TP-Link AC4000 Archer C4000
Suffers from performance drops.
Every router in our roundup had a default IP of 192.168.1.1... with the exception of this one. Defaulting to 192.168.0.1, this minor pain in the posterior goes against the grain of most of today’s Wi-Fi enabled devices, which all use the 192.168.1.1 to 254 range. As a result, we had to change the default router IP out of the box, as the rest of our devices in the network all defaulted to the usual network range.
One feature we do love is the fact that the six antennae don’t need to be screwed in; they simply flip out from the top of the router. These deliver two 5GHz networks at 1,625Mbps each, along with a single 2.4GHz network of 750Mbps, for a total of AC4000. Delving into the interface reveals a clean yet detailed layout, with the core pieces of network information displayed on the main dashboard. We especially like the QoS section, which allows you to prioritise different forms of traffic, be it gaming, streaming, VOIP and more.
Unfortunately the gaming setting didn’t seem to perform as well as the rest, hitting 24ms under load, roughly 25% higher than the best routers in the roundup.
The biggest issue, though, was that of speeds, with this $400 router hitting longrange speeds of around half of that of some of its similarly priced competitors. On the flipside, it does have three bands delivering 4,000Mbps, so will handle more devices better than AC2600 models. Still, at this price, we expected much better long-range performance.