Are you looking for one of the greatest Wi-Fi router deals available? Although the TP-Link Archer A7 does not offer an outstanding range or the customization possibilities of competitors, it does come with parental controls, Quality of Service (QoS) software, and a two-year guarantee as a bare minimum. The performance of this router should be more than acceptable for the majority of families, and the Archer A7’s price is a bargain. If you’re looking for a good deal, the Archer A7 is one of the best Wi-Fi routers on the market.
The TP-Link Archer A7 is a budget friendly wireless router that gets you dual-band connectivity with four gigabit LAN slots and a lot of settings to help you manage your network. The A7 shipped quick ratings on our close-proximity throughput checks, but its long-range functionality has been spotty and its file exchange speeds had been extremely sluggish, almost all most likely credited to the make use of USB 2.0 technology. For $30 even more, the Publishers’ Option Asus RT-AC66U M1 offers better all-around performance and more features, including built-in malware defense.
Design
If the Archer A7 looks familiar, that’s because it uses the exact same black housing that we examined the final year. It steps 1.3 by 9.6 by 6.4 ins (HWD) and offers three nonremovable flexible antennas and a collection of Directed exercise signals on the front side advantage for strength, both stereo rings, web, LAN ports, USB, and WPS. The four Gigabit LAN slots around the back again become a member of by a WAN interface, a reset to zero buttons, a WPS switch, a power key, and a USB port. The USB opening is definitely of the slower 2.0 variety.
A dual-band AC1750 router with a 750MHz processor chip, the Archer The7 can get to optimum rates of speed of 450Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 1,300Mbps about the 5GHz music group and uses 802.11ac technology. It will not really assist in MU-MIMO simultaneous information loading or direct-to-client beamforming.
The TP-Link Archer A7 is a small and unobtrusive router that can be placed almost anyplace. The 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.3-inch Archer A7 is not as visually appealing as Asus’ Blue Cave, but it is 80 percent smaller and less than one-quarter the size of Netgear’s Nighthawk XR500 Pro Gaming Router, which measures 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches.
A pair of mounting cutouts on the bottom of the black Archer A7 allow it to be tucked away on a table or bookshelf or mounted on a wall with its mounting cutouts. Unlike its more powerful cousin, the TP-Link Archer C2300, the Archer A7 operates cool, with temperatures never reaching 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Qualcomm Atheros QCA9563 Wi-Fi chip, which has a 750MHz processor and 128MB of RAM, lies at the heart of the Archer A7 dual-band router’s internal architecture. There is 16MB of flash storage available for storing the device’s settings and operating system software. A total bandwidth of 1.75 Gbps is provided by the router’s dual-band configuration, which offers a maximum throughput of 450 Mbps on its 2.4-GHz band and 1.3 GB/s on its 5-GHz band for a total bandwidth of 1.75 Gbps.
While it adheres to conventional principles throughout, it does not have the ability to connect with numerous users at the same time as Mu-MIMO. It does have parental restrictions and Quality of Service (QoS) controls, though.
On the front of the Archer A7, there are a total of ten discreet green LED icons that indicate the status of the 2.4- and 5-GHz channels, as well as the internet connection and the Ethernet ports on the device itself. Aside from that, you’ll see icons for the USB port and whether or not you’re using the system’s Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) for fast connections. Instead of using a switch to turn off the lights, the Archer A7 may do so through its firmware settings, which include a Night Mode, which allows the lights to be scheduled to turn on and off at specific times.
For wired connections, accessories, and access points, there are four downstream Ethernet ports on the back of the Archer A7, as well as the typical Ethernet input (for the broadband connection). All of these ports are rated at a maximum speed of one gigabit per second. Using the USB 2.0 connector, you can easily share a hard drive or a printer; the Archer A7 is compatible with a wide range of popular printers from manufacturers such as Brother, Canon, Epson, and HP.
Performance
The Archer A7 achieves a good balance between price and performance by utilizing many of the most recent speed-boosting techniques, such as sophisticated beamforming and IPTV streaming. Our Utah test facility used Ixia’s ixChariot software to simulate a busy network, and the router performed slightly worse than the best. However, it should be more than adequate for a small house or apartment.
The maximum speed of 647.4 Mbps achieved by the Archer A7 was attained at a distance of 5 feet from the client, which far exceeds the 382.4 Mbps achieved by the Netgear R6220 router at the same distance. At the same distance, the Archer A7’s throughput is in the middle of the pack, between the fantastic 963.6 Mbps of the TP-Link Archer C2300 and the mediocre 439.1 Mbps of the Asus Blue Cave.
At 15 feet, 50 feet, and 100 feet, the throughput dropped to 623.5 Mbps, 471.2 Mbps, and 347.7 Mbps, respectively, leaving it far below the Archer C2300’s 682.3 Mbps, 913.8 Mbps, and 613.2 Mbps at the same distances, respectively. Nonetheless, it outperformed the Blue Cave router at distances of 15 and 50 feet, with 425.6 Mbps and 376.7 Mbps accessible at those respective lengths. At 100 feet, the Blue Cave outran the competition with 398.8 megabits per second.
The Archer A7 delivered 347.5 Mbps at the lab’s terminal distance of 150 feet, compared to 342.5 Mbps for the Archer C2300, but the Blue Cave was the long-distance champion, with 437.2 Mbps supplied by the Blue Cave.
We found that the Archer A7 was significantly slower than the Archer C2300 when it came to moving the signal from one room to another in our real-world testing. For example, it lagged behind the Archer C2300 and Blue Cave when it came to transmitting a powerful signal through metal or soundboard-covered walls. When a signal had to go up a floor and more than 35 feet, the Archer A7 was capable of delivering 480.0 Mbps. The Archer C2300, on the other hand, was able to produce 629.8 Mbps, giving it a 23 percent edge over the Blue Cave, which only managed 132.3 Mbps in the competition.
The Archer A7 was unable to completely cover my older 3,500-square-foot home with Wi-Fi, leaving several dead zones around the space. It had an 80-foot range when I used my iPad Pro, which was significantly less than the 125-foot range of the Netgear R6220. Nonetheless, it should be plenty for a small to medium-sized home.
When in operation, it consumed 4.2 watts of electricity. For a cost of $4.80 per year, the Archer A7 should be among the most cost-effective routers to use if you pay the national average rate of 13 cents per kilowatt-hour of power, making it one of the cheapest routers to use.
Over the course of more than a week, I used the Archer A7 to receive and send an email, watch videos, play a few games, and generally keep the house connected. I put it through an informal saturation test by playing videos on a Surface Pro 3 and an iPad Pro, while a MacBook Air played an internet radio station and a Samsung TabPro S moved data onto and off of a network storage system. Despite the fact that the pieces were flying back and forth, the audio and video came through without a hitch.
Specifications
| WIRELESS | |
|---|---|
| Standards | Wi-Fi 5 IEEE 802.11ac/n/a 5 GHz IEEE 802.11n/b/g 2.4 GHz |
| WiFi Speeds | AC1750 5 GHz: 1300 Mbps (802.11ac) 2.4 GHz: 450 Mbps (802.11n) |
| WiFi Range | 3 Bedroom Houses 3× Fixed High-Performance Antennas Multiple antennas form a signal-boosting array to cover more directions and large areas |
| WiFi Capacity | Medium Dual-Band Allocate devices to different bands for optimal performance |
| Working Modes | Router Mode Access Point Mode |
| HARDWARE | |
|---|---|
| Processor | Qualcomm CPU |
| Ethernet Ports | 1× Gigabit WAN Port 4× Gigabit LAN Ports |
| USB Support | 1× USB 2.0 Port Supported Partition Formats: NTFS, FAT32 Supported Functions: FTP Server Media Server Samba Server |
| Buttons | Wi-Fi On/Off Button Power On/Off Button WPS/Reset Button |
| Power | 12 V ⎓ 1.5 A |
| SECURITY | |
|---|---|
| WiFi Encryption | WEP WPA WPA2 WPA/WPA2-Enterprise (802.1x) |
| Network Security | SPI Firewall Access Control IP & MAC Binding Application Layer Gateway |
| Guest Network | 1× 5 GHz Guest Network 1× 2.4 GHz Guest Network |
| VPN Server | OpenVPN PPTP |
| SOFTWARE | |
|---|---|
| Protocols | IPv4 IPv6 |
| OneMesh™ | OneMesh™ Supported Without replacing your existing devices or buying a whole new WiFi ecosystem, OneMesh™ helps you create a more flexible network that covers your entire home with TP-Link OneMesh™ products. |
| Parental Controls | URL Filtering Time Controls |
| WAN Types | Dynamic IP Static IP PPPoE PPTP L2TP |
| Quality of Service | QoS by Device |
| Cloud Service | OTA Firmware Upgrade TP-Link ID DDNS |
| NAT Forwarding | Virtual Server Port Forwarding Port Triggering DMZ UPnP |
| IPTV | IGMP Proxy IGMP Snooping Bridge Tag VLAN |
| DHCP | Address Reservation DHCP Client List Server |
| DDNS | TP-Link NO-IP DynDNS |
| Management | Tether App Webpage |
| PHYSICAL | |
|---|---|
| Dimensions (W×D×H) | 9.6 × 6.4 × 1.3 in (243 × 160.6 × 32.5 mm) |
| Package Contents | Wi-Fi Router Archer C7 Power Adapter RJ45 Ethernet Cable Quick Installation Guide |
| OTHER | |
|---|---|
| System Requirements | Internet Explorer 11+, Firefox 12.0+, Chrome 20.0+, Safari 4.0+, or other JavaScript-enabled browser Cable or DSL Modem (if needed) Subscription with an internet service provider (for internet access) |
| Certifications | FCC, CE, RoHS |
| Environment | Operating Temperature: 0℃~40℃ (32℉ ~104℉) Storage Temperature: -40℃~70℃ (-40℉ ~158℉) Operating Humidity: 10%~90% non-condensing Storage Humidity: 5%~90% non-condensing |
| TEST DATA | |
|---|---|
| WiFi Transmission Power | CE: <20dBm(2.4GHz) <23dBm(5GHz) FCC: <30dBm |
| WiFi Reception Sensitivity | 5GHz: 11a 6Mbps-96dBm 11a 54Mbps: -79dBm 11ac HT20: -71dBm 11ac HT40: -66dBm 11ac HT80: -63dBm 2.4GHz: 11g 54M: -77dBm 11n HT20: -74dBm 11n HT40: -72dBm |
Pros
- Reasonably priced.
- Easy to install.
- Four LAN ports.
- Good close-range performance.
Cons
- Middling long-range and file transfer performance.
- Does not support MU-MIMO.
- USB is 2.0.
Conclusion
If you’re looking to bring dual-band networking to a small home without investing a great deal of cash, the TP-Link Archer A7 will fill up the bill. It offered strong close-range throughput in our testing and had been simple to set up, but its long-range overall performance was middling, and its document transfer displaying has been even worse.
Although it gives a good choice of administration configurations, its parental settings are usually quite fundamental and malware protection can be missing. If you can pay to invest another $30, the Asus RT-AC66U N1 is certainly a much better artist and presents even more functions, which includes a USB 3.0 slot, adware and spyware safety, and strong QoS and parental management choices
Although it is not the fastest, largest, or most powerful router on the market, the TP-Link Archer A7’s inexpensive pricing is comparable to that of the venerable Netgear R6220 router, making it one of the finest buys in the router world. Despite its limited range, the Archer A7 should be sufficient for a small to medium-sized home.
It is equipped with parental controls and Quality of Service (QoS) software, as well as the ability to detect and prevent online threats, among other features. The Archer A7 comes with a two-year warranty, which is the cherry on top.
For those wishing to equip a larger home with high-speed Wi-Fi, the TP-Link Archer C2300 may be the most cost-effective option. It offers superior performance at a higher price, however. The Archer A7, on the other hand, is an excellent choice for folks who live in an apartment or tiny house.
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