Impressed by the TP-Link Archer A7

[ChrisF60526]

Stuck in Florida due to COVID19 and am impressed by the $65 A7. I put this router into my parents house a year ago to replace and aging ASUS N56, Primary goal was reliable and cheap. There are only two of them and they don't even do streaming.

Fast forward to last week and the A7 has handled: my family of 4 and my folks as a total of 6. We have added streaming (TV, 2 ipads, 2 phones), my work at home job, and a few PC rebuilds and the A7 has been flawless.

I am stunned by this little router. When my overrated Netgear X7800 dies, i may have to consider...TP-Link?

 

[L&LD]

In light of 'only $xx', everything can be made to look good. I would never have a TP-Link router protecting my network though.

Glad it's holding out for your parents and their guests during these times.

 

[microchip]

Yea, impressive! Until they stop supporting it shortly and you'll only get a few firmware updates. TP-Link is out of the question for me due to these practices

 

[distilled]

TP-Link manufacture the router version of disposable lighters, disposable razors, paper plates and paper towels.

On the other hand, I have a soft spot for anything with "Archer" in the title.

"Phrasing!"

 

[ChrisF60526]

@microchip Ok..not defending. the brand but if we are talking about firmware updates:

My Netgear (and yours) 7800: Two firmware updates last year...one in 01/19 and one 12/19. Thats hardly support

This A7: 3 firmware updates in the last 6 months. One as recent as 10 days ago.

Help me understand where the lack of support for a router that is 2 years old is?

 

[L&LD]

@ChrisF60526 for me, its not just the number of firmware updates offered. It is the creaky, old, obsolete code it is based on (that is seldom upgraded too).

 

[microchip]

@microchip Ok..not defending. the brand but if we are talking about firmware updates:

My Netgear (and yours) 7800: Two firmware updates last year...one in 01/19 and one 12/19. Thats hardly support

This A7: 3 firmware updates in the last 6 months. One as recent as 10 days ago.

Help me understand where the lack of support for a router that is 2 years old is?

The R7800 was released in 2016. While NG is slow, they still support it and will do so in the future as well (new beta firmware is already in testing phase). I had an Archer C7 that received only 3 updates during its whole lifetime and then TP-Link dropped the ball on it because they pushed out a v2 of this model and "thought" no one has v1 any more or still uses it

 

[verbage]

It seems like OpenWRT is available for the TP-Link Archer A7 (see https://openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/archer_a7), but I am not sure about people's opinions on that. There is also a refurbished version of the A7 available at B&H Photo for just $40 (see https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...er_a7r_ac1750_dual_band_wireless_gigabit.html). So maybe it is worth it as a backup router when one's main router fails? For sure, this goes back to @L&LD's comment that anything can be make to look good for a certain amount. But I am looking for a backup router myself so for $40 (refurbished) this seems to be a pretty decent option.

 

[mikejs11]

This thing periodically goes on sale on Amazon for right over $50 (new). The A9 is also supposed to be nice and sometimes sells for a little over $70.

 

[verbage]

This thing periodically goes on sale on Amazon for right over $50 (new). The A9 is also supposed to be nice and sometimes sells for a little over $70.

Ok, thanks for the wisdom--I will check out the the A9 as well.

 

[Trip]

IMHO, the primary value of the A7 is that it's Qualcomm-based and OpenWRT compatible. Qualcomm tends to have higher-performing wireless than Broadcom, tier for tier, and has also been more open-source friendly, meaning that things like SQM stand a much better chance of actually working as intended, due to way more accessible low-level system integration (versus Broadcom's binary blobs...). And if history is any indicator, the A7 will remain in the OpenWRT development envelope for years to come -- regardless of whether TP-Link continues software support.

At the end of the day, though, it's all about knowing your use-case and what will get the job done.

 

[verbage]

Ok, I ended up purchasing an Archer A7 as a backup router in the case that my main router goes down. I considered the A9 as suggested by @mikejs11, but there was no OpenWRT support for it at this point so I opted for the A7. On receipt this afternoon, I did not really even play with native firmare--I immediately flashed it to OpenWRT v19.07.2. This is my first experience with OpenWRT, and for the moment, I can see it has tons of option so I am looking forward to further exploration.

 

[microchip]

Ok, I ended up purchasing an Archer A7 as a backup router in the case that my main router goes down. I considered the A9 as suggested by @mikejs11, but there was no OpenWRT support for it at this point so I opted for the A7. On receipt this afternoon, I did not really even play with native firmare--I immediately flashed it to OpenWRT v19.07.2. This is my first experience with OpenWRT, and for the moment, I can see it has tons of option so I am looking forward to further exploration.

I may be wrong, but I think you lose hardware acceleration on OpenWrt

 

[System Error Message]

I may be wrong, but I think you lose hardware acceleration on OpenWrt

if the hardware acceleration requires proprietary code you wont have it on openwrt, this means that broadcom based SoCs do not get hardware acceleration with openwrt.

If the hardware acceleration is in the hardware and the code or driver for it is open sourced then openwrt will have it.

 

[Trip]

I may be wrong, but I think you lose hardware acceleration on OpenWrt

if the hardware acceleration requires proprietary code you wont have it on openwrt, this means that broadcom based SoCs do not get hardware acceleration with openwrt.

If the hardware acceleration is in the hardware and the code or driver for it is open sourced then openwrt will have it.

All points above are valid. Additionally, software flow offloading is also gaining ground in OpenWRT, and while it will never be a direct substitute for full hardware offload, it's looking very promising at cutting out a lot of extra overhead for NAT, and hopefully they'll work SQM and more packages into compatibility soon enough.

 

[Val D.]

I look at NAT acceleration as a form of cheating, something that allows manufacturers to market a device as Gigabit capable, when in fact it isn't. In all my setups, if there is a way to disable NAT acceleration and the CPU is capable to handle the traffic, I prefer to keep it Disabled.

 

[verbage]

Thanks all, for mentioning this particular caveat about using OpenWRT. For sure, this is a frustrating limitation, but it's the trade-off for openness, and the longevity that OpenWRT might provide for the router after TP-Link puts it out to pasture.

I am not sure what the A7 accelerates in hardware when using the stock propietary firmware--probably routing, maybe cryptographic stuff like VPN connections, probably other stuff, too? But I am wondering if anybody might have a feel for how the lack of hardware acceleration might affect typical, consumer-level activities. For sure, it would be quantifiable with detailed testing. But instead, I am talking about stuff like simple web browsing and e-mail, Netflix/YouTube streaming, Xbox gaming, etc., not less common stuff like VPNing.

For example, might the lack of hardware acceleration cause noticeable differences like webpage loads taking longer, Netflix streaming stuttering, etc.? Yeah, I realize that there are a bazillion other factors involved, but all other things being equal, would the use of hardware acceleration vs. not have an obviously perceivable effect for typical consumer end users (i.e. my family!)? Thanks for any insight or experience with this that you may be able to provide!

 

[Val D.]

But I am wondering if anybody might have a feel for how the lack of hardware acceleration might affect typical, consumer-level activities.

Archer A7 is a budget router and shares the same CPU as Archer C7, so expect like 100Mbps throughput with no hardware acceleration. If your ISP speed is faster than that, you have to have hardware acceleration Enabled. Archer C7/A7 are excellent very reliable devices for the price, but this is all what a $60 All-In-One home router can offer.

 

[verbage]

Thanks, @Val D., for the wisdom! Should be good enough to get by in a pinch of my main router fails. Just lay it out on the line to the family--either no Internet, or slightly slower Internet--they will be happy with the latter!!!

 

[Val D.]

Should be good enough to get by in a pinch of my main router fails.

This C7 router is around since mid 2013, got updated 5 times over the years, the next A7 version added Alexa support, etc. The firmware offers all the options an average home user may need and at some point it was a very popular choice due to low price, good WiFi coverage and excellent reliability record. And it's still a good no-frills replacement for many average performing modem/router combos provided by ISPs.