Question TP-Link Archer AX4400 (Traditional Wireless Router ) or TP-Link AXE5400 (Mesh)

I currently have this Deco system in my house and at my inlaws.


It has been great. I only have 2 of the 3 installed at my house, 1 upstairs on one side of the house and the other downstairs or the opposite side of the house. They are connected via Ethernet though, so I'm using a wired back haul. I get nearly full speed throughout the house on all devices currently there are about 50 wireless devices connected.

At my inlaws house they use all 3 and in the traditional mesh fashion with the extra 2 connected wirelessly to the main router. They too have excellent coverage and speed throughout.

Mesh - do you have Ethernet to the location? If not then the mesh will be 50% slower with WiFi back haul.

@harobikes333

All I'm doing is pointing out the drawback of wireless mesh. Put the main unit where you have priority data needs and know that the node will be slower unless you run a cable to it. People tend to dive into mesh head first and then complain about slow speeds. Now, if the base/node have quad bands with a dedicated backhaul that's something to look for. Those won't be in the bargain price range though. In those cases it's cheaper to hire someone to run a cable. It comes down to costs though in either case vs being happy with your connectivity. Running a cable doesn't cost much and will ensure everyone is happy most of the time.

harobikes333 said:

doesn't just use two wireless routers?

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Some people do but, in most cases it's a waste of money compared to just getting an access point w/o the routing capability. A true AP can piggy back like a node as well but also provide better WiFi because that's it's only job and what it's designed for.

For instance I rolled the router function into my "server" and just have a single AP covering ~1200sq ft. When the wifi standards go up I can focus on just swapping that out for ~$200 instead of the common $500 these days for a plastic box that kind of does WiFi and usually has port limitations that bottleneck the speed.

It doesn't make sense to get a router that claims to do xxx speed and only have a gig port on it. If wifi 7 can do single client up to 5ge then the device need either a 5/10ge port. Unless of course you're just going peer to peer over wifi. Even then It will slow down because of how wifi works.

harobikes333 said:

There are so many different mesh routers & traditional routers offered by TP-Link... pretty hard to figure out what to choose. Not to mention TP-Link has models that are called two different things.

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I believe they do this for one reason, so that retail stores don't have to price match against each other! Stores carry almost identical parts, but they have slight differences and model numbers so they don't have to "compete" against each other. The one I bought from Best Buy has only 2 Ethernet ports on each unit, whereas the one At Amazon has 3. I would have bought the one from Amazon, but our WiFi was completely down at our house so I went to Best Buy and got the system installed and running in less than an hour. So pick the system that has the speed and ports you want with the number of mesh routers you need. That should simplify things. For us the AX3000 was fast enough because we only have 300Mbps download speeds anyway. But we are now considering changing to gigabit since fiber has been installed in the neighborhood. I still think the AX3000 will be fast enough for our needs since all of our speed hungry devices (gaming PCs, server, etc.) are hardwired anyway.

harobikes333 said:

I appreciate you doing that. I wasn't aware of that drawback. I may still end up going with a Mesh system & run some ethernet for backhaul to "merge" the upstairs & downstairs. That way I have decent coverage & also speed. Win / Win?
Any reason why someone doesn't just use two wireless routers?
For example, the AX4400 Dual-Band Gigabit Wi-Fi 6 Router @ $92.95 would cost the same as the mesh router setups I've been looking at...

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I ran a system like this for a while before I went with mesh. As TechJunky points out you will have to set 1 of these to be an access point and not a router, otherwise your devices will be on 2 separate networks or you'll run into major issues. The mesh systems are much easier to set up, the apps do everything for you really. When I had two separate routers I tried using the same SSID on both units as well as different SSIDs. Both ways had their own issues. And when you go from one area of the house to the other the units don't pass your device to the unit with the highest signal strength like the mesh system does.

A mesh system with an Ethernet backhaul is definitely a win/win! You get speed, coverage, and versatility. I've had 2 different systems now and both have been great. The first one had a router die though.

One thing I have recently found out with the TP link is that is appears you can't change your email address on your account so make sure you use one that you know you are going to keep long term. If we switch ISPs my primary email address will go away. I'll likely have to create a new account for TP Link, which isn't that bad for the Deco system, but is going to suck for all of the KASA smart plugs and switches I have set up.

harobikes333 said:

Thank you both for the insight. I sincerely appreciate it.
x3 mesh routers aren't necessarily better than x2 mesh, ones by the looks of it.
I'm looking to get the best x2 Mesh WiFi system with triband & hardline backhaul for ~$200 by the looks of it.

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They just give you more range potentially since there is 3 units versus 2. I bought the 3 pack, but am only using 2 so I have a spare if something happens to one of the other units.