The Archer C9 is one of the most affordable AC1900 known-brand routers on the market, undercutting models such as the Netgear R7000 by around £30 or so. In terms of other capabilities, however, such as USB compatibility for sharing hard drives and printers as well as four gigabit Ethernet connections, the device does not fall short.
Due to the fact that the TP-Link Archer C9 AC1900 is a budget-friendly router, it does not contain as many functions as some of the more recent and pricey versions do. However, it does not have Alexa control or MU-MIMO technology, but it is expected to give a broad signal range for bigger houses, as well as high enough speeds to enable online gaming and 4K movie streaming. I put the TP-Link AC1900 through its paces with a number of other long-range routers to see how well it works in real-world situations.
Consequently, if you want to take advantage of the up to 1,300Mbit/s wireless speeds of AC1900 without breaking the budget, it is definitely worth considering.
Design
When compared to the fairly aggressive, angular style that D-Link and Netgear have chosen for their high-end routers, TP-Link has chosen a more conservative approach with the Archer C9 router.
A beautiful silver-painted stand supports it from behind and three matte white aerials protrude from its top, giving it a smooth, curved, glossy appearance on the outside. If you’re a fan of Apple’s hardware, this is the obvious option for you to make.
Although it may be beautiful, it is not always the most practical option. Because of the stand, you are unable to lay the router flat or place it on a wall. Furthermore, it is not sufficiently stable and will quickly topple over when under pressure. For most families, these would all prove to be minor issues because once installed, the router will be left alone. However, the router’s proclivity to tip over proved to be a bit annoying during our testing, as it did on many occasions.
Aside from that, everything is in good working order since the three aerials are easily detachable while remaining robust and simple to set. The lights on the front that indicate power, Wi-Fi connection, Internet connection, and other functions are simple to see and distinguish from one another – in contrast to the uniform rectangular lights on the Netgear R7500, which are difficult to distinguish.
Around the rear, the variety of connections is nothing remarkable, but it checks all the necessary boxes, and they are properly labeled once again as well. You can see the USB 2.0 port, WPS, and reset button on the left-hand side of this picture, as well as the Ethernet socket that connects to your modem and four more gigabit Ethernet ports for the remainder of your network, as well as the power socket and switch.
In addition to the one on the side, there is a second USB port, this one of which is USB 3.0, which is excellent for sharing data on your network from a flash drive, while the one on the back is simply USB 2.0, which is sufficient for sharing printers.
The most notable feature of this router is, without a doubt, its AC1900 Wi-Fi capabilities. On the 2.4GHz band, this equates to up to 600Mbit/s transfer speeds and 1,300Mbit/s on the 5GHz band.
Connectivity
The Archer C9 AC1900 is an 802.11ac router that supports Gigabit Ethernet. It has a maximum download speed of 1300 Mbps on the 5 GHz band and a maximum upload speed of 600 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band, for a total download speed of 1900 Mbps. The C9 is equipped with beamforming, which results in a more focused signal with a greater range. It features four independent gigabit LAN connections for connecting hardwired devices to the network.
My ISP provides 500 megabits per second in my test house. When I was in the same room as the router, my laptop’s Wi-Fi speed tested at 290 Mbps on the 5 GHz band, according to the results. My laptop was able to achieve 66 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band at the rear corner of my workplace, which is frequently a dead zone due to poor signal strength.
Even though I was traveling a long distance away from the router, I was still able to retain a signal, although the speed of the connection reduced significantly. The speed measured 39 Mbps in the backyard, which is another location where I frequently have drop-offs. It was necessary to perform the Ookla speed test many times because the results were nearly identical in each room. I was able to achieve somewhat faster download speeds on an iPhone 11, but generally, the router functioned really well when in close proximity, but not so well when at a distance, which was disappointing.
Performance
When it comes to performance, the Archer C9 isn’t the best in class, but it more than lives up to its AC1900 label. At its maximum, I recorded a throughput of 47.7MB/s, which is significantly lower than the 70MB/s achieved by the fastest routers on the market.
The drop-off at a longer distance, on the other hand, is considerably less severe than with the identical routers. However, the Archer C9 only manages 35.1 MB/s at 5m, compared to the Netgear X4 R7500’s 81.3 MB/s at 2m and 36.2MB/s at 5m on the same distance.
Taking the test to 10m (through two brick walls), the R7500 reclaims the lead, providing 28.0MB/s to the Archer C9’s 14.3MB/s, which is still a respectable speed in the big scheme of things.
Nonetheless, on average, the Archer C9 is the slowest AC1900 router I’ve tested that operates on the 5GHz band; nonetheless, most users won’t find the performance shortfall to be a significant issue, and it is still a significant improvement over most Wi-Fi N routers.
This is especially true at 2.4GHz, where the overall distribution of findings is significantly tighter than at other frequencies. With a 2m connection, you’ll receive 17.1MB/s, but the fastest connection we tested only provides 17.8MB/s. At 5m, the Archer C9 delivers 10.4MB/s compared to 14.0MB/s, while at 10m, the Archer C9 delivers 7.1MB/s compared to the quickest we’ve tested, which is 8.1MB/s.
When it comes to USB performance, the situation is very similar. When tested with a USB 3.0 connection, the Archer C9 achieved speeds of 23.46MB/s read and 13.31MB/s write. While this is a long way short of the 60MB/s that the fastest routers can achieve, it is still rather fast.
So while the Archer C9 isn’t quite up to the task of competing for the ultimate performance crown, it did manage to maintain rock-solid performance while serving as my primary router for a couple of weeks, which is more than can be said for some of the highest-end routers.
Specifications
| WIRELESS | |
|---|---|
| Standards | Wi-Fi 5 IEEE 802.11ac/n/a 5 GHz IEEE 802.11n/b/g 2.4 GHz |
| WiFi Speeds | AC1900 5 GHz: 1300 Mbps (802.11ac) 2.4 GHz: 600 Mbps (802.11n) |
| WiFi Range | 3 Bedroom Houses 3× Detachable High-Performance Antennas Multiple antennas form a signal-boosting array to cover more directions and large areas Beamforming Concentrates wireless signal strength towards clients to expand WiFi range |
| WiFi Capacity | Medium Dual-Band Allocate devices to different bands for optimal performance |
| Working Modes | Router Mode Access Point Mode |
| HARDWARE | |
|---|---|
| Processor | 1.8 GHz 64 Bit Quad-Core CPU |
| Ethernet Ports | 1× Gigabit WAN Port 4× Gigabit LAN Ports |
| USB Support | 1× USB 3.0 Port 1× USB 2.0 Port Supported Partition Formats: NTFS, exFAT, HFS+, FAT32 Supported Functions: Apple Time Machine FTP Server Media Server Samba Server |
| Buttons | Wi-Fi On/Off Button Power On/Off Button LED On/Off Button WPS Button Reset Button |
| Power | 12 V ⎓ 3.3 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 |
| 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 Triggering DMZ UPnP |
| IPTV | IGMP Proxy IGMP Snooping |
| DHCP | Address Reservation DHCP Client List Server |
| DDNS | TP-Link NO-IP DynDNS |
| Management | Tether App Webpage |
| PHYSICAL | |
|---|---|
| Dimensions (W×D×H) | 8.7 × 3.4 × 6.6 in (221 × 86 × 168.5mm) |
| Package Contents | Wi-Fi Router Archer C9 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: -94dBm 11a 54Mbps: -76dBm 11ac HT20: -68dBm 11ac HT40: -64dBm 11ac HT80: -60dBm 2.4GHz 11g 54M: -77dBm 11n HT20: -73dBm 11n HT40: -71dBm |
Pros
- Very reasonable pricing
- Good Wi-Fi speeds at both ranges
- Ease of use and set up
Cons
- Design limits wall mounting
- Can’t match the fastest router over short distances
Verdict
The TP-link Archer C9 AC1900 is affordable and will be offering respectable throughput performance, albeit, not becoming the fastest router in its class. For the purchase price it’s a good deal among its peers. While its file-move speeds are usually mediocre, the C9 delivers quick close-range and reasonable long-variety throughput on both bands supported by beamforming technologies that optimizes the transmission in direction of linked wireless devices. Plus, you obtain a full selection of I/O ports upon this router, as well as a variety of management choices. Certain, it doesn’t assistance MU-MIMO information streaming, but there isn’t a good amount of MU-MIMO suitable clients presently, but you will see in future.
You should consider the TP-Link Archer C9 router if you’re looking for a high-performance, future-proof router but don’t want to spend a lot of money on it right now. Although it is not the quickest, it is dependable, simple to use, and reasonably priced.
In our opinion, the TP-Link Archer C9 AC1900 is an excellent choice for people who want a decently fast and stable network connection but do not wish to spend a lot of money on additional features and bells and whistles.
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