TP-LINK Archer C7 AC1750; Good for my needs?

[Eldram]

I have about 11 wireless devices in my apartment, of which only 2 are legacy devices (only support b/g protocols); 8 are n, 2.4Ghz compatible with only one device that supports n with Dual Band. I tend to stream movies and shows (Netflix, Hulu etc.) as well as play games online. I also stream music (Spotify, Pandora) but outside of that I don't do much downloading/torrenting. My current router is the trusty WRT54G Linksys router but it's aged poorly and can't handle all these devices connecting to it. Will the Archer C7 be a good choice for me and will I see a big difference in wireless connections with my "n" devices despite having to broadcast a mixed signal for my legacy devices? Thanks!

 

[ChikkSpot]

Yes. Just make sure you get the V2 version. It's not the "best" router but price-performance ratio is hard to beat. Plus ample of 3rd party firmware support.

 

[Eldram]

Yes. Just make sure you get the V2 version. It's not the "best" router but price-performance ratio is hard to beat. Plus ample of 3rd party firmware support.

Thanks! How would I be able to tell if the version I'm getting is V2?

 

[L&LD]

V2 should be noted on the retail box and definitely on the router itself somewhere. Possibly close to the serial number.

 

[Eldram]

Thanks. If I may ask a follow up; I see that there is approximately a $40 difference between the Archer C7 and the C8 1750. Should I shoot for that one instead? Or is the difference negligible?

 

[microchip]

Thanks. If I may ask a follow up; I see that there is approximately a $40 difference between the Archer C7 and the C8 1750. Should I shoot for that one instead? Or is the difference negligible?

I would get the C9 instead. The C8 offers very little over the C7, except for faster processor and being based on Broadcom instead of Qualcomm. I'm not sure/too lazy to check if the C8 also offers beamforming

 

[Eldram]

I would get the C9 instead. The C8 offers very little over the C7, except for faster processor and being based on Broadcom instead of Qualcomm. I'm not sure/too lazy to check if the C8 also offers beamforming

The C8 does offer beamforming How much better would the C9 be overall?

 

[microchip]

The C8 does offer beamforming How much better would the C9 be overall?

Not by that much as it's a small upgrade. But it does offer more than the C7, including a decent web GUI compared to the archaic one used on the C7. If you're interested in technicalities, SmallNetBuilder has review all of them so do a bit of reading and look at the charts. Personally, I find the AC1900 routers (like the C9) to be the sweet spot at them moment. Anything above is too new at the moment with issues in the firmwares and there are no clients anyways that can utilize AC2400 or AC3200

 

[Eldram]

Not by that much as it's a small upgrade. But it does offer more than the C7, including a decent web GUI compared to the archaic one used on the C7. If you're interested in technicalities, SmallNetBuilder has review all of them so do a bit of reading and look at the charts. Personally, I find the AC1900 routers (like the C9) to be the sweet spot at them moment. Anything above is too new at the moment with issues in the firmwares and there are no clients anyways that can utilize AC2400 or AC3200

Duly noted. I will check out those reviews for sure. Another question; do you think this router could handle streaming to Twitch well? One thing I plan to do is stream games to my Twitch channel (forgot to mention it before).

 

[microchip]

Duly noted. I will check out those reviews for sure. Another question; do you think this router could handle streaming to Twitch well? One thing I plan to do is stream games to my Twitch channel (forgot to mention it before).

it should be able to as I've used myself the C7 to stream movies wirelesly to my TV. If the C7 can do it, the C8/9 certainly will do

 

[red_pope]

I own one Archer c-8, it works fine with my legacy products and AC adapters. It meets my budget and demand.
Please read my small forum, this is where everything started for me and my family.

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/is-an-archer-c5-right-for-me.23696/

 

[Logic Bus]

I saw the article on The Wire Cutter calling the Archer C7 "The Best Wi-fi Router (for Most People)" and I bought it. I was never particularly impressed. My Nest thermostats (2.4 GHz only) constantly lost connection. My wife and I both have iPhones, and about once per evening each phone would lose Internet while on the 2.4 GHz network. We could switch to the 5 GHz network when it happened, but when we came home from work the iPhones would connect to the 2 GHz network and stay on it.

Long story short the 2.4 GHz network was awful, and the range on the 5 GHz network wasn't good enough. I returned the Archer C7 to Amazon.

 

[microchip]

I saw the article on The Wire Cutter calling the Archer C7 "The Best Wi-fi Router (for Most People)" and I bought it. I was never particularly impressed. My Nest thermostats (2.4 GHz only) constantly lost connection. My wife and I both have iPhones, and about once per evening each phone would lose Internet while on the 2.4 GHz network. We could switch to the 5 GHz network when it happened, but when we came home from work the iPhones would connect to the 2 GHz network and stay on it.

Long story short the 2.4 GHz network was awful, and the range on the 5 GHz network wasn't good enough. I returned the Archer C7 to Amazon.

The C7 was/is known for having connectivity issues with Apple devices. If you believe the changelogs of the FW, it's supposed to be fixed in the latest. I own the C7 myself but no Apple devices here to confirm

 

[zakoh]

One problem with online review sites like smallnetbuilder or wirecutter is that those sites only do a short benchmark, but do not do a longer term test. Case in point, is wirecutter's recommendation of TP-Link WDR-3600 as the "best cheap router". I had this router for half year, and observed many stability problems. The router slows down, drops packets, connections, and speed under a high load, locks up and has to be rebooted at least once a week. And this sort of issue is quite common with a lot of wireless routers, if you read online reviews on amazon for pretty much any brand router. Perhaps it has to do with buggy firmware, hardware, or with inadequate cooling? I have tried factory firmware and like five dd-wrt beta builds, observing peculiar issues with each, and I was ready to swear off this product and return it to amazon or tp-link. Then I gave it a last try using the latest stable Gagoryle firmware few days ago, and the router has been surprisingly stable after that.

 

[zakoh]

The C7 was/is known for having connectivity issues with Apple devices. If you believe the changelogs of the FW, it's supposed to be fixed in the latest. I own the C7 myself but no Apple devices here to confirm

Probably has to do with the HT40 (40/20MHz) channel operation in the 2.4GHz band. In order to avoid potential problems, I'd try restricting the router to using a 20MHz wide channel

 

[zakoh]

I would get the C9 instead. The C8 offers very little over the C7, except for faster processor and being based on Broadcom instead of Qualcomm. I'm not sure/too lazy to check if the C8 also offers beamforming

It seems like the only improvement C9 has over C8 is that it is AC1900 instead of AC1750, which is a pretty minor improvement, and my understanding is that the marketing can slap a higher number on C9 because it has support for TurboQAM modulation, which brings link speeds up to 200Mbps per stream in 2.4GHz band for 40MHz channels (up from 150Mbps), but you need a client network adapter with TurboQAM support. But one advantage C9 has for the fans of third party firmware is that there is a dd-wrt beta support for C9, but C8 is still work in progress.