Networking Gear by stefan @ 2013-11-11
The latest dual-band router from TP-LINK, Archer C7 supports AC standards for delivering fast transfer speeds when paired with suitable adapters; the range has been increased thanks to the usage of three 5GHz 5dBi detachable antennas while the two USB 2.0 ports can be used for connecting printers or storage devices in order for them to be available over the network.
At first I would like to thank TP-LINK for offering me a sample of their Archer C7 AC1750 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router for testing and reviewing.
"TP-LINK is a global provider of SOHO networking products and No.1 market share holder in China, with products available in over 100 countries to tens of millions customers. Committed to powerful R&D, effective production and strict quality management, TP-LINK continues to provide awards-winning networking products in Wireless, ADSL, Routers, Switches, IP Cameras, Powerline Adapters, Print Servers, Media Converters and Network Adapters for Global end-users.
Based on the confidence of tens of millions of customers, TP-LINK is now growing to become one of the most competitive providers of networking products with aspirations of becoming one of the top 3 networking brands and striving for a larger global market share, while further advancing in the world of networking to better serve our most valued customers with a product that makes their lives easier."
Supports 802.11ac - The next generation of Wi-Fi
Dual band – for combined wireless speeds of up to 1.75Gbps at 2.4GHz and 5GHz band concurrently
3*5dBi external antennas and 3 internal antennas provide maximum Omni-directional wireless coverage and reliability
Full gigabit ports ensure ultra fast data transfer speeds
Dual USB Ports - easily share printers, files or media with your friends or family locally or over the Internet
Guest Network Access provides secure Wi-Fi access for guests sharing your home or office network
IPv6 supported, meeting the demands for the next generation of Internet
IP-based Bandwidth Control makes it easier for you to manage the bandwidth of devices connected to the router
Wi-Fi On/Off Button allows users to turn their wireless radio on or off
Easy one-touch WPA wireless security encryption with the WPS button
WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK encryptions provide user networks with active defense against security threats
Easy Setup Assistant with multi-language support provides a quick & hassle free installation process
Compatible with 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac products
The Archer C7 router from TP-LINK is their top of the line offering at the moment and is shipped inside a fully sealed cardboard box:
The enclosure sports the same color scheme as we have seen before and has a central photo of the product in question, along with small pictograms of supported technologies:
On the back side of the box we will see a comparison table of several router models from the same company, an explanation of the back ports/connectors, but also an example network solution:
Besides the router, we will get a small disk with software, the Quick Installation Guide, GNU General Public License Notice, a detailed list of router features, but also some notes on the warranty:
Inside a cardboard mold we will get to see the router along with the rest of the bundle:
Talking of the bundle, we will be able to find 3 removable antennas, one LAN cable but also the power adapter:
The adapter is rated on the output as 12V, 2500mA:
The power cable ends up with a jack plug:
The antennas are 5 dBi and come with the TP-LINK branding:
The Archer C7 chassis shares a lot in common with the TL-WNDR4300 model we have tested previously. Inside we will find one QCA9588 CPU from Qualcomm Atheros, providing Wi-Fi interface on the 2.4GHz frequency. The 5GHz interface is offered by the QCA9880. The 2.4GHz antennas are internal, while the 5GHz ones are the removable external ones:
In the front we have the Power LED, System Status LED, 2.4GHz Activity LED, 5GHz Activity LED, 4 LAN LEDs, one WAN LED and also one WPS LED:
The top side of the plastic chassis is also provided with small ventilation holes:
On the back side we’ve got the DC-IN port, the ON-OFF button, one Wireless ON-OFF switch, two USB ports with activity LEDs, a blue WAN port, 4 yellow LAN port sand also a WPS/Reset button:
The bottom area was designed as a ventilation grill, with 4 small feet:
In the middle we have the sticker with initial login details to the Web GUI, product MAC and wireless password:
The provided antennas can be attached with ease to the back of the router:
TP-LINK hasn’t changed the interface design in quite a while now, so we can see again with the latest model a top green header along with the product code name, the list of menus on the left, main content in the middle and the help section on the right, which changes with each menu:
The WAN section allows us to select the WAN connection type and the details of the current connection will appear further down. Here we will be also able to specify a list of custom DNS servers, but also the host name:
From the next menu we will be able to set the IP address of the router inside the LAN:
The MAC address can be modified with one of our choice:
The router allows us to disable one of the Wi-Fi bands from the interface:
The Wi-Fi settings for the 2.4GHz network allow us to select the current region, Wi-Fi mode, channel width and channel number. From the same menu, we will be able to hide the SSID or enable WDS bridging:
WPS mode can be enabled or customized from the next section:
The security type can be also configured in the respective tab:
We can also enable MAC filtering for the Wi-Fi interface:
In order to fine-tune the signal even more, we will have to access the Advanced section:
We can access Wireless Statistics menu which shows the MAC addresses of the currently connected stations, encryption type, but also received/sent packets:
For the 5GHz network we have a similar menu:
Archer C7 also has the possibility to create Guest networks and modify Guest Storage Sharing on both bands:
The DHCP options can be altered in the next menu:
It is possible to reserve certain IPs to specific computers/servers in order to have more control over them:
In case we have a storage device connected, we will be able to customize sharing options in the next menu:
A FTP server can be also set up:
The router can also act as a Media Server which makes available multimedia content to the rest of the network:
The Print Server status can be turned on or off:
Hardware NAT can be also turned on or off in the next menu:
Several other functions are available like Virtual Server, Port Triggering, DMZ:
Security-related options can be customized inside the Basic and Advanced Security menus:
We can restrict computers which have access to the router GUI:
In the next menu we will be able to define a remote IP for administration:
The Parental Control Settings menu is quite self-explanatory:
Depending on the subscription we are on, we can define and enable bandwidth control:
The router can connect to DDNS providers, in case we have an username and password set up:
We can also customize options regarding IPv6:
The Time and Date can be set up from the next menu:
The Diagnostic Tools menu allows us to check if the connection is working fine:
We can also perform firmware upgrades to our router manually, by uploading the needed file:
The router can be reset by accessing the respective menu:
Current settings can be backed up and preloaded on identical hardware/firmware versions if needed:
The Reboot menu only features the button to perform the action:
The GUI also allows us to set a custom user and password for the initial login:
Inside the System Log we will get to see advanced status info:
CPU: Intel I5 3570K Retail
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z77 Professional
RAM: GeIL Black Dragon 2x4GB DDR2133 (@1600)
Video: Sparkle X560 Calibre
Power Supply: Cooler Master 850W
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 320GB 7200.10
Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840
For testing the router on wireless, we have used a Dell 7520 laptop to which we have connected two different wireless AC adapters, the TRENDnet TEW-805UB, but also the latest Sitecom WLA-7100. The throughput was measured by using PerformanceTest 8.0, by uploading data to the wired server.
For the wired client tests, both stations were linked to the router via UTP wire.
When the role of the server was set to the wired station, we will consider download, while when the server was the laptop, we will consider upload. Here are the results:
To test the USB Storage speeds, we have connected one Patriot Memory 32GB Supersonic Rage XT USB 3.0 Flash Drive to the router and performed file transfers both ways.
The newly released Archer C7 router from TP-LINK is a solid offering and comes with support for the latest Wi-Fi standards; the central CPU is a QCA9558 SoC from Qualcomm Atheros, which is accompanied by 128MB of DDR2 RAM and 8MB of Flash memory. For the 2.4GHz band the router comes with internal antennas while the 5Ghz one we have three 5dBi removable antennas.
For connecting both printers and storage devices we have two USB 2.0 ports in the back; we would have preferred to have at least one USB 3.0 port present for connecting speedier drives to it.
The software interface organization hasn’t changed a bit for some time now and inside we can find a lot of options which we can set and fine-tune in order to get the most from our router.
Compared to the previously tested Sitecom and TRENDnet routers, we have observed that the range has been improved a bit, a thing which we really appreciate. In our Wi-Fi performance tests, we have obtained really good transfer speeds on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands but in the same time we have seen that the AC band performance can vary depending on the manufacturer and the chipset of the adapter we are working with (as usual, in this area we expect to have the best performances with the Wi-Fi adapter coming from the same brand).
The Archer C7 AC Wi-Fi router can be picked up online for about 111 Euros.
We would like to thank again to TP-LINK for making this review possible!