Question TP-Link Archer AXE-300 Review

[Amused]

I never do this, until now. I'm rarely a fanboy...

March 11th I installed this router:

AXE16000 Quad-Band 16-Stream Wi-Fi 6E Router with Two 10G Ports

Archer AXE300 is our fastest Wi-Fi 6E router to data. Up to 16 Gbps quad-band Wi-Fi and new 6 GHz band enable your devices to run at full speed. Equipped with two 10G WAN/LAN ports—one RJ45 port and a RJ45/SFP+ combo port—Archer AXE300 provides flexible support for both fiber and copper connections.

www.tp-link.com

After many high end routers from Asus and Netgear that always had quirks and issues ranging from needing regular reboots to weird quirky ipv6 issues to bricking on updates, this is the FIRST bulletproof router I have EVER had.

It has never needed a reboot in 6 months (except a firmware update). Never slowed down, never... well... anything. Just worked at full speed flawlessly. The wireless is strong and fast, but 6E of course is line of sight only. The high band 5Ghz is multi GB fast even two rooms away. And it handles all my smart crap with ease never dropping any of them. (I gave each their own fixed address).

It even makes Amazon Echo reliable. Who knew most of the issues with Echo was router related?

I can't recommend this enough. Years of funky routers had me believing that unreliability was just the nature of these things... and this was a total surprise.

It just works. Perfectly.

 

[VirtualLarry]

...and now, the Wifi 7 version is out, supporting 320Mhz channel width.

Edit: My bad, I thought that you were talking about the Asus AXE16000.

 

[Amused]

...and now, the Wifi 7 version is out, supporting 320Mhz channel width.

I considered waiting for that one, but real 7 support is so far off it just seemed pointless for a number of years.

I have never had a router this reliable. It's so reliable I don't even think about it anymore.

Only issue, is, it runs a bit hot. So I elevated it on a small round base to give it better airflow.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Only issue, is, it runs a bit hot. So I elevated it on a small round base to give it better airflow.

Most of the newer 10gbe routers run hot, or at least I'm making that assumption.

Rosewill makes an external 5VUSB-powered 120mm fan.

 

[Amused]

Edit: My bad, I thought that you were talking about the Asus AXE16000.

Oh, TP-Link has a new 7 router out too. I almost waited for it. Really glad I didn't.

BE19000 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 Router

Archer BE800 is an innovative WiFi router with a brand-new design. Up to 19 Gbps tri-band Wi-Fi enables your devices to run at full speed. Equipped with two 10G WAN/LAN ports—one RJ45 port and an RJ45/SFP+ combo port—Archer BE800 provides flexible support for both fiber and copper connections.

www.tp-link.com

 

[Amused]

Most of the newer 10gbe routers run hot, or at least I'm making that assumption.

Rosewill makes an external 5VUSB-powered 120mm fan.

So this router uses convection to cool itself. There are holes all over the bottom except right in the center. Same on top. I put it on a two inch wide, one inch high pedestal that sits right where there are no holes. This lifts it up enough to allow enough airflow through the base that the convection cooling keeps it pretty cool.

 

[Brainonska511]

After many high end routers from Asus and Netgear that always had quirks and issues ranging from needing regular reboots to weird quirky ipv6 issues to bricking on updates, this is the FIRST bulletproof router I have EVER had.

Funny that you say this, but after my experience with a TP-Link Archer C9 years ago (it was okay for the many years I used it, but after being on for >1 week, you'd generally need to reboot it if you wanted to adjust settings, and the firmware updates were largely nonexistent), I kind of swore off TP-Link because of their constant abandonment of existing models. Instead I went with an Asus RT-AX3000, which as been fabulous for the last ~3 years.

So this router uses convection to cool itself. There are holes all over the bottom except right in the center. Same on top. I put it on a two inch wide, one inch high pedestal that sits right where there are no holes. This lifts it up enough to allow enough airflow through the base that the convection cooling keeps it pretty cool.

View attachment 85658

That seems like a poor design overall. If it has such low clearance sans pedestal, those lower holes won't pull that much air in.

 

[Amused]

Funny that you say this, but after my experience with a TP-Link Archer C9 years ago (it was okay for the many years I used it, but after being on for >1 week, you'd generally need to reboot it if you wanted to adjust settings, and the firmware updates were largely nonexistent), I kind of swore off TP-Link because of their constant abandonment of existing models. Instead I went with an Asus RT-AX3000, which as been fabulous for the last ~3 years.


That seems like a poor design overall. If it has such low clearance sans pedestal, those lower holes won't pull that much air in.

Well, I'm probably just being OCD about the heat.

I had nothing but trouble with Asus. The last being it would develop a weird quirk where web pages would load incorrectly unless I rebooted it... work for a day or two then do it again. The one before bricked on a firmware update.

 

[Amused]

Well, it's 9 months later and I have NEVER had to reboot the router (it has rebooted itself with automatic firmware updates on occasion), nor have had ANY network issues. Just seamless super fast transfer and Wi-Fi speeds.

This is a first in all the decades I've been using routers.