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We had the chance to stop by TP-Link’s booth at CES 2015, TP-Link is a fairly well-known Router and Networking company that has created a reputation for itself for providing excellent performing routers and networking devices at very competitive prices.
ARCHER C9 AC1900 ROUTER
The first product we looked at today is their recently announced Archer C9 AC1900 dual-band wireless router, featuring a new sleek upright design. The router offers up to 1.9Gbps of bandwidth, however that is split between the 5Ghz band (1300Mbps), and the 2.4Ghz band (600Mbps), that bandwidth is provided by 3 omni-direction detachable antennas. Additionally, it features Beamforming technology which targets devices and promises to create more efficient WiFi connections.
It is also powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor, features USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports for connecting printers and sharing data locally or via FTP, and offers a single Gigabit WAN port along with 4 Gigabit LAN ports. Pricing is set at $169.99 and it is available now.
ARCHER C3200 TRI-BAND ROUTER
Next up we took a look at the Archer AC3200, which is a tri-band Wireless AC router, providing up to 3200Mbps of bandwidth, via two 1300Mbps 5Ghz bands and another 600Mbps 2.4Ghz band, theoretically allowing it to take on more devices and perform more intensive tasks without the network becoming congested. It also features something called “Smart Connect” which once enabled will automatically assigns a device to the most appropriate band, ensuring you get the best possible connection.
The router features an all black flat-laying design with 6 external antennas, USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports as well as 4 Gigabit LAN ports and a single Gigabit WAN. As well as the same Beamforming technology as the Archer C9.
No word on pricing as of yet, and release is pegged for Q3 2015.
ARCHER C2600 DUAL-BAND MU-MIMO AC2600 ROUTER
Not to be outdone by Linksys, TP-Link has also announced its own MU-MIMO capable wireless router, the Archer C2600. It features dual-band wireless AC with up to 2600Mbps of bandwidth, up to 800Mbps on the 2.4Ghz band and up to 1733Mbps on the 5Ghz band. It utilizes Qualcomm’s VIVE technolgy in order to provide the extra bandwidth and Qualcomm’s MU | EFX, otherwise known as MU-MIMO that allows the router to provide more bandwidth to more devices on the network, without throttling eachother.
It also features 4-detachable antennas, an all-black upright design, as well as 2x USB 3.0 ports, 4x Gigabit LAN and a single Gigabit WAN port.
Just as the Archer C3200, the C2600 will be available in Q3 2015, pricing is currently unknown.
RANGE EXTENDERS
As well as routers, TP-Link has also showed off a pair of new Range Extenders, a product category that seems to be growing in popularity.
The new models are named the RE210 and RE450, both will work with any Wi-Fi router, regardless of brand and promise to improve wireless performance in the home or office. While they employ dual-band wireless AC, they’re also backward compatible with older protocols such as 802.11 b/g/n.
Additionally, they also both feature a single Gigabit ethernet connection, one button WPS, a smart signal indicator which will tell you the strength of the signal received from the router. The only differences between the two is that the RE450 and will feature a max of 1,750Mbps and 3 external antennas, whereas the RE210 will be a much more modest 750Mbps with two external antennas.
Pricing is not yet available and both are planned to be released in Q2 of 2015.