Tp-link Wireless Router Ac1900 Smart Wifi Dual-band Gigabit (Archer C9) Review
TP-Link is a brand most often associated with low-cost, mid-tier routers that are good value for coin. It's something that we've identified in our past reviews, and something that's certainly travelled via 'word-of-mouth' in forums where such things are discussed. Now TP-Link has upped its game when information technology comes to performance and cost subclass, with its Archer C9 wireless router hitting an 802.11ac rating of AC1900 and costing $179 from most online stores.
Gauge what, though: it'due south nonetheless very good value for coin. Information technology'due south one of the many AC1900-rated dual-ring routers that are currently on the Australian market, and this ways that it tin can do 802.11ac at 1300Mbps, and 802.11n at up to 600Mbps. It has 3 external antennas that are removable, and they support the adept stuff we've heard near from other high-end routers, such as Beamforming, where the signal tin can be directed to a particular device'due south path, rather than going all over the identify.
Certainly, the speeds that nosotros got from the Archer C9 were impressive. From a short distance of between 2-4m, the router consistently transferred files at rates well over 40 megabytes per 2d (MBps), and sometimes hit 50MBps depending on the laptop that nosotros were using at the time. Note that yous do demand laptops and desktop PCs that take 802.11ac wireless adapters in them to get the most out of this and other 802.11ac routers. Many recent flagship smartphones also support the standard.
We ran this router for a footling longer than we commonly do for our evaluations, keeping it going for well-nigh seven weeks, running a network comprised of three wired devices (two Gigabit NAS devices and a Fetch Television receiver set-acme box -- the router has four Gigabit ports), too as a plethora of wireless devices, including a couple of laptops, smartphones, an iPad, and various other network-reliant bits such as a LIFX LED bulb, a Chromecast, a WEMO switch, and Qualcomm AllPlay-based speakers.
Information technology'southward fair to say that the Archer C9 handled the whole network without any hints of suffering as it kept us ticking along on a daily basis, both for our work and entertainment needs. During our unabridged evaluation menstruum, we didn't have a need to restart the router at all; there was never a lull in our Internet connection (which came through to the router via a TP-Link modem-router set upwards in bridged mode since the Archer C9 is a router but), and the 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless networks were consistent in their operation. That is, they were ever available and offered solid speed.
The simply fourth dimension we were disappointed past this router was when information technology came time to do our mid-range distance tests -- though perhaps our expectations were too high, as they generally are for new routers. Covering a distance of 15m has been a tall order for many routers in our detail testing surround, and while the Archer C9 did well overall, the striking in performance was significant.
Casting our heed back to the quick transfers we experienced from shut range, which we officially recorded at 42.90MBps for large files (totalling six.6GB) and 21.56MBps for small files (totalling viii.4GB), the 14.81MBps for big files and xv.31MBps for small files from 15m abroad isn't all that impressive. For comparison, the D-Link Viper recorded nearly 17.05MBps for big and fifteen.71MBps for minor files in our 15m tests. Information technology was also faster in the brusque-range, small-scale file test, giving a rate of 32.98MBps compared to the TP-Link'south 21.56MBps. Note that the D-Link is a much more expensive router, costing at least $100 more at the time of this review.
Read more: D-Link DSL-2890AL 802.11ac modem-router
However, the TP-Link was consequent. It kept hitting the same marks and didn't let united states of america downward in transferring the data. Our laptop for these tests was a Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga with an Intel Wireless-Air conditioning 7260 module that connected at 802.11ac speeds, and we'll note that other laptops we tried (simply which aren't office of our usual test gear) such every bit the Dell Latitude E5250 and the HP Spectre x360, recorded shot-range rates close to 50MBps, and oft exceeded that marking in bursts.
Basically, this is a more than capable router to consider if you want to hit high speeds with your 802.11ac computers from a short distance -- and especially for big file transfers such as movies. While its speeds in our item tests dwindled from further distances, that's non something unique to this router, and the speeds you lot'll arrive your own environs volition vary. For covering longer distances, things such equally repeaters and powerline adapters are all the same needed, and many networking companies are now spruiking them as part of their overall networking ecosystem for busy households (that is, households with lots of wireless devices).
As for ease of use, the TP-Link Archer C9 offers a cleaner interface than older TP-Link routers, with more bones data given by default, likewise as a nice map of your network then that you can run into at a glance what's connected. Setting it up took us a few minutes when you take out the fourth dimension we took untangling cables from our existing gear to get it physically connected; we simply logged in to the router on our laptop via the wireless network (using the default password that's supplied), popped in our Internet login details, changed the wireless networking settings to our requirements, and that was that -- all through the 'Quick Setup'.
There is built-in quality of service (QoS) management in a setting chosen NAT Boost, which is enabled past default. Throughout the course of our testing, we didn't accept cause to change this. Netflix and NBA League Laissez passer streamed without issues while nosotros browsed the Web and used YouTube on a second screen as normal, though groundwork downloads onto our NAS devices did sometimes present ho-hum-down issues that affected existent-time video streaming needs.
Read more than: TP-Link Smart LED multicoloured light bulbs review
Nosotros institute it easier to just throttle these downloads in the NAS device rather than using the QoS in the router, which would accept required switching off NAT Heave and creating custom bandwidth rules according to IP addresses and ports.
If you're the type who tinkers, you can certainly put your tinkering to good use on this router, and its interface is cleanly laid out with a carte du jour listing along the side. In the 'Avant-garde' interface, things such as port forwarding are piece of cake to do, as are dynamic DNS settings (No IP and DynDNS). We will note that the congenital-in help clarification, while nicely implemented, don't actually requite an insight into what most features actually do. Rather, they mostly bespeak that things tin exist enabled or disabled.
Read more: TP-Link TD-W8980 N600 modem-router
Parental controls can be applied according to MAC address, which you lot can glean from the router'south DHCP customer list. These controls offer the ability to create a 'whitelist' of sites that will be accessible past each affected PC or mobile device. Information technology'southward a characteristic that didn't work properly for us during our tests, as information technology basically blocked everything instead.
A couple of USB ports (one 2.0 at the back and one 3.0 at the side) allow the router to exist a connection point for a printer and a USB hard drive. A difficult bulldoze plugged in to the router with media on it can exist scanned and its content found through DLNA-capable devices and apps.
Overall, it's a swift router (both in terms of close-range wireless speed, and the responsiveness of changes made to its interface), that stands tall -- literally. It has a nice enough design to exist used out in the open well-nigh a home amusement unit of measurement, for example, with blueish LEDs that aren't overbearing, and we plant information technology to exist a reliable performer during our prolonged tests.
A couple of blemishes are its parental controls, which didn't seem to work for us, and its storage sharing, which was mainly accessible via FTP and DLNA devices, but not over our Windows network. For the cost, though, it's a worthy AC1900 choice.
Source: https://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/review/tp-link/archer-c9/576511/
0 Response to "Tp-link Wireless Router Ac1900 Smart Wifi Dual-band Gigabit (Archer C9) Review"
Post a Comment