from it. I'm not sure about others but this works excellent with Spectrum service so give them back their big bulky brick and get one of these and keep your $7 a month they charge you and it will pay for itself in just a few months.
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Trouble2
5.0 out of 5 stars Works great if you use 5g
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2024
Style: Onemesh RouterVerified Purchase
Update 6/29 - Switched my fire stick to 5g and now everything works fine. I would now highly recommend.
Original review
Got this siince ACP ended and I didn't want to pay $5 a month for Spectrum modem. Took me a while to get set up since i didn't follow the directions. Once I did it was easy.
It does seem to lose connection a lot lately. Normally no big deal but my DVR doesnt seem to remember how to reconnect.
Since I use three devices when im home (phone, tablet, fire stick) I put one on 5g. Maybe if i put the stick and phone on 5g I would have less problems.
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