Explanation about the speed parameters on the box of TP-Link product

Sometimes you may have confusion about the speed on the box of TP-Link product, like wireless router, Deco mesh products, etc. Now we will take Deco product as an example to explain here.

The following two pictures are taken from the box of TP-Link Deco E3.

1. What does “AC1200” mean?

The rate AC1200 ( 2.4G 300M + 5G 867M) you saw on the box is the maximum wireless link rate that your client can communicate with the router, also called wireless negotiation rate, which is the physical rate derived from IEEE Standard 802.11 specifications. It will vary as a result of the following three factors:

1) Environmental factors, including building materials, physical objects and obstacles.

2) Network conditions, including local interference, volume and density of traffic, network complexity, and network overhead.

3) Client limitations, including rated performance, location, connection quality, and client condition.

Maybe you are confused with the linked rate and download speed. Actually they are totally different things, the download speed is the application rate. Generally the physical rate is about 40%-50% of linked rate, however, it is also limited by the bandwidth provided by your internet service provider. The following two pictures are the link rate and download rate on a test laptop (Bandwidth from ISP here is 100M, so the download rate is limited as about 92M):

If you would like to learn more about wireless 802.11 standard, please check the following link (Advertised Speeds Part):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11ac

2. What does “2 Fast Ethernet Ports” mean?

Fast Ethernet Port means the maximum speed is 100Mbps; Gigabit Ethernet Port means the maximum speed is 1000Mbps. On the box it shows 2 Fast Ethernet Ports, which means the router has 2 100Mbps Ethernet Port, the maximum speed you can get from this router is about 90Mbps. If you have more than 100Mbps bandwidth from Internet Service Provider, this router is not suitable for your environment, you need to buy a Gigabit Router.

Please check the following link to learn more about Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Ethernet

3. Why does TP-Link produce Deco products with Fast Ethernet Port like Deco E4/E3/W2400?

We have to admit what exists is reasonable. The marketing positioning of Deco E3/E4/W2400 is for the customers who have less than 100M speed and also want to use the mesh network in their house, so this is the reason why these models are available on the market. The most important point is these models are more competitive in price than other deco products, if customers would love to enjoy the mesh technology with a very reasonable cost, it will be a very good choice.