TP-LINK Archer C7 Wireless AC1750 Dual Band Gigabit Router, 450 Mbps on 2.4 GHz + 1300 Mbps on 5 GHz, 1 USB Port, IPv6, Guest Network

Pros: BOTTOM LINE The most cost-efficient AC1750 router out there at sub $100. This three-stream, dual-band device is all that you are likely to need while the fight between Broadcom “X-stream” vs. Qualcom/Atheros “MU-MIMO” cutting-edge technology sorts itself out. V2 of this router has cured any incompatibilities with Broadcom client devices that were occasionally experienced with early V1 hardware/software. HISTORY and LINEUP The TP-LINK wireless router lineup supporting 5 GHz AC protocol is called the “Archer” series and includes models: C2, C5, C7, C8, C9, C1900, C2600, and C3200 with the price increasing left to right. The C2 and C7 were the first two models out - C2 was one stream and C7 supported three streams of AC. The C7 is notable as being the first QCA (Qualcom/Atheros) based AC1750 router. C8 & C9 are similar but are based on the second generation Broadcom chipset at a higher price. The C3200 uses cutting-edge Broadcom X-Stream technology. The C2600 uses QCA’s cutting-edge MU-MIMO technology. HARDWARE This is the V2 model which upgrades the 5GHz 3x3 AC radio to a QCA9880-BR4A vs. the QCA9880-AR1A used in version 1. The V1 radio and firmware had sporadic trouble with Broadcom clients when it first came out - such as some Apple phones - which led to occasional initial bad reviews. The CPU is a QCA9558. Switch is Atheros AR8327. 2.4 GHz radio is QCA9558. Flash memory doubled to 16MB vs. V1. Looking inside it appears no heat sinks seem to be needed. Three removable/upgradable external 5 Ghz antennas (the three 2.4 are internal). Two USB 2.0 sockets. External wireless on-off switch. 4 Gigabit wired LAN ports. FIRMWARE TP-LINK website has an emulator on the Support tab for this router if you want to try before you buy. It has most of the features you would want including samba (SMB), print server, media server, FTP for the USB slots. Guest network. Bandwidth control by IP, port, user, and protocol. Transmit power adjust. TESTING Wired WAN<->LAN throughput is nearly wire speed (Gigabit). USB read/write 15 MB/s Fat32 and 12/9 MB/s NTFS. The real-life 2.4 GHz Up/Down was 90/75 Mbps (90 is really good). 5 Gz Up/Down 140 Mbps each way which was a tad below my C5 (odd) but pretty good for real life. No drops over 3 days of testing. My V1 C7 has been going for 2 years. My C5 has been going for 1 year.

Cons: Some convenient shortcut software features that simplify setup on other routers are missing but can be achieved by more clicking. These include: one button to push to configure as a wireless access point & intelligent pre-configured QoS. No VPN client/server. Dynamic DNS only has three options: No-IP, Dyndns, Comexe which is irritating if you use someone else. No SFTP. Upgrade firmware from local file only. No automatic firmware check option. BETA version of DD-WRT exists ftp://ftp.dd-wrt.com/betas/

Overall Review: TP-Link is the wireless-router market share leader in China. I have used a LOT of TP-Link home and business products. They have been reliable and cost-efficient for me. Google has partnered with them to produce the OnHub. If you want cutting edge 2016 router technology you’ll have to guess whether Broadcom’s X-Stream technology or Qualcomm/Atheros’ MU-MIMO technology is going to win. There are precious few clients available to fully take advantage of those technologies and you’ll be betting about $150 over the price of this mainstream C7 router that you will be right. If you think MU-MIMO will win, buy a C2600, if you think X-Stream get a C3200. And don’t forget, 900 MHz WiFi is on the way. Or just spend less than $100, get this, and be happy. DON’T GET SUCKERED If none of this technobabble makes sense and you are tempted just to spend lots of money on the router with the largest number in its name and the highest price - don’t do it and read below. There is a reason this is one of the best-selling routers out there. PROTOCOL VOCABULARY If you don’t have an 802.11ac router the next best thing is 802.11n protocol. N protocol can run on either the 2.4GHz or the 5 GHz radio band. N gets you up to about 150 megabits per “spatial stream” which can be thought of as a 20 MHz radio channel. This router can “bond” up to three streams for 450Mbs on a band. Each stream needs its own radio antenna on both the access point and the client to get this speed. This assumes the router is set to n-only mode.If you set “mixed mode” and you have non-N devices on the network, the whole band throughput will slow down dramatically. Realistic TCP throughput on pure three stream N will max out under 150Mbs due to TCP/protocol overhead when Windows is showing a 450 Mbs connection. The ac protocol can only happen on the 5 GHz band and provides about 433 Mbit/sec per spatial stream. Newer laptops and handsets like the iPhone 6, HTC M8, and Galaxy S4/S5 support the ac protocol (it’s less battery power per byte). 5 GHz is less crowded but usually drops off faster than 2.4 GHZ with distance. Even though three band AC will show a 1300 Mbs connection, real-life ideal TCP throughput might top out around 200 Mbs. Most people set the 2.4GHz to the most-compatible mixed mode setting and then use the 5 GHz ac-only mode for big files/streaming video. The router can only talk to one device at a time on each band so communication with multiple devices happens by round-robbin sharing of each band. MU-MIMO and X-Stream are two different chip company’s attempts to speed this up by trying to talk to more than one client at the same time. At the moment, not many clients devices are able to take advantage of the technology.

Pros: Easiest setup of any router I have owned Hasn't dropped a connected device yet Long, Long 2.4 GHz Range 6 antenna, 3 internal 3 external On/Off switch for the wireless and power Lights on front are bright and large. They provide info so if you understand that info you can see it at distance. Works with XP, 7, 8 and Linux Guest network Feature Dual band... Will NEVER Tip over

Cons: USB 2.0 <----no need for that any longer Typical, lackluster 5 GHz performance Archer ? ? Name recalls to me Radio Shack. UGH ! Careful !!! The wireless on/off switch is close to the USB ports. I turned the wireless off twice and didn't know it.

Overall Review: I have 3 laptops, 2 Android Tablets, 1 Kindle, 3 desktops and a Push to TV, none of them have any trouble/issues, connecting/staying connected wirelessly to the C7. Very nice. I just took a walk to the highway 150ft from the router and on my aged Lenovo 54 Mbps laptop the 2.4 Ghz band worked at 48 Mbps. That's very good. But unless you are always on a picnic what happens inside is more important. I don't live in a modern open cave, my old added onto home has many angles and no line of sight from the C7 to any device. I use the gigabit ports for the desktops and they are solid. The upstairs laptop (an Acer) has a torture path to it's wireless. There is several layers of wallboard the fridge as well as wiring. My Acer has Intel 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN as well as Intel Wireless Display. The signal can reach 300 Mpbs but generally is around half that which is plenty fast enough for one of my favorite pastimes, watching DVD's while lying in bed. No hitches or glitches.Great, Just Great! The other area of my house that is a test for wireless is the downstairs library. Signal to that location is strong and consistent. OK then no connectivity issues, almost. There are dual USB ports on the rear of the C7. These can be used for USB disk drives. I hooked a portable one terabyte Seagate USB 3 HD to the port which contained several movies. Initially the movie played fine on the upstairs laptop but after a few minutes it began to hitch to the point of unwatchability. Perhaps if the C7 had USB 3 connectivity I would not have had this issue but I think it more likely that data on the connected drive should not be movies but maybe just pictures and MP3's. I brought the Acer to within 10ft of the C7 and the movie ran smooth. I also had Doomsday on the drive so on a lark I ran the program and was able to play Doom from my attached USB HD wirelessly. Not bad. I had all these devices running singly. What if I ran them all at once on both bands how would the C7 stack up that way? It did just fine. I called the family together and we synchronized devices. I had the kids watching different movies wirelessly on two laptops. I had the wife cue up 1000 small files totaling 20mb for transfer and I setup up my Androids to download a 212 mb file on each. Then I just surfed the net over to a well known video site. Three devices were on 5GHz and three on 2.4 GHz and everything ran as I would have hoped. There were no pauses The only thing I didn't run along with all that was my Push to TV, which I just couldn't do. The Web user interface has good help and adequate explanation of terminology. I believe there exists the ability to use dd-wrt as the TP-Link website has a warning that TP-Link makes no promises if it's used. Personally I no longer enjoy diddling with software...I have more fun just accepting the ease TP-Link has given the user with it's software/firmware. The guest network option is great. This is a 5 Egg item. Recommended highly.

Pros: - Dual Band (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) - Wireless Range (this actually applies for both 2.4 and 5 GHz. Nice job TP-Link) - Aesthetics (while others may not like the design and size of the router, I actually do) - 2 USB 2.0 ports - All Gigabit ports - Wireless on/off button (good when it is time to get the kids off of the internet and in bed, only so they can watch Netflix on their HTPC... <sigh>) - Guest Network (this is a nice option to keep your network and files away from guests and friends) - Doesn't produce much heat while in operation - 802.11ac/n/g/b/a compatible - Can be mounted on the wall - Open WRT compatible (advanced users ONLY) - Packaged well as all TP-Link products I have reviewed (recyclable)

Cons: Again, I always come back to the mini-CD that is included. I don't know why, but it bugs the life out of me that hardware manufacturers supply software on these small discs. I don't deduct eggs for this, but I'd rather there either be a full-size disc, or no disc at all. Off the soapbox now. The CAT cable included is a bit short BUT at least a CAT cable was included (this guy balances itself out).

Overall Review: I reviewed the version 1.0 for this router back in 2013 and I am still impressed. The software still feels the same and while some reviewers rate it as "less than polished", I simply see it as a gateway to configure the router. Nothing more, nothing less. I need no bells or whistles to set this up. Speaking of the software, I also had a firmware update that flashed as expected with no issues. The range of this router is great. The 5 GHz frequency is much longer than that of other routers I have used and I am very pleased. Bottom Line - It is hard to beat the price on this router for the features you are getting. Most routers offering this range and features are closer to $200 in price while TP-Link kept this router on the other end of the spectrum. I know my father-in-law will love this router for his replacement. It's time to bring that dinosaur into the modern age. HA! I won't mention a price for this item, but while writing this review it is on sale along with a promo code being offered to get yourself a Gigabit switch. I'm a sucker for free stuff.

Pros: This product is very similar to a previous one I reviewed (the N750), and all the pros I mentioned before are consistent: Wireless range and strength - The signals that I was able to get on the AC band stretched to about a 60’ radius from the router and were strong enough that I could stream Netflix without any stuttering; that’s a pretty huge plus for the place I live. The router’s homepage (192.168.0.1) was pretty intuitive to work with, and the user manual is easy enough to use to help even an average consumer use this thing to its fullest potential. Aesthetically, it looks pleasing to the eye and fits in pretty nicely in an office or home theater environment. On my review for the N750, I made note that I encountered some micro stuttering while streaming HD (1080p) videos between two computers on the same wireless network; I didn’t encounter this with the AC1750.

Cons: I have no issues with this device. I guess cost? Seriously, not much for me to put here.

Overall Review: I think this is a fantastic router; the $120 price point might be a bit much for some consumers, but as of the time of this writing there’s a 20% discount bringing the price down to $99.99; I’d recommend you pull the trigger and pick this up if you’re in the market and make use of that price reduction.

Pros: Very nice looking wireless router and very well constructed. Setup was a snap and of my wireless signals is great though out my house. I have had no problems with lag or drops. This baby is AC/n/g/b/a compatible, dual band with 5 GHZ and 2.4 GHZ, SPEED AND THE PRICE IS RIGHT. Come on down, and if you are looking for a very good wireless router and it comes with three external and three internal antennas to give you the coverage you need. And two USB 2.0 ports which you can use for storage and other functions. Comes with two year warranty 24/7 support, supports IPv6 protocol, you can turn the wireless function on /off, and comes with guess network.

Cons: Could have USB 3.0 port, but we can’t have everything at this price.

Overall Review: Well I’m very pleased with this wireless router; it works extremely well and does everything I could ask it to. I would recommend this unit to my best friend and I know he would love it the same as I do. So if you are looking for a nice piece of equipment at a reasonable price look no further, put this in your cart. And purchase it today before it’s gone or the price goes up, you will not regret your decision. This unit comes with 3 detachable antennas A power supply Resource CD Ethernet cable and a quick start guide

Pros: As the title states, this router has great 5GHz signal strength. Without naming any specific routers, this is x2-x2.5 more powerful than my main $200 router. That in itself was surprising since my $200 router has the strongest 5GHz signal of any of my other routers. I know a lot of people complain about the user interface, and yeah, it's not the most modern design but everything is easy to find. I am aware of the interface stability problems people have been complaining about but I have not run into any of those either. Could just be a manufacturing defect in some.

Cons: My 5GHz rant (con for all 5HGz, not just this router): In my opinion, you don't need 5GHz. the wireless N with 2.4GHz is faster than any average home internet speed so you won't even notice a difference. 5GHz is just a feature that uninformed people waste their money on because it's the latest thing. In reality, since the wavelengths are shorter (because 5GHz vs 2.4GHz) walls actually kill your signal strength more than with 2.4GHz. There are only 3 reasons for 5GHz: -If you are getting interference (aka connection drops) on the 2.4GHz band from neighbors or microwaves -If you need the extra fast speed on a LAN network that your computer probably won't even utilize -If you get the latest tech for the sake of wasting money on inferior features. Reasons for only using 2.4GHz and ignoring 5GHz all together: -Same internet speed as 5GHz -Better signal strength -Less interference from walls

Overall Review: Overall, this is a great router for the price. One of the best I have seen in this cost range. It may not have USB 3.0 but doesn't matter to me. Interface is not very modern but all the features are easy to find and not hidden away.

Pros: The TP Link Archer C7 is the second TP Link router I've tested, the other was the essentially similar Archer C9. I also have an ASUS router and a Netgear router. The WiFI performance of all four routers is close enough that you won't go wrong with any of them. The C7 is substantially cheaper than the others but it performs just as well. I tested the WiFI performance of the Archer C7 using two tools, OOKla Speedtest on a Nexus 5 Android phone, and iperf between the Nexus 5 and a Fedora 21 desktop Linux system. In close proximity (5 feet) the WiFI performance was excellent. Using the 2.4GHz band, Speedtest measured 46MBits/Second up and down. On the 5GHz band Speedtest measured 156MBits down and 80MBits up. I also used Speedtest in two other rooms, one directly adjacent to the router's room and one adjacent to that room. In the closest room I was unable to run Speedtest on the 5GHz band, on the 2.4GHz band I measured 18MBits down and 16Mbits up. In the next room I was able to get 61MBits/down and 24MBits up on the 5GHz band. On the 2.4GHz band I measured 16.45 down and 18 up. From the far room I also ran the 5GHz test on the TP Link Archer C9, the results were similar. To test the maximum WiFI performance I used iperf, a multiplatform network measurement tool. The iperf tests were only performed on the 5GHz band at the 5 foot distance. To run iperf you must set it up in server mode on one endpoint and then run it in client mode from the other endpoint. To set up the iperf server do, iperf -s The on the other side you can run tcp tests in either unidirection or bidirectional modes, I did both. Server on Linux system, Client on Nexus 5 Unidirectional, three runs Run1: 186MBits/sec Run2: 193MBits/sec Run3: 186MBits/sec Bidrectional, three runs Run1: 136 down, 44.7 up Run2: 96.8 down, 55 up Run3: 68.7 down, 102 up Server on Nexus 5, Client on Linux syste, Unidirectional, two runs Run1: 257MBits/sec Run2: 272MBits/sec The C7 lays flat on a desktop, the C9 is sits vertically. I prefer the C7's form factor to the C9's for two reasons. The first is that it's more stable, the second is that the Ethernet ports are easier to get to. The support leg on the C9 interferes with access to it's Ethernet ports, the C7's ports are unobstructed. The C9 supports USB3, the C7 only supports USB2. This only matters if you are planning on attaching a disk to the router and using it as a file server. I also found the browser interface to be straight forward and comprehensive.

Cons: The one area where TP Link routers are seriously deficient is firmware updating. They can't browse the Internet for a firmware update as other routers can, you have to manually download the firmware from TP_LINK's website and then upload it to the router. This is a relatively minor complaint, the much more serious problem is that a firmware update returns the browser to the factory defaults rather than preserving the configuration as other routers do. This is a really serious bug especially if you have multiple routers. The default IP address of the router is 192.168.0.1 which it returns to after a firmware update. On networks with another router that use's 192.168.0.1 (which is a fairly common default IP address) this can lead to conflicts. On networks which use a different subnet, for example a 192.168.1.xx net, which is also common, you have to change the IP address of your Ethernet NIC to talk to the TP LInk router before you can restore it's settings.

Overall Review: About Me: I'm a Newegg EggXpert, we aren't paid for these reviews but we do get free review units. We also get early access to new devices which is fun. I'm an engineer who has been designing computers since the 1970s. I specialize in networking and high performance computing.

Pros: Easy Setup good Manual and the setup page 192.168.0.1 is quite helpful for navigating. Signal is good and range is great on the 2.4 GHz network received the updated V2. My items on the network are as follows. Three Laptops-wireless Three Cell Phones-wireless Three Desktops-wireless,One for media center One For Wifes Network Work computer And my Computer. Wii-Wireless Xbox360-Wireless Two Printers-Wireless Onr iMac-Wireless Blue Ray-Wired Two extra cat 5 cables ran up to computer shop for computer repair. It took a bit of time for me to get all my items configured but it was very easy and the speed I getting on 2.4 GHz is quit fast compared to m last router. Coverage is very good. I get great speeds on the 5GZHz band but the range ist so good which is expected.

Cons: I really haven't ran into any cons as of yet. Accessing my 2 Tb Hard drive hooked to the rear usb of the router is quite slow for loading files back and forth. That's the only complaint.

Overall Review: The device has three detachable 5dBi antennas. The C7's antennas stay upright quite well. The unit has the typical LEDs you find on most routers on the front panel. The rear panel has two USB 2.0 ports, which support printers and external drives. On the back are four Gigabit Ethernet ports and a Gigabit WAN port. Also at the rear are the power switch, a toggle button to turn on and off the wireless radios, the antenna connections, and a WPS/reset button. Besides the external antennas, the C7 also has three internal antennas. This hardware configuration probably contributed to the good wireless range I found in testing this device. This dual-band router supports up to a theoretical 450Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and up to 1,300 Mbps on 5GHz. There are now several 11ac routers on the market that support up to 1,700 Mbps at 5GHz. As I mentioned earlier, these premium routers are also nearly double the price of the C7.