TP-Link Tri-Band BE19000 WiFi 7 Router (Archer BE800) | 12-Stream 19 Gbps | 2×10G + 4×2.5G Ports | LED Screen, 8 High-Performance Antennas | VPN, Easy Mesh, HomeShield, Private IoT, Free Expert Help
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Style: BE19000
Features
- Redefining Wi-Fi RoutersWith powerful Wi-Fi 7 performance, lightning-fast wired connections, brand-new design, and LED screen.
- Lightning-Fast BE19000 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 SpeedsArcher BE800 is designed with the latest Wi-Fi 7 technology, featuring Multi-Link Operation, Multi-RUs, 4K-QAM, and 320 MHz channels. With speeds of 11520 Mbps on the 6GHz band, 5760 Mbps on the 5GHz band, and 1376 Mbps on the 2.4GHz band, the Archer BE800 delivers fluent 4K/8K streaming, immersive AR/VR gaming and unparalleled Wi-Fi performance.
- Pro-Grade Dual 10G WAN/LAN PortsEquipped with two 10G WAN/LAN portsone RJ45 port and one SFPplus Fiber/RJ45 Ethernet combo portArcher BE800 provides flexible support for both fiber and copper connections. The additional Four 2.5G ports and a USB 3.0 port make it an ideal solution for future-proofing your home network.
- Premium Components for Premium ExperienceProprietary Wi-Fi optimization and 8 optimally positioned antennas along with Beamforming deliver more capacity, stronger and more reliable connections, and less interference
- Flexibly Create Whole Home Mesh WiFiEasyMesh-Compatible: Works with EasyMesh routers and range extenders to form seamless whole home Mesh Wi-Fi, preventing drops and lag when moving between signals
- TP-Link HomeShieldTP-Link's premium security service keeps your home network safe with cutting-edge network and IoT protection. Free features: 1. Basic Network Security including Security Scan and IoT Device Identification 2. Basic Parental Controls 3. Quality of Service 4. Basic Weekly/Monthly Reports. Visit TP-Link website for more information.
- Private IoT Network for More SecuritySet up a separate WiFi for IoT devices and overlay HomeShield and advanced WPA3 encryption to better protect the security of your home network and IoT devices.
- VPN Clients and Server SupportedAllow devices in your home network to access remote VPN servers without needing to install VPN software on every device. Archer BE800 can run both the VPN and ordinary internet connections at the same time, delivering security and flexibility.
- Easy Set Up and Management Set up and manage your router in minutes with the free Tether App available for both Android and iOS devices.
Description
Supercharged by the latest WiFi 7 technology, Archer BE800 takes your WiFi network's power and efficiency further than ever. Delivering unbelievable speeds up to 19 Gbps on a quad band channel with WiFi 7 exclusive features like 320 MHz channel and 4K-QAM, the Archer BE800 will crush its competition with sheer performance. 8 x High performance antennas provide stable and reliable connection while EasyMesh compatibility will aid in the future expansion of your network coverage. The included 1 x 10 Gbps SFP+ Fiber WAN/LAN combo port and 1 x 10 Gbps WAN/LAN port provides flexible support for both fiber and copper connection and 4 x 2.5 Gbps ports along with 1 USB 3.0 port ensure maximum expandability. Project information such as time, weather, or text through the LED screen to choose over 3000+ custom graphics and emojis. Keep your real-time network statistics conveniently accessible through the LED screen display while HomeShield provides detailed network analytics with enhanced security for your home network.
Brand: TP-Link
Model Name: Archer BE800
Special Feature: Access Point Mode, Guest Mode, QoS, WPS
Frequency Band Class: Tri-Band
Wireless Communication Standard: 802.11.be, 802.11ac, 802.11ax, 802.11g, 802.11n
Compatible Devices: Gaming Console, Personal Computer, Smart Television, Smartphone, Tablet
Recommended Uses For Product: Gaming, Home
Included Components: Power Adapter, Quick Installation Guide, RJ45 Ethernet Cable, Wi-Fi 7 Router Archer BE800
Connectivity Technology: Wi-Fi
Color: Black/Gray
Product Dimensions: 11.87 x 10.32 x 3.78 inches
Item Weight: 4.78 pounds
Item model number: Archer BE800
Date First Available: May 14, 2023
Manufacturer: TP-Link
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Style: BE19000
UPDATE, JUNE 6, 2025: I've had this router for 3 months now with my Spectrum (Cable) Internet service. I currently have the 1000 Mbps-Down/40 Mbps Up speeds. I get consistent speeds on WiFi equal to what I subscribed to the 1 Gig service from Spectrum Internet. Very happy with the router. See attached speed test picture.. Note: Also the security subscriptions on this router are not needed. They are optional enhancements. The router will work without them. The router firmware is up to date........ ****Recommended settings for TP Link Wi-Fi routers and access points, which could potentially take care of all the negative reviews**** For the best security, performance and reliability, these are the recommended settings for any Wi-Fi routers, base stations or access points. The information in this article is primarily for network administrators and others who manage their own network. About Wi-Fi privacy and security warnings If your devices shows a privacy warning or weak-security warning about a Wi-Fi network, such as a warning about a private Wi-Fi address, that network could expose information about your device. If you administer the Wi-Fi network, we recommend you update the settings of your Wi-Fi router to meet or exceed the security standards in this article. If you don't administer the Wi-Fi network, bring these settings to the attention of the network administrator. Router settings To change your router's settings, update its firmware or change the Wi-Fi password, use the configuration web page or app provided by the router's manufacturer. For help, consult the router's documentation, its manufacturer or your network administrator. Before changing settings, back up your router's existing settings in case you need to restore them. Also make sure your router's firmware is up to date, and install the latest software updates for your devices. After changing settings, you may need to forget the network on each device that previously joined the network. The device then uses the router's new settings when rejoining the network. To help ensure your devices can connect securely and reliably to your network, apply these settings consistently to each Wi-Fi router and access point, and to each band of a dual-band, tri-band or other multiband router: Security Network name (SSID) Hidden network MAC address filtering Automatic firmware updates Radio mode Bands Channel Channel width DHCP DHCP lease time NAT WMM DNS server Security Set to WPA3 Personal for better security, or set to WPA2/WPA3 Transitional for compatibility with older devices. The security setting defines the type of authentication and encryption used by your router, and the level of privacy protection for data transmitted over its network. Whichever setting you choose, always set a strong password for joining the network. WPA3 Personal is the newest, most secure protocol currently available for Wi-Fi devices. It works with all devices that support Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), and some older devices. WPA2/WPA3 Transitional is a mixed mode that uses WPA3 Personal with devices that support that protocol, while allowing older devices to use WPA2 Personal (AES) instead. (**Will not work as well with legacy devices. 2.4 and 5Ghz signals fluccuate too much. Use WPA2 for non-compatible WPA3 devices.**) WPA2 Personal (AES) is appropriate when you can't use one of the more secure modes. In that case, also choose AES as the encryption or cipher type, if available. (***Most preferred encryption for legacy devices on 2.4 and 5 Ghz.***) Weak security settings to avoid on your router Don't create or join networks that use older, deprecated security protocols. They're no longer secure, they reduce network reliability and performance, and they cause your device to show a security warning: WPA/WPA2 mixed modes WPA Personal WEP, including WEP Open, WEP Shared, WEP Transitional Security Network or Dynamic WEP (WEP with 802.1X) TKIP, including any security setting with TKIP in the name Settings that turn off security, such as None, Open or Unsecured, are also strongly discouraged. Turning off security disables authentication and encryption and allows anyone to join your network, access its shared resources (including printers, computers and smart devices), use your internet connection, and monitor the websites you visit and other data that's transmitted over your network or internet connection. This is a risk even if security is turned off temporarily or for a guest network. Network name (SSID) Set to a single, unique name (case-sensitive) for all bands. The SSID (service set identifier) is the name that your network uses to advertise its presence to other devices. It's the name that nearby users see on their device's list of available Wi-Fi networks. Make sure all routers on your network use the same name for every band they support. If you give your 2.4GHz, 5GHz or 6GHz bands different names, devices may not connect reliably to your network, to all routers on your network or to all available bands of your routers. If your router is providing a Wi-Fi 6E network that isn't using the same name for all bands, Apple devices that support Wi-Fi 6E will identify the network as having limited compatibility. Turn off "Smart Connect" Disable OFDMA/MU-MIMO. Don't enable MLO Network. Most household do not have Wi-Fi 7 devices. Use a name that’s unique to your network. Don't use common names or default names such as linksys, netgear, dlink, wireless or 2wire. Otherwise, devices that join your network will be more likely to encounter other networks that have the same name, and then automatically try to connect to them. Hidden network Set to Disabled. A router can be configured to hide its network name (SSID). Your router may incorrectly use "closed" to mean hidden and "broadcast" to mean not hidden. Hiding the network name doesn't conceal the network from detection or secure it against unauthorised access. And because of how devices search for and connect to Wi-Fi networks, using a hidden network may expose information that can be used to identify you and the hidden networks you use, such as your home network. When connected to a hidden network, your device may display a privacy warning because of this privacy risk. To secure access to your network, use the appropriate security setting instead. MAC address filtering, authentication or access control Set to Disabled. When this feature is enabled, your router can be set up to allow only devices that have specified media access control (MAC) addresses to join the network. You shouldn't rely on this feature to prevent unauthorised access to your network for these reasons: It doesn't prevent network observers from monitoring or intercepting traffic on the network. MAC addresses can easily be copied, spoofed (impersonated) or changed. To help protect user privacy, some Apple devices use a different MAC address for each Wi-Fi network. To secure access to your network, use the appropriate security setting instead. Automatic firmware updates Set to Enabled. If possible, set your router to automatically install software and firmware updates when they become available. These updates can affect the security settings available to you, and they deliver other important improvements to the stability, performance and security of your router. Radio mode Set to All (preferred), or set to Wi-Fi 2 to Wi-Fi 6 or later. Radio mode settings, available separately for 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz bands, control which versions of the Wi-Fi standard that the router uses for wireless communication. Newer versions offer better performance and support more devices concurrently. It's usually best to enable every mode offered by your router, rather than a subset of those modes. All devices, including older devices, can then connect using the fastest radio mode they support. This also helps reduce interference from nearby legacy networks and devices. Bands Enable all bands supported by your router. A Wi-Fi band is like a road that data can pass down. More bands provide more data capacity and performance for your network. Channel Set to Auto. Each band of your router is divided into multiple, independent communication channels, such as lanes on a road. When channel selection is set to automatic, your router selects the best Wi-Fi channel for you. If your router doesn't support automatic channel selection, choose whichever channel performs best in your network environment. That varies depending on the Wi-Fi interference in your network environment, which can include interference from other routers and devices that are using the same channel. If you have multiple routers, configure each one to use a different channel, especially if they are close to each other. Channel width **Set to 20MHz for the 2.4GHz band** (Very important..!!). Set to Auto or all widths for the 5GHz and 6GHz bands. Channel width specifies how large of a "pipe" is available to transfer data. Wider channels are faster but more susceptible to interference and more likely to interfere with other devices. 20MHz for the 2.4GHz band helps to avoid performance and reliability issues, especially near other Wi-Fi networks and 2.4GHz devices, including Bluetooth devices. Auto or all channel widths for 5GHz and 6GHz bands ensures the best performance and compatibility with all devices. Wireless interference is less of a concern in these bands. DHCP Set to Enabled if your router is the only DHCP server on the network. Dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) assigns IP addresses to devices on your network. Each IP address identifies a device on the network and enables it to communicate with other devices on the network and internet. A network device needs an IP address, much like a phone needs a phone number. Your network should have only one DHCP server. If DHCP is enabled on more than one device, such as on both your cable modem and router, address conflicts may prevent some devices from connecting to the internet or using network resources. DHCP lease time Set to 8 hours for home or office networks. Set to 1 hour for hotspots or guest networks. DHCP lease time is the length of time that an IP address assigned to a device is reserved for that device. Wi-Fi routers usually have a limited number of IP addresses they can assign to devices on the network. If that number is depleted, the router can't assign IP addresses to new devices, preventing those devices from communicating with other devices on the network and internet. Reducing DHCP lease time allows the router to efficiently reclaim and reassign old IP addresses that are no longer being used. NAT Set to Enabled if your router is the only device providing NAT on the network. Network address translation (NAT) translates between addresses on the internet and addresses on your network. NAT can be understood by imagining a company's post department, where deliveries to employees at the company's street address are directed to employee offices within the building. Generally, enable NAT only on your router. If NAT is enabled on more than one device, such as on both your cable modem and router, the resulting "double NAT" may cause devices to lose access to certain resources on the network or internet. WMM Set to Enabled. WMM (Wi-Fi multimedia) prioritises network traffic to improve the performance of a variety of network applications, such as video and voice. All routers that support Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) or later should have WMM enabled by default. Disabling WMM can affect the performance and reliability of devices on the network. DNS server Continue using the default DNS server, or specify a different primary or secondary server. To easily access websites on the internet, devices need a DNS (Domain Name System) server to translate domain names (such as apple.com) into IP addresses. By default, your router uses the DNS server of your internet service provider (ISP). If it's configured to use a different DNS server, your devices will by default use that server while connected to your router's network. If your device warns you that your network is blocking encrypted DNS traffic, you can continue using the configured DNS server, but the names of websites and other servers that your device accesses on the network are unencrypted and therefore could be monitored and recorded by other devices on the network. You can contact your ISP or other DNS provider for more information, but first try these solutions: Make sure your software is up to date and your security setting is configured as recommended. Restart your device. Restart your router. Forget the Wi-Fi network and then rejoin it.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2025 by E.L. Rey E.L. Rey
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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Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2014 by Sui