TP-LINK Archer C7 V1 and V2 side by side

[tilhasbb]

I have Both V1 and V2 side by side with me for the next few days. I don't see a difference, they both seem to be stable with my Apple products with the new firmware.

Anyone want me to do any tests with them?

I have a Dell system with the new Intel 7260-AC and I connect at 866Mhz on the 5Ghz band on both V1 and V2 without any issues. Range Sucks compared to 2.4Ghz.
I have a Dell with Intel b/g/n 5300
Macbook Air 2012
Apple iPad Mini Retina
Apple iPhone 5
Apple iPhone 4

All working fine.

http://imgur.com/qHl8FI4

 

[Deleted member 28741]

Thanks for offering to help out.

I have been considering this router (along with several others!) but was put off by the reports on the TP Link forums About problems with apple devices not being recognised or being kicked off / disconnected .

http://forum.tp-link.com/forumdisplay.php?38-Dual-Band-Wireless-Routers

Can you watch YouTube videos? Some people complained they hang at 10 secs.

Also, what's the range and signal strength like on 2.4 ghz? The C7 has internal antennas for this band but I need a strong signal on this as most of my devices run on it.

External antennas seem better according to this:-

"A key performance figure in determining how well input power is amplified is called gain, a measurement of an antenna’s efficiency and directivity. This gain in decibles is called antenna gain and is expressed in dBi. Access point internal antennas usually carry signal gains of 1-1.5 dBi, while external antennas typically carry gains of 2-5 dBi. A 3 dBi gain advantage from external antennas represents double the transmit power, so the performance increase from external antennas can be quite significant. Some products include high-gain antennas that offer even larger dBi gains."

Source:- http://www.lmi.net/wp-content/uploads/Optimizing_802.11n.pdf

Any other differences between the two?

Also which firmware are you using?

Lastly which one will you keep (if any)?

 

[tilhasbb]

It's not as bad as people say.

Specially with the latest firmware I have no issues on Mac's iPhones etc.
Only issue I had was when I was playing games like World Of Warcraft I would get some latency issues then back to Normal. Or If I'm doing a huge file transfer it would freeze.

Don't have any of these issues with the latest firmware.

As for 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. The range on the 5Ghz compare to 2.4Ghz is shirt but that's not the router's fault, 5Ghz just has lower range.

2.4Ghz V1 vs V2. V1 is a little bit stronger.
5Ghz V1 vs V2. V2 is a little big stronger.

I'll do some tests for Range/Speed Side by Side.

Any other tests you want?

 

[Deleted member 28741]

Thanks very much…

Was going to get the C7 but found the "doesn't work well with Apple" reports on the TP Link Forum so went the other way and got a TP Link 841HP - which works really well most of the time.

Once or twice a week I get freezing when streaming Youtube videos through the Apple TV which sucks … but other than that it works fine and can simultaneously work on several devices at the same time.

Can you test the signal strength on the two bands? And Link/Transmit speed to iMac or MacBook?

 

[htismaqe]

The 2.4Ghz band is actually a bit BETTER on the V1, despite the V2 having 3 additional antennas (apparently specifically for that reason)?

Having read the 2.4Ghz attenuation benchmarks here on the V1 (or what I assume was the V1 given the date it was done) that pretty much rules out the V2.

 

[tilhasbb]

Tests
Sagecom ADSL2 Model Connected to Port 1
WD My Book Live Connected to Port 3
Laptop Dell Latitude E6430 with Intel 7260-AC Card 2x2
Each test ran 3 times to insure results are within 10Mbps

TP-Link Router. Everthing turned off including DHCP, NAT, Firewall, etc. All wireless devices have been shut off.

V1 Toz 2.4Ghz @ Channel 6
V1 Toz 5 Ghz @ Channel 40


DO NOT GET V2!

 

[microchip]

Thanks for the tests, tilhasbb. I guess I'm lucky having the V1 model

 

[tilhasbb]

Anyone else want me to do more tests before I return V2?

 

[htismaqe]

I'm still confused.

According to all of the published literature I can find, the V2 has 6 antennas, not 3.

I trust that you're telling the truth and it's actually a V2, which makes me trust TP-Link even less.

 

[Pierino]

The 6 antenna unit is only available in china.
http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wdr7500

 

[htismaqe]

The 6 antenna unit is not available in china.
http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wdr7500

Strange. It doesn't even exist on their global website.

Seems somewhat sketchy.

 

[Pierino]

Corrected my post. Only available in china.

https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=42099

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Wire...013999999870&gclid=CJGDyrOepb4CFQJqMgoddzMAqQ

 

[htismaqe]

Yeah, totally makes sense now.

We had a pretty lengthy discussion about this same thing in another thread a couple of days ago, and I arrived at that conclusion too.

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=17269

 

[htismaqe]

Here's your answer guys:

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=17269

The Chinese version, the WNDR7500, has 6 antennas.

Both international models, the V1 and V2, have only 3 external antennas.

 

[sm00thpapa]

C7 has 6 antennas. 3 external 5GHz and 3 internal 2.4 GHz.

 

[htismaqe]

Right. We've been talking about external antennas.

 

[KevTech]

The 6 antenna unit is only available in china.
http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wdr7500

Quick search of wdr7500 brings up many places to purchase the router.

 

[sirwifi]

Can these routers do Access Point mode where the WAN port becomes a 5th LAN port? Either with stock or some custom firmware would be fine.

 

[azazel1024]

Stock no. Probably can with OpenWRT, but I can't swear that.