TP-LinkTri-Band BE19000 WiFi 7 Router (Archer BE800) | 12-Stream 19 Gbps | 2×10G + 4×2.5G Ports | LED Screen, 8 High-Performance Antennas | VPN, Easy Mesh, HomeShield, Private IoT, Free Expert Help

My first review of this product (below) was very negative and deeply sarcastic due to the many issues I was experiencing at the time. Since then, I've gone through many, many hours of troubleshooting, replacing products, replacing all the cable in my house, you name it - only to find that the issue lay with my Motorola cable modem the entire time. (FYI: apparently Motorola no longer makes their own modems; use that information as you will, then buy an Arris.) Since discovering the true source of the problem, this router has performed excellently. And now that everything is actually stable, I've been able to go beyond basic connectivity and finally start digging into the more advanced features of the product. This router has a number of enhancement and convenience features that I never even looked at before. I would strongly urge those that read my previous review to give this device a second look, as I've been able to coax truly impressive performance out of this. I'm leaving my original review up for the lulz, but when reading it, just substitute "Motorola MB8600" whenever you see this product's name. Cheers!---Original review: I ordered the TP-Link AC4000 less than six months ago. Initially, it was decent--good speed, good stability, and the range was a noticeable improvement over my trusty old Tenda. The setup "required" you to install some absurd app, but after some digging, I was able to get to the web interface on the unit and skip taking up yet more space on my phone. After that, setup only took a few minutes, and all was well with the world for quite a while.And then, about two weeks ago, I noticed I had never installed the firmware update. I suppose I'm at least partly to blame here, as I didn't do my usual scouring-the-internet-for-bug-reports before clicking the button. Lesson relearned yet again.I code for a living, but I know very little of what goes into making a firmware build or what the process is like. That said, I understand enough to know that something went very, very wrong with the version I upgraded to ( '1.0.3 Build 20191026 rel.16299' ). The same day as installing it, I started to experience intermittent loss of connectivity, not on any of the wireless networks, but on the connection to the cable modem itself. When it happens, I can't even get to the cable modem's interface to see what's going on there--instead I get some unhelpful message about lost connectivity to the internet (so I need the internet to get to a device in my house. Got it). This is now happening at least twice per day. To top it off, when it IS working, I can no longer connect with my phone when I'm in certain spots in my yard, areas that worked before the update. (I wonder if the range change is some sort of FCC thing, but that wouldn't explain dropping the wired connection to the modem.) When this happens, the only fix is a power-off cold boot, as the 'reboot' function in the menu doesn't fix the issue.I won't go through all the troubleshooting I've done, except to note that once you upgrade the firmware, this device will not let you go back to a previous version. And considering the "current" version appears to be from two years ago, a new update is about as likely as Harvey Weinstein taking back Miramax. I tried a number of tricks to force it but none worked. At this point I should note that, no, I haven't contacted support for this, and frankly, I'm not going to. I don't have hours to spend turning things off and on again while wishing for the sweet release of death, or at least mandatory jail time for whoever it is that records and sells hold music. Plus, I came up with a sort-of-drastic solution that should solve the issue permanently (more on that in a bit).The last straw came yesterday when it dropped connection during a critical server maintenance procedure, literally at the single worst possible moment it could have happened. Fortunately, everything was fine (I was running my code in a Linux screen session, so it kept going), but the two-to-three-minute window waiting for it to come back up was absolute white-knuckle terror, not to mention the post-mortem drudgery of digging through logs to make sure all the steps had completed, as I had output piped to a different terminal, which of course went <poof>. I'm too old for this mess. Since it's outside the return window, *BECAUSE OF COURSE IT IS*, I petitioned (read: "begged") my employer to reimburse me for a Linksys, which is on its way. Meanwhile, it's back to the super-cheap nearly-no-name Tenda, which has worked flawlessly for years now and was only replaced because I upgraded my internet and wanted something faster for working from home, which is very popular lately for whatever reason. Sigh.In summary, if I had the resources to do so, I would build a tiny rocket, strap the TP-Link AC-4000 to it, and launch it directly into the sun, whilst enjoying the fresh spring air with a few close (read: "vaccinated") friends and a glass of something expensive. Alas, I do not. Instead, I'm planning to give it as a Christmas gift to a couple I don't like. I'll flip it upside down, glue a couple of googly eyes on it, and tell their kids it's a robot spider. At least then no one would make the mistake of trying to use it as--shudder--a router.

I got 10Gb fiber from Sonic!This beast allows me to use the full 10Gb connection for my PC and to the LAN. However, the additional 4 ports are limited to 2.5Gb, which is still plenty. As long as I can get my 10Gb to my desktop, I'm happy.Wifi 6E devices work great. I can get up to 2.5Gb on my laptop and 1.5Gb on my pixel 8 pro.Set up is stupid easy and intuitive. Security options are excellent too.I ran Wireshark to see if the router was making any suspicious connections, since about 8 months back Tp-link was accused of spying. But found none. All traffic was normal. Compared to Huawei routers that snoop and maps everything, even outside of your home network. Seriously, don't trust those things.Since then, they've been making the right moves and moved their HQ to the US.I can't recommend this router enough, especially for the price $349.99 at the time of this review.

I wanted its bigger brother with the 10gbe ports but ultimately my ISP is only 2.5gbps (not paying for the 5gbps, it's not worth the cost). If the competing ISP ever rolls out 10gbps then I'd upgrade, but that could be years. 10gbps could be a long while for a lot of people. So unless you have some NAS on your LAN where you can benefit from the faster wired speeds it's just overkill. 2.5gbps worked for me and that meant I could spend half as much on the router.For $269 (on 10% sale) it's honestly hard to find a better router than the BE550.I was a big Asus fan with Merlin firmware flashed on their routers. I was eyeing up their 10gbe router but it's also expensive.The TP-Link Archer BE550 has some negative reviews on the Internet, but I believe they issued a firmware fix...I did not experience any issues at all.Speed tests on wifi? 1.3gbps. Which I never thought I'd see from wifi. Granted I'm standing next to the router, but even from a distance the speeds are terrific. This is much better than my Amplifi and older Asus router 802.11ac. This is probably simply due to the 802.11ax. But the signal is still stronger overall.I picked up a Deco X55 as an AP and may get another, because those have two 2.5gbe ports. If your internet is above 1gbps then you need backhaul faster than a 1gbe port if you're running 802.11ax or higher to get maximum speed (though nothing wrong with 1gbps).I think most people focus on wifi, but I'd really suggest to focus on your wired connections. If you do have more than 1gbps from your ISP this becomes critical. Your choice in routers shrinks. I think the BE550 is a solid choice though.The parental controls seem decent so far. I don't know if it's worth the subscription. The basic features that you get for free provide the basic turn off on demand and/or on a schedule. The YouTube content filter is attractive but it doesn't seem to let you customize it so I have my doubts.The other features of this router seem good. It even has wire guard for a VPN option.It's easy to set up. It's nice looking. So I call it a gentle beast because you don't need to be an expert to set it up and get good performance. It even has wifi7 for whenever things start using that. Most devices in my home doesn't even use 802.11ax yet so to say this router is future proof is an understatement. It'll be years before 802.11ax feels old and since it can reach over 1gbps with ease and most people don't have over 1gbps internet...there's just no point. A router like this will last you years.I'm a nerd here. Very much into programming and computers and networking. I have a rack in my closet and a server in it that I built from used data center parts. So for whatever that's worth, this router gets a recommendation from me.