AC1750 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router

TP-Link Archer C7 AC1750 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router Posted on August 3, 2015 by Zon Teknologi Introduction When it comes to budget networking peripherals, TP-Link is one of the few brands that provides quality devices such as router and Wi-Fi signal repeater at a very affordable price. Since the ac wireless is rapidly growing nowadays, they introduced me one of their ac routers they have which called Archer C7. I was very excited and eager to know what this router can deliver. Unboxing IMG_20150729_174744 IMG_20150729_174757 Standard router packaging IMG_20150729_174920Included some documentations, AC power plug, one standard LAN cable, three 5dBi external antennas and the router itself Quick Overview 802.11 ac wireless technology – TP-Link’s Archer C7 comes with the next generation Wi-Fi standard – 802.11ac, 3 times faster than wireless N speeds and delivering a combined wireless data transfer rate of up to 1.75Gbps. With 1300Mbps wireless speeds over the crystal clear 5GHz band and 450Mbps over the 2.4GHz band, the Archer C7 is the superior choice for seamless HD streaming, online gaming and other bandwidth-intensive tasks. acspeed Supports UniFi and Maxis Fibre – Archer C7 is fully compatible with UniFi and Maxis Fibre for those who resides in Malaysia so you don’t have to worry about sacrificing your Hypp TV for UniFi users. IPv6 ready – The Archer C7 supports IPv6, the next generation of Internet protocol, helping you to future -proof your network. Supports Tether companion app – TP-Link Tether provides the easiest way to access and manage your router with your Android/Apple devices. From setup to parental control, Tether provides a simple, intuitive user interface to see what the status of your router is, who’s online and what their privileges are. Unfortunately, Tether is not supported at the moment specifically for Malaysia firmware version. tether Hardware Overview Tech spec can be view here. IMG_20150729_175036The gorgeous black router which is pretty common these days IMG_20150729_175108The backside of the router where all ports are located at. What intrigues me most is the wireless ON/OFF switch IMG_20150729_175422Archer C7 with the antennas installed User Experience The hardware setup was really not a problem. I attached those 3 antennas, plugged in the power plug, connect the fiber modem to the WAN port behind the router and it’s done, ready to setup the network configurations. setup1 In the network setup, I don’t have to scratch my not-so-itchy head to figure out what needs to be fill in. The options given at the first setup page are very easy to understand. Since I’m a UniFi user, I choose UniFi Mode. setup2 At the next page, I required to fill the VLAN ID associate with all 4 ports. I have my Hypp TV cable plugged at LAN4 so the only thing I did was changed the VLAN ID according to that short red text instruction at the bottom and let the rest at default value. Beyond this point, the setup process was very straight forward and finally the router successfully connected to the network. dualbandselect One of the features that I like in this router is Dual Band Selection. I can choose whether I want to enable only one band at a time or just let em on. guestnetwork Another great feature is guest network. Guest network can be setup up to 2 networks with 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz respectively. Each network can be configured specifically from bandwidth control to time schedule when can the network is allowed to access. signalstrength In terms of signal strength, it is pretty decent for a router like this. The signal covers most of my 2 storey house even at the backyard. TP-Link did a good job for separating 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz signal by providing internal and external antennas each to avoid signal interference. Since I have devices that support ac wireless I prefer to connect 5 GHz band instead of 2.4 GHz because it’s more stable, capable to handle high bandwidth and less interference. I did a internet speed test comparison between normal and ac wireless. The difference is not much but from here we can tell that ac wireless definitely performs better. Screenshot_2015-08-06-17-44-00Screenshot_2015-08-06-17-45-392.4 GHz (top) 5.0 GHz (bottom) Another test was involving Steam In-Home Streaming from my PC to laptop and I was surprised that there were almost lag free and minimal time delay compared to 2.4 GHz. Although like that 5 GHz band has shorter range of signal but since my room is near the router it’s not really a big deal. Note that real time based online games such as Dota 2 and Counter-Strike Global Offensive are not suitable for streaming. Eventhough I said the delay is minimal with ac wireless but the experience won’t be the same. Verdict Pros: + Wireless switch ON/OFF + Optimised and wide WiFi signal strength + Guest network + User friendly network setup Con: – Tether app is not supported for Malaysia firmware (for now)

It’s one of the less expensive performers, In return for that price, web surfers get a solid, consistent 802.11 ac signal. The Archer’s key strength is its powerful antennae, which beam both 2.4 GHz and 5GHz signals throughout homes.

The best router for most people is the Archer C7 ($100). It’s a dual-band 802.11ac router, meaning it can run both 2.4GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi networks, and it supports the fastest Wi-Fi speeds of every wireless device you can buy, including the MacBook Pro, the Samsung Galaxy S6 or the brand-new iPhone 6s. The Archer C7 is faster over longer distances than most routers that cost $150 or more, and it’s the best value of the more than two dozen routers The Wirecutter tested in the last two years.