Thoughts on TP-Link Archer C9? Replacing N66U

[itpromike]

So I'm looking to replace my N66U. Main reasons I'm replacing it is, I want a device that can handle more wireless clients without slowing down and is super stable (I have to reboot this thing pretty often for the wireless speed to not slow down). Mains concerns are:

1.) Stability
2.) Range
3.) Speed

I think in that order. I don't care about super fancy features to be honest on this one. I haven't been running ddwrt on this one like I have been previously (upgraded from an old school WRT54G with dowrt). I just want reliable and fast with good range.

Read some good things about TP-Link Archer C9 but I've not any familiarity with this company and initially took it for a cheap Chinese knock off company. Anyhow, thoughts?

 

[L&LD]

How many clients and what are their capabilities and expectations of the wireless network? What bands? What kind of property and obstacles need to be covered and accounted for?

TP-Link is not a company I can recommend as I have little experience with them. This is just from reading others experience.

The RT-AC68U would be the top choice for range, stability and performance within the Asus models offered.

The RT-AC3200 might be better suited if you want to possibly put up with a few more firmware revisions to make it bulletproof. But what you will get in return is a single router that will handle much more clients and also varied clients than almost any other router today. The three radios on two bands and the ability to connect slower 5GHz clients to one radio and all your faster 5GHz clients to the other 5GHz radio is how this is possible.

Yes, your 1) point is Stability. But unless you actually try the router in your environment, you won't know if it works for you or not (regardless of some others experience right now), as it seems to work for a few so far.

 

[microchip]

I have many TP-Link products in my house, like NICs, routers and switches from them. Every single one of these has always worked flawlessly so from own experience I can recommend with confidence TP-Link stuff. No, TP-Link is not a knock-off from China. It's a rather large company holding 1st place in consumer network equipment in China. The reason they're not that known in the west is because it entered the international market only some years ago and it takes time to build recognition

The only few "bad" things about the C9 (and previous Archer routers like the C7 and C8) is that it often requires a full reboot to apply some setting. Also if you use bandwidth limiting, it cuts the throughput in half as shown on tests done by SNB as it disables HW acceleration. The only Archer that doesn't do this is the Qualcomm-based C7. Both C8 & 9 do this which are Broadcom based.

 

[azazel1024]

I use TP-Link products pretty extensively and I've had generally good experiences with them (along with a few other companies' gear). They are what I would consider a "feature basic, high quality, value networking company". IE their hardware and firmware is generally very good, but they don't pack a lot of extra features in their products and generally deliver at 2/3rds the price of Asus/Netgear. IE don't look for VPN servers, download servers, etc. in their routers. However, the general range, speed and stability of their routers, switches, etc. is right up there with Asus, Netgear, etc. In some cases better.

As for the C9, why no go with the C7 or C8. They'll both perform roughly as fast and are a fair amount cheaper.

I have a C8 and it performs really well.

 

[AdvHomeServer]

2.4GHz @ 300 mbps is 2.4GHz @ 300 mbps regardless of the manufacturer of the router. If the mfgr can bump it up to 450 mpbs without qualifications, so much the better. A recent vintage router will probably do better than one from 3 or 4 years ago, holding all other specs constant, but not always. They might be the same where the specs are the same ... depending on your demands on it.

If you ask someone for the best router, you'll get lots of opinions. Feeds and speeds differ somewhat. Some firmware offers features that other firmware does not.

If your experience is not good, maybe your neighbor is causing the problem by congesting the channel.

I've always had good experience with Netgear refurbs, although I put DD-WRT on them for specific reasons, not just because alternate firmware is better than stock.

All routers are a dice throw. Read the reviews. Take a look at your usage patterns. Then decide for yourself. I have a pair of tp-link travel routers. Both work well. One is a client bridge for a slingbox. The other is a travel router. I had a great N600 Asus router. Now I use great Netgear AC class refurbs.

The N66U has alternate firmware available. Try it out and see if it works better. Throwing money at a new router just for grins is wasteful. The N66U is considered a best of breed router. A new AC router is not necessarily going to improve your life unless the N66U is defective or your needs include AC.

 

[sm00thpapa]

TP-Link makes good products as I am running a few routers and power line adapters from them with no issues. I would go with the RT-AC68P from best buy over the C9. Just my opinion. Just curious I had a N66U running with 29 clients and never had any slow down. Are you talking slow down as far as network streaming? What is your current down load speed from your ISP?

 

[Chrismallia]

I always used TP LINK and they always where rock solid no problems at all, a while ago i bought Asus rt ac87u and I am really sorry I did, it is slow,buggy not stable not worth the price. I am reselling it and buying a Archer c9. TP LINK ROCKS

 

[Trip]

I would second AHS's suggestion to try third-party firmware on the N66U before retiring it. AdvancedTomato (Shibby Tomato with a nice UI) is an absolute ROCK on MIPS-based gear (of which the N66U is a member). I've had solid uptimes on everything from the $40 Netgear WNR3500Lv2 to the N66U, and tons of models in between.

All of that aside, it may indeed be a gradual hardware failure. The N66U, along with many other consumer units, is well-chronicled to run hot, and heat is always the enemy of longevity. If you don't need anything more than dual-chain N300 wifi, though, you could always just disable wifi on the N66U and wire in an EnGenius ECB-350 -- for unmanaged APs, those things are rock solid right out of the box.

 

[enr00ted]

@Trip, thanks for the AdvancedTomato suggestion, did not know about it