- High-performance 4-stream AC2600 Wi-Fi - Enjoy lag-free 4K streaming and online gaming
- Faster Wi-Fi for Every Device - multi-user support from MU-MIMO technology
- 1.4 GHz dual-core processor - enjoy high-speed Wi-Fi during heavy traffic usage
- Four Gigabit Ethernet Ports - Lightning-fast wired connections
- Supercharged Wi-Fi Signal - Four dual band antennas with high-powered amplifiers
- Beamforming - Sends targeted Wi-Fi signal to individual devices
- Parental Controls - Set time limits and keep children safe
TP Link is Growing On Me...
02/02/2016
This review is from: TP-Link AC2600 Wireless Wi-Fi Gigabit Router with 4-Stream Technology (Archer C2600)
Pros:
The last few TP-Link products I have owned and reviewed have been a little hit or miss, so I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one. However, I have been pleasantly surprised by its reliability.
My previously router was driving me up a wall, randomly deciding it was going to send through 1-2 mbps rather than the 50 it was supposed to. I found myself resetting it daily, if not multiple times in an evening. However, this TP-Link is yet to require a reset in more than 3 continuous weeks of running. On more than one occasion, I have suspected it of being slow, but a quick stop at a popular internet speed testing site revealed I was pulling 51 down with a ping of 16-20. It was very consistent.
As with any consumer level router these days, setup is a breeze. It has you input all your info and you get rid into the config.
The other biggest boon of this device for me is the range. I had recently moved by router from the basement (where my switches and modem are) to the living room in an attempt to get better signal in my spare bedrooms. Obviously the move had helped, but I am still able to pull a relatively strong -50 dB in the farthest room. Not ideal for FPS online games, but it generally did alright with everything else.
Finally, I did hook up an old flash drive to the unit to pull some files off and it seemed to immediately recognize it and allow me to access it. Nice and simple. No drivers, no jumping through hoops, no 30 seconds of power cycling, etc.
Cons:
I’m still kind of confused as to one issue I’m having. Randomly, my service speed will slow to a crawl. Certain pages won’t open or take a very long time to load (considering the 50 mbps connection). With my old router, this happened on all my wireless devices randomly. Now, it seems to happen exclusively to only one wired device; my main rig! This was especially infuriating when I was trying to do my taxes and it would load Google, but refused to pull up anything else (like, yanno, TurboTax.) Not sure if it is somehow an incompatibility with my PC, but you’d think in 2016 it wouldn’t have a problem.
As others have pointed out, there is no one-click solution to firmware updates. My phone does them automatically. My TV does them automatically. My iPad does them automatically. Everything else in my house that is on the internet does them automatically. Why not my brand new, top dollar router?
Overall Review:
Whereas with other routers, I have tried to be a little more quantitative, I did not actually run speed and throughput results on my local network with this unit. My current network has the signal going from my modem, across the house to the router, then back across the house to my network switch to feed the wired jacks throughout my home. I would hope the switch wouldn’t suck much bandwidth, but it seems unfair to report any numbers against just the router.
I have a handful of TP-Link products in my house. I previously used another review unit from TP-Link and was only moderately satisfied. I think this unit makes a great case as a strong consumer grade unit that offers lots of power and configuration options without being too complex or confusing.
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