Hello guys I want to replace the crappy router that my ISP gave me. I did some research and found the TP-Links the most interesting ones. I just want the best WiFi coverage because I have pretty big house. Which one should I buy ? Is the C5 the best bang for my bucks or are the C7 or C8 worth their extra dollars ?
C5 vs C7 vs C8
- Thread starter BlackThor
- Start date
iGirl
New Around Here
You might need to detail what you would be doing - if it's just web surfing and email with iPads then you likely don't need anything special. If OTOH you're uploading video, graphics files and other large format data to servers then it's a whole different question. You also don't specify your budget. Of course generally speaking the higher cost model, the more power and/or features. And "pretty big house" is kind of vague. Around 2500 square ft is near the USA average - if you're in the US then 4,000-5,000 sq ft ? 20,0000 sq ft is pretty big too. 2,000 sq ft in NYC is pretty big. It's all realtive. But most modern WiFi will go far beyond the walls of any house. Many of us easily see our neighbors networks floating around out there from wthin our own houses. 
Alright. So in my house there are 3 laptops that are pretty much always connected , 1 Ipad , 4 smartphones and a PS4. I download a lot, online gaming (MOBA), Netflix and I stream locally with Plex. I live in Europe. I can't tell how big my house is but I have 2 floors and the walls are pretty thick so that's why I need a strong router. And I would be nice if I could connect a hard drive so that I can easily share files and make back-ups.
Use the Charts to compare performance.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tool...7v2/1733-tplink-archerc8/1971-tplink-archerc5
You'll see no one product is best on all four wireless benchmarks. There is no perfect router. Any router is going to have a tough time providing 5 GHz coverage of a large area. Even small areas are tough with concrete block or stucco walls.
red_pope
Regular Contributor
Blackthor
I own a C-8, that was replaced by a new one from TP-Link. The original, the power supply crap-out, the warranty replaced the whole thing. I'm using the new one in my daughters house and in my opinion it does its job efficiently.
To see the difference between the TP-Link routers download the specifications from each router at the TP-LINK website. You will notice the C-5 does not do beam-forming, like the others do. You want to know and read up the testing results that has been done with the SNB forums, just research them.
I bought a new ADSL TP-Link D-9 router recently, I did disable the WIFI and routing. Only use the ADSL part of it because is more superior than the ISP JUNK they issue. The routing is done by my Asus ASUS RT-AC87U.
enjoy
If you want to take advantage of 802.11ac higher throughput, you need to use 5 GHz.
Alright so which router would you recommend ? Is Asus better?
Last edited:
