TP-Link Archer AX6000 review: A high-end Wi-Fi 6 router that will evolve your network

Source: Windows Central

Wi-Fi 6, also known as the 802.11ax standard, is set to take over from Wi-Fi v (802.11ac). Information technology's already found in many modern devices, and it brings better wireless speeds and a better ability to handle a big number of devices at high speeds. Wi-Fi 6 doesn't simply work without some upgrades; y'all need a Wi-Fi half dozen router and a device with a Wi-Fi vi module.

TP-Link's Archer AX6000 router fulfills the one-time need. It's a high-end Wi-Fi 6 router with a high-cease cost tag, but for those who have a large space to cover and many devices to connect, it's no doubt going to look quite appealing. I've been using it with all my Wi-Fi vi devices for the terminal few weeks to see what information technology's all about and, ultimately, whether or not it's the right router for your home or office.

Premium Wi-Fi six Router

TP-Link Archer AX6000

Lesser line: The TP-Link Archer AX6000 is a potent Wi-Fi 6 router that should run into the needs of about people, especially if there are a lot of wired devices to connect. It'south expensive, simply it has the features and performance to support the price.

Pros

• Strong QoS and parental control
• Elementary, quick setup
• USB ports for external media sharing
• Superb performance and range
• Eight Gigabit LAN ports

Cons

• About the size of a dinner plate
• Expensive
• Might be overkill for your needs

TP-Link Archer AX6000 tech specs

Source: Windows Central

Category	Spec
Functioning	AX6000 4,804 Mbps (5GHz) 1,148 Mbps (2.4GHz)
Frequency	2.4GHz, 5GHz
Processor	Quad-cadre i.8GHz
Retentiveness	128MB Wink 1GB RAM
Wireless standard	802.11a/b/g/north/air conditioning/ax
Antennas	Eight external
Ports	USB-A three.0 USB-C iii.0
Ethernet	Eight Gigabit LAN 1 2.5Gbps WAN

TP-Link Archer AX6000 design and features

Source: Windows Cardinal

The Archer AX6000 is a bulky square router with eight external antennas that fold up and down. Birthday information technology'southward most the size of a dinner plate, so you're going to need some room wherever you want to set it upwardly. On the lesser, there are some mounts if you want to adhere it sideways to a wall or upside-down under a table, which would no uncertainty aid with the size issue.

The side of the router has a USB-A iii.0 and USB-C three.0 port for connecting an external drive or two. If you have network-attached storage ambitions, this will practice on a small scale. I streamed video and shared files betwixt PCs with ease thank you to this feature. The other side of the router has three slim buttons, 1 for WPS, one to toggle Wi-Fi, and one to toggle the top LED.

The router has a 2.five Gbps WAN port and a total of viii Gigabit LAN ports on the back, making it ideal for anyone with a lot of wired devices they'd like to connect. In that location's no multi-Gigabit LAN port, though link aggregation is possible between the 2d and tertiary LAN ports. If yous need it, this would offer theoretical wired speeds upward to two Gbps.

Source: Windows Central

Everything is powered by a quad-core ane.8GHz processor with 1GB of RAM and 128MB of Flash retention, which is very respectable inside a router. Information technology handles Quality of Service (QoS), parental control, congenital-in antivirus, media streaming, band steering, and more without seeming to struggle at all.

Wi-Fi vi yet uses the 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios, here each with iv separate streams. Along with MU-MIMO capabilities, 1024QAM (Quadrature Aamplitude Modulation), OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access), beamforming, and 160MHz maximum point bandwidth, you can expect an overall impressive wireless network that tin proceed up with the needs of a big number of people all vying for a big amount of data.

TP-Link Archer AX6000 setup and management

Source: Windows Central

Setting upwards a new router can be daunting, especially for the less tech-savvy folks out at that place, simply TP-Link aims to make it as easy as possible with the Archer AX6000. From opening the box, the first time to connecting your devices takes only about five minutes, and it can exist done using the TP-Link Tether app or through a spider web browser with a connected PC. Information technology's unproblematic. It's easy.

TP-Link'due south Tether app has enough of settings y'all tin can accommodate, just accessing the router through a browser volition land you the virtually command with advanced settings. You can tweak LAN, IPTV, DHCP, DNS, IPv6, VPN, NAT, and more than advanced options if you're up to it, though the router will work fine without having to delve too securely. No doubt, nigh attractive to a lot of people are strong parental control, QoS, and security.

Parental control is handled per device. Find one in the connected devices list, give it a proper noun, choose an historic period group, so add any categories you'd like to filter. Time limits per session and slumber times tin can be set up to ensure the kids aren't staying up belatedly when they should be resting. One time you lot've prepare a control contour, you tin can wait in on time spent online and what sites were visited for how long.

The Archer AX6000 will work with your older devices despite its Wi-Fi 6 advancements.

QoS control can also be configured per device, though it also has the pick for configuring per action. This means you tin can set high-demand devices at the top of the list to be served required bandwidth first, but you can also gear up, say, video streaming every bit the top priority. Alive in a house where you can't run an Ethernet cable to console or PC? Y'all tin prioritize gaming. At that place'southward as well a set of custom sliders that yous can tweak to get exactly the priority residual you adopt.

A built-in antivirus from Trend Micro can exist toggled on to cake malicious content, external attacks, and quarantined devices. The router also has an SPI firewall enabled by default, every bit well as a configurable blacklist for devices. Those looking to securely admission their home network while away tin can configure a VPN through OpenVPN or PPTP.

Finally, guest networks on either radio are quick and easy to prepare up, allowing visitors some cyberspace without giving them full access to your network. If you lot're working on improving your IFTTT or Alexa game, know that the AX6000 is compatible with both.

TP-Link Archer AX6000 operation

Source: Windows Primal

The biggest appeal for a lot of people is no doubt the boost to performance they'll see by switching to a Wi-Fi 6 router and devices. Rest assured, the Archer AX6000 has no issues working with older devices equally well. Wi-Fi six is meant to be backward compatible, and I saw no issues connecting all my devices, old or new. This is a dual-band router with two.4GHz and 5GHz radios, meaning you tin choose between signal quality at range or sheer speed in proximity. Radios can be fix to piece of work exclusively on i standard. For case, y'all can set the 5GHz band to only handle 802.11ax devices.

The Archer AX6000 will give your network a solid boost to speed and range.

This router does not have mesh capabilities like another mod routers, but information technology does offer a Smart Connect feature that is common with mesh systems. When enabled, the router shows just i SSID to which yous can connect. In one case connected, the router will move devices dorsum and along between the 2.4GHz and 5GHz radio based on best performance. It actually works quite seamlessly — movement out of range of where 5GHz is effective, and you lot'll be switched over to 2.4GHz, and vice versa.

I ran some tests using Ookla's Speedtest and a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme with Intel Wireless AX200 (2x2) card. Notation that my internet programme is rated at 350Mbps downwards and 15 Mbps up, which is actually non plenty to take reward of the Archer AX6000'due south total potential. Something like the Archer AX50 would no doubt be a more suitable Wi-Fi 6 router for my situation. In whatsoever case, hither are the results I saw with the AX6000.

TP-Link Archer AX6000 (two.4GHz)

Location	Ping	Down speed	Up speed
Living room (x feet)	10ms	104.45 Mbps	16.23 Mbps
Office (30 feet)	10ms	88.48 Mbps	16.07 Mbps
Basement (40 feet)	11ms	89.69 Mbps	16.08 Mbps
Outdoors (50 feet)	11ms	24.99 Mbps	fifteen.91 Mbps

TP-Link Archer AX6000 (5GHz)

Location	Ping	Down speed	Upwardly speed
Living room (10 feet)	11ms	320.86 Mbps	sixteen.23 Mbps
Office (30 feet)	10ms	314.57 Mbps	16.09 Mbps
Basement (40 feet)	11ms	173.41Mbps	xvi.xiv Mbps
Outdoors (50 anxiety)	—	—	—

Speeds on the 5GHz radio remained impressive throughout my home, though venturing outdoors to the backyard saw a severe drop in signal strength. I couldn't go along a steady signal long enough to get a proper reading. There are a lot of walls and some thick insulation for the signal to pass through, so it's not as well surprising.

For reference, I also tested to see how well the Isp-supplied Wi-Fi 5 router works in the same locations effectually my house.

Hitron Wi-Fi 5 (2.4GHz)

Location	Ping	Down speed	Up speed
Living room (10 anxiety)	10ms	79.25 Mbps	xvi.22 Mbps
Office (xxx feet)	11ms	22.17 Mbps	fifteen.nine Mbps
Basement (40 feet)	11ms	14.82 Mbps	12.22 Mbps
Outdoors (50 feet)	—	—	—

Hitron Wi-Fi 5 (5GHz)

Location	Ping	Down speed	Up speed
Living room (x feet)	10ms	132.50 Mbps	16.23 Mbps
Office (30 anxiety)	9ms	81.79 Mbps	16.20 Mbps
Basement (40 feet)	10ms	56.16 Mbps	16.18 Mbps
Outdoors (50 feet)	—	—	—

The jump in throughput is clear from these results, with the TP-Link Archer AX6000 tripling speeds at range in some cases. Not only were the speeds much higher, just the indicate was also much stronger and steadier. The AX6000 still isn't going to be effective with 5GHz at long ranges through a lot of walls, merely the 2.4GHz indicate did run across a solid boost to range compared to my older Wi-Fi 5 router. Whereas before I couldn't sit in the dorsum grand with any sort of reliable point, the AX6000 now makes it possible.

I as well tested transfer speeds of a hard-deejay bulldoze I connected with USB-A. Using the 5GHz radio, I got back a 68.57 MB/s read speed and 39 MB/south write speed, both respectable results. Streaming video, transferring images, and opening documents from the external bulldoze posed no bug. For reference, connecting the drive straight to my PC got back speeds of 139.2 MB/s read, and 54.10 MB/s write.

Should you lot purchase the TP-Link Archer AX6000?

Source: Windows Key

TP-Link'due south Archer AX6000 is a Wi-Fi half-dozen router meant to handle a lot of traffic at high speeds. If yous're in a large home with a lot of people who want to stream, game, and scan, information technology'due south no dubiousness going to exist a adept fit. Keep in listen that its theoretical speeds of iv,804 Mbps (5GHz) and ane,148 Mbps (2.4GHz) are probable overkill if you don't accept an ISP plan that tin can take advantage. My rather measly 350 Mbps downwardly and 15 Mbps doesn't fifty-fifty come up shut to helping the AX6000 realize its full potential, only I'm however enjoying the massively improved speed at range compared to the one-time Wi-Fi five router to which I'm accepted.

The eight full LAN ports are ideal for anyone with plenty of wired devices, and link assemblage can assistance with the lack of a multi-Gigabit port. The bevy of avant-garde settings are sure to satisfy almost people, though if yous're not comfortable with those types of tweaks, you can ever just plug information technology in and allow it do its matter without much effort. Parental control and QoS get top marks here also; if you're looking for a new router for the whole family, the AX6000 should accept just about everything you need.

With all this is mind, the Archer AX6000 might just be what you lot're looking for. However, at nearly $300 it's non exactly a splurge buy, and information technology might be overkill for your needs. If you have a more modest ISP program and still want Wi-Fi 6, something similar TP-Link's Archer AX10 or Archer AX50 are much more affordable options. And if you're interested in more than of the best options out there, be certain to check out our collection of best Wi-Fi 6 routers for a range of needs.

Premium Wi-Fi 6 Router

TP-Link Archer AX6000

Upgrade to Wi-Fi 6

If yous require an 802.11ax router for the demands of many people who stream, game, and browse, the Archer AX6000 should be a good fit. Just make certain information technology's not too much router for your needs.

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/tp-link-archer-ax6000-review

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