Customer Ratings & Reviews

The TP-Link Archer BE6500 blew me away. Setup took just minutes with the app, and the speed boost was instant. I get strong, stable Wi-Fi in every corner of my home — even while streaming, gaming, and working all at once. For the price, it’s a total steal. Highly recommend if you want fast, future-ready Wi-Fi without the hassle.

I bought this router to replace a very old one, and I couldn't be happier! It was so easy to set up. The signal is strong throughout the house, even though the router is in a downstairs corner room. Highly recommend!

Works well and I love it. It’s give you good range and the speeds you need.

The TP-Link - Archer BE6500 Dual-Band Wi-Fi 7 Router is a hidden gem. It is a big bang for your bucks and works beautifully in my new home. I am grateful that the Best Buy worker I spoke to recommended it to me. My wireless internet works beautifully!

Out of the box it was really easy to set up with my Xfinity modem and the customizable options are really good.

We needed a more powerful router. It was recommended by the TP-Link Customer Service Agent. It was the best one that we had ever purchased.

Works very well. Wish i bought it sooner. It was an easy set up too.

I've been using the TP-Link Archer BE6500 Dual Band Router for the last week. The BE6500 is one of the newest Wi-Fi 7 routers to hit the market this year. There is a large distinction to make with this router – it lacks the 6 GHz radio that was gained under WiFi 6E. Most enhancements in WiFi 7 are directed to that 6 GHz band, which causes this router to sit in a strange place in the market. With that being said I have had a good experience so far with perfect uptime and solid throughput on all of my devices. For reference my house is 1700 sqft split between 2 stories, and an attached garage. WiFi 7: What is it? So it hasn’t been long since I got onto the WiFi 6 and 6E train, so I was surprised to see WiFi 7 routers start to roll out. I just got my first WiFi 6 laptop 2 years ago and my first 6E compatible devices last year (Pixel 7 Pro and a 2 laptops). 6 was a good jump over 5 and 6E expanded things further with the 6 GHz band opening up new lanes to clear up congestion on the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. So what does 7 bring? It brings greater efficiency to packet transfer (1K QAM is expanded to 4K). 7 also brings improvements to the 6 GHz band by increasing channel bandwidth from 160 MHz to 320 MHz, which translates to faster overall throughput. Currently there are very few devices that are WiFi 7 ready, but if the past is any indicator you will start seeing it show up in the newest flagship phones first. The Archer BE6500 WiFi 7 Dual Band Router The BE6500 router (1 band of 5764Mbps @ 5Ghz, 1 band of 688 Mbps @ 2.4Ghz) with simultaneous Dual-band radios, MU-MIMO, OFDMA, MLO, and 4K QAM. MU-MIMO and OFDMA allow multiple WiFi users to communicate with the router simultaneously (MU-MIMO for high bandwidth applications and OFDMA for low bandwidth) without taking the performance hit. There are 6 fixed external antennas, but I am unsure how many amplifiers it has per antenna. The router has 3 gigabit LAN ports, but packs in a 2.5 GBPS WAN and LAN port as well. There is also a USB 3.0 port for a networked printer or a storage solution. A single flat ethernet cable is included (maybe CAT5e). The router is also EasyMesh certified so it can create a mesh network with other EasyMesh devices. EasyMesh is not manufacturer specific, so you are able to mix hardware from other sources to create your mesh network. Performance A quick summary on the performance before I get into it. This is a solid performing router, which is what I would expect out of the Archer family of routers. It has really good LAN speeds for wired devices, and it holds its own on wireless. It has good range to fully cover my entire home with fast enough speeds and throughput, and its been easy to live with. I wanted to test the performance of the BE6500 like I have tested my previous networks. I have a mix of wired and wireless (WiFi 6 & 6E) devices to test things between. I have fiber internet with 600Mbps up/down. I headed on over to SpeedTest and checked my network speeds. On my wired PC I am getting 588/598, so pretty close to my providers advertised speed. On a WiFi 6E enabled laptop I checked my download speeds throughout my house. At 10ft with a wall in between I am getting 393/558. Moving 15ft (still a wall in the way) 371/552, and 25ft I was getting 240/308. I moved a level up and tested with a floor in between at 10 and 15ft, which I would expect to impart a greater amount of attenuation. 10ft saw speeds right around 351/367 and 15ft dropped to around 300/300. This isn’t a perfectly scientific test due to the number or variables I can’t control, but it gives a general idea of network reach and performance in a more real-world scenario. I tested out inter-network traffic with LAN Speed test from Totusoft. This helps determine what sort of throughput you would see over your network if you had something like a home media or Plex server running. I try to have some parity between machines, so both devices have Gen 4 NVME drives with similar R/W speeds. The software performs dummy file transfers between machines – I set the file transfer sizes to 5MB, 300MB, and 1GB. The small file transfer size would simulate smaller bursts of network traffic while the larger sizes would represent heavier network streaming or large file transfers. With both devices connected wirelessly at 15ft (with a wall in between) 5MB was 79/123Mbps, 300MB was 11/202, and 1GB 11/72. With one device wired and the other wireless the numbers were greatly improved. Initiating the transfers from the wired device saw the 5MB jump to 147/256, 300MB move to 235/524, and 1GB to 235/503. Initiating the transfers from the wireless device saw the 5MB go to 227/381, 300MB move to 291/643, and 1GB to 299/619. This second transfer would mimic a wired media server streaming out to a wireless device on the network. Either way it is a vast improvement over both devices being wireless. The last configuration was with devices wired. The devices are connected to separate gigabit switches that are fed by the LAN ports on the router. 5MB jumped to 698/849, 300MB moved up to 724/797, and 1GB went to 731/816. These are the speeds that truly matter to me since I have my house wired with CAT6A ethernet, and the devices that are the biggest network hogs are wired (Xbox, gaming/media tower, work from home setup). Getting above 840Mbps Reliability The biggest metric for most people is uptime – slow internet is better than no internet. I have used TP-Link products over the years including several unmanaged gigabit switches in my network as well as smart plugs and light switches. I am familiar with their products and have consistently bought them because they bring a solid reputation for reliability while being one of the more budget friendly options. To that point I work from home and acquire all of my media consumption through internet and streaming sources. Uptime is crucial for me, like it is for most households. Once I got the router setup it took a little bit for all of my devices to reacquire their connections but since then it has been smooth sailing. My outdoor wireless camera took the longest to reconnect to my new network since it is the furthest device, but it only took 2-3 minutes before it was back online. Wired devices took a little bit of a speed hit at first go as I noticed there was some webpage slowdown and just overall sluggishness. After 10-15min speeds were all good and running fast – I would assume this was slow due to the network optimization that routers implement when they first get brought online. I have pulled power from the router intentionally and brought back online within 2 minutes (repeated this several times). I did not have to restart my fiber modem for any of these events. Mesh Compatibility The BE6500 supports the EasyMesh protocol. Another EasyMesh device from TP-Link or Netgear/Linksys/etc. will connect and work seamlessly to create your mesh network. I like this approach of being able to piece together a mesh network instead of buying the multi-node bundles, or hoping your standalone router has compatible mesh devices by the same vendor. Interface There are 2 ways to interact with the router – through an app (Tether) or through a browser page (192.168.0.1). I downloaded the app to do the initial setup, but I could have easily completed the task with a browser window. The app works well and I haven’t had any issues. The app lets you control things easy enough, but if you need to fiddle with more advanced routing features then the browser is the way to go. I did use my app interface to setup device isolation and IoT networks for my various devices. Device isolation, from what I gather, limits the access of the isolated device to other devices on the network. It would prevent a compromised IoT device, for example, from being used to access and take control of other devices on your network. An IoT network is mainly to collect all of your IoT devices onto a single, separated SSID. This allows you to clean up your device count on your main SSID and to limit that congestion. I found myself sticking mostly to the device isolation as it was easy to implement and wouldn’t require logging into all my devices and steering them to the new SSID. My network doesn’t appear to suffer from congestion as most of my IoT devices are lights that connect through a hub. Within the app/browser interface there are a number of network controls for parents that are easy to implement. You can create profiles for you different household members, and assign devices to that profile. From there time limits can be added, along with bedtimes, and site blocking measures. These are easy for even novice users to implement. Overall, the interface is well laid out. I think those with networking experience will appreciate the browser layout as it is simple to follow. However, you aren’t going to find the really advanced controls like you would on something like a Ubiquiti router, but there is more than enough here to setup and configure a home network. The upside to a simpler layout is it doesn’t appear daunting to interact with. I have a decent amount of experience setting up and configuring home networks, but I often don’t want to deal with the hassle and troubleshooting that comes into play with more advanced and configurable hardware. Again, the novice users will appreciate the app’s easy to understand layout and controls, which really should be the goal for this device. My experience with this router has been a positive one. I liked the ease of setup, and the reliability. The performance has been great as well, and at this price point I think it’s a good deal. The only real downside is the lack of 6GHz support, which is likely why it has this lower entry price. I only have a few devices that support 6E, so its not a huge deal to miss out on it right now. However, if you decide to upgrade in the future this router can still serve a purpose thanks to the EasyMesh support.

The TP-Link Archer BE6500 Dual-Band Wi-Fi 7 Wireless Router is budget friendly and meets the Wi-Fi 7 standard (didn’t we just get Wi-Fi 6e ?). In any case this is a dual band router, only using the 2.4ghz and 5ghz frequencies. So, with this router you do not get the benefit of using a less used frequency in the 6ghz range. However, this still makes for an interesting piece of technology that future proofs you for a while. This router can utilize both bands (2.4ghz & 5ghz) simultaneously to communicate with a device (MLO - Multi-Link Operation) which in itself opens up more throughput than the previous Wi-Fi 5 and 6 standards. Other technology also contributes to less latency and improved speeds which includes a higher-order modulation scheme: 4096-QAM (12 bit vs. 10bit). As for the hardware ports it features a 2.5 Gbps WAN port, if you have an Internet Service Provider that can deliver those speeds (my ISP currently maxes out at 1 Gbps. One 2.5 Gbps LAN port and three 1 Gbps LAN ports. In addition, a USB-A 3.0 port is on the side of the unit so you can setup a basic Network Attached Storage (NAS) for simple file sharing or a Time Machine functionality (for Macs). The unit also has six antennas, four on the back and two on the side, with the two on the side being able to swivel a bit more than the other four. Setup is fairly simple, you have two options – using the web interface to directly access the router or using the mobile based Tether app which provides you step by step instructions on how to setup your router. If you decide to use the Tether app you receive a lot of different insight into how your devices are using your network and can setup some more granular options, the downside is since this is all cloud-based functionality, your device networking information lives in the cloud. I previously have used TP-Link’s Omada router and purposely set it up locally to ensure some of my network topology and device information did not wind up in someone’s database. However, there is a lot of network management capabilities and metrics if you setup a TP-Link cloud account. >Performance, again my ISP does not provide anywhere near the bandwidth this router can handle both wired or when leveraging some of the Wi-Fi 7 capabilities built into this router. Range was improved in areas where my previous router had issues with. This router is also Easymesh network ready (when using TP-Link components). >Router management, you can set up traffic rules and shutdown Wi-Fi access for specific devices on your network. You can also setup a guest network and an IOT network for devices such as refrigerators and thermostats. The concern with IOT devices is they do not receive security updates as frequently as other devices; therefore, they can be a risk living on your network with Windows computers and mobile devices. In addition, many companies abandon them and they no long receive security updates as they go end of life. Overall this is an impressive step up in Wi-Fi router capabilities and visibility into your network. Budget priced to provide Wi-Fi 7 even without tri-band capabilities. >>> Pros >> Wi-Fi 7 compatible >> Network management >> hardware LAN/WAN ports of various speeds >> Tether mobile app >> option to setup without cloud functions >> future proof <<< Cons << no 6ghz band, 2.4 & 5ghz only

This TP-Link Wireless Router is fast and reliable, plus it has a ton of security and convenience features. You can create your own NAS (Network attached storage) drive from any USB drive. You can easily set up a secure section of your network for IoT devices so they don’t leak your private information. You can even set up parental controls, a schedule when your WiFi will be off completely or adjust connectivity to certain devices at certain times. Highlights: * Comprehensive and easy to use app. * Tons of convenience and security features. * USB port on side to create a shared NAS drive from any USB drive. * Ultra fast 2.5GB LAN for 1 device. * Fast 1GB LAN for 3 more devices. * Six (6) adjustable antennae to maximize range and signal strength. Room for Improvement: * iPad App is Portrait only. * Logging in to admin from another app doesn’t always warn the first user before disconnection. * Buttons for LED and WPS are on the back, are the same size and shape, and are difficult to see before being pushed. * No mounting hardware is provided. * Most data in the iOS Tether app is not selectable to copy for pasting elsewhere. Setup: As long as you have a basic understanding of computer networking, you can probably set up this wireless router with the defaults and at least get everything in your home online. Those who don’t meet that low bar these days might need to call a friend, family member or neighbor for some guidance. Like most networking equipment, setting up and using this wireless router presumes that you already have a suitable high-speed modem in your home which is connected to your ISP (service provider). If you don’t, definitely start there first as this router shared out that existing internet service to the various devices in your home. According to the instructions, you first power down your modem, then plug this wireless router into that modem and its provided AC adapter, then power both on. Once you’ve turned on both your modern and this wireless router, you connect your first device to it to set it up; either wirelessly or wired through one of the four ethernet ports. There is a printed sticker on the bottom of the router with the default SSID (wireless network name) and its default password, but they also provide a duplicate copy of that information with the provided papers for you to use and store elsewhere for convenience. I wanted to use my iPhone to set up the router, so after using my cell network to download the free Tether app from the App Store, I pointed my iPhone’s WiFi to the router’s default wireless network. Then I launched the Tether app and followed the in-app instructions. The app walks you through all the basic setup of the router and has default selections where applicable. If you don’t know too much about what you’re doing, you can just accept the defaults and still be successful. Once you get the basics set up, you can then test your device connectivity in various places in your home and make adjustments to the placement of the router and the orientation of its six (6) antennae. The goal is to get the best signal everywhere you want to use your devices. Generally, you’ll get better signal if the router is high up on a shelf or mounted near the top of a wall. Wireless signal has trouble going through metal and water and doesn’t like Microwave ovens much, so it may take a bit of trial-and-error to find the best placement. The router has keyholes on the back so you can mount it to wall if you’d like, but wall-mounting hardware is not included. The router is light enough that you can use Command Strip picture hangers if you don’t want to make holes in your wall. There are small LEDs on the top (or front if wall-mounted) to indicate connectivity status, power status, etc.. There is also a switch in the back of the router (and a setting in the app) to disable these LEDs if you end up putting the router in a spot where those lights are annoying. Regarding router placement, keep in mind that you may want to have occasional access to the back (or top if wall-mounted) so plan accordingly. Usage: You can either point your favorite browser to the router’s admin pages (address is also printed on the bottom and on the spare info card), or you can use the free Tether app for iOS and Android. Both methods provide easy and logical access to a huge array of status information and settings. I’ve included a few representative screens from the iOS version of the Tether app, but it should all work about the same regardless of how to get to it. You can set up multiple people who have permission to view and adjust settings for your router, but only one person can do so at a time. Like most current wireless routers, this one has both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz radios. Just about everything can connect to the 2.4Ghz radio, but the 5Ghz radio can provide advantages for those devices that can use it. By default, the networks are named similarly and you can have your device automatically connect to the fastest one that is supported. In the admin tool (website or app), there’s also an integrated tool (3rd party) that can attempt to show the name of connected devices a bit more clearly so you can figure out what’s what. The various setting and status screens show a ton of information from real-time data speeds and amounts up and down, built-in CPU usage in the router, memory usage, etc.. In the app, it would be a helpful improvement to enable most data to be copied for pasting elsewhere, but that’s just a bonus. At any time, you can see what devices are active on your 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz and wired networks, and each device’s status and settings can be adjusted from there. You can isolate devices so they can only communicate out to the Internet but not within your network such as IoT devices. You can set up a VPN and parental controls overall or for specific devices, too. Firmware updates for the router can also be scheduled so they apply when you typically might not need to use your network, like overnight. Basically, there are a ton of detailed settings you can see and adjust once you get the router set up. Overall: For a standalone wireless router, this one has a ton of security and convenience features. You can get it up and running quickly with defaults and then change settings as your needs expand. It is fast, flexible and reliable. With WiFi 7 and 2.4Gb wired LAN ports, it is ready for years of future-proofing at a reasonable price.

I live in a rural area where internet service options are limited, so I picked up the TP Link BE6500 router to see if I could optimize speeds and reduce latency on my network.  This review is based on a week of use, when coupled with a fixed wireless modem and also tested with a mesh network / range extender.  Note that I live in a mountainous area, where I have a direct line of sight to the ISP tower, so your experience may vary, and my speeds are much lower than the capacity of this router. For this review, I have the TP Link BE 6500 setup upstairs, hard wired and placed directly beside the modem, and approximately 20' from the closest device used to test.  In the box is the router, power cable, ethernet cable, and instructions. You will want to install the TP Link Tether app for setup, firmware updates, connection administration, and network optimization. I already have the app for a TP Link extender, so it was a seamless integration to add in the 6500 router as well as auto sets up the EasyMesh with compatible devices.  If you have a larger home, a mesh network is 100% the way to go, your devices will select the best signal, regardless of device, as you move through the house.  I find that using the app is intuitive and meets the needs of many different user bases, from basic network control / entry level to speed optimization for gaming and diagnostics reporting for fine tuning the network.   A few things to note on the 6500 build: there is a USB 3.0 on the left side, WPS and reset button, and 2.5 Gbps WAN port, 2.5 Gbps LAN port, and 3 - Gbps LAN ports across the back. There are a total of 6 adjustable Beamforming antennas for optimized signal. The overall profile is slim, minus the antennas and will need the full footprint with open air on top and sides for optimal performance.  Performance on the router is spectacular in relationship to the ISP as well as the coverage. Between the teens and myself we have tested the router during dual device VR gaming, intensive load gaming, 4K streaming, and simultaneous use from the various methods listed prior, in addition to having 20+ IoT devices connected at any time. Pulling a basic speed test comparing the modem to the TP Link 6500, the router was 337 mbps down / 38 mbps up and the modem was 292 mbps down / 37 mbps up, almost 50 mbps difference with two devices sitting next to each other!  A few things to note, this WiFi 7  router features multi-link operation, this means that it's higher speed, lower latency, and more reliable than WiFi6. The router also offers multi-RU (resource unit), this optimizes efficiency based on the demand on the router versus WiFi 6 assigned RU logic, this increases efficiency over WiFi6 routers.  Lastly is the 4K-QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) which is the signal modulation method, this is the ability of each symbol to carry 12 bits versus WiFi 6 rate of 10 bits/symbol. As mentioned above, my setup isn't able to test and confirm these improvements, however the QAM theoretically should improve transmission rates by 20% over WiFi6.  In summary, if your system inputs can drive it, this WiFi 7 router can deliver up to a 6.5 Gbps transmission rate. The router is compatible to work with WiFi 4/5/6/6E devices, so I have had zero issues with connectivity to include an older home theater projector, numerous laptops ranging up to 5 years old, and a slew of initial IoT build devices. I was surprised to have 100% coverage, with mild degradation of signal, on all three levels of the house.  The upstairs and main floor are 3400 sq feet, upstairs where the router is placed had the strongest signal, 217 mbps down / 47 mbps up, on the main floor, at the point farthest away from the router I was at 193 mbps down / 38 mbps up, and in the basement, two floors below the router I was at 133 mbps down / 35 mbps up. For me, this means while I am working upstairs, the teens can stream movies and music in the basement, with no significant impact to the transmission speed for any device regardless of where in the house. Other options within the Tether app are HomeShield security+ which offers a subscription for data security, network security, and IoT protection, in addition you can choose to isolate select devices, and scan the network for vulnerabilities.  The next tab is for parental controls, and the last tab is for customization such as IoT network, Guest Network, VPN enablement, easyMesh setup (expansion for range extenders), blocked device list, and device prioritization. The 6500 router offers a dual band, what this means is you have both a 2.4 GHz band (slower but higher area of coverage) and a 5 GHz band (faster, lesser range), this dual band is great for IoT devices, as many of the older ones require the 2.4 GHz band.   Overall, the BE6500 has great features straight out of the box.  If all you do is install the app and run setup, you'll still be able to achieve optimal speed and performance that is noticeable versus a WiFi 6 router. If you live in a rural area where ISP options aren't GB speeds, you can still use this router to optimize your ISP for speed and stability.  Lastly, if you live in an area with high speed ISP options, then this router will absolutely blow you away and will yield speeds that can optimize almost every single device on the market today. 

Wi-Fi 7 is out, and this router supports the newest and greatest standard. Unfortunately, as of August 2024, many devices in people’s homes do not support this standard. Luckily, there are a couple of newer devices in the current market that are certified Wi-Fi 7. For example, the Galaxy S24 Ultra and some newer laptops likely contain a Wi-Fi 7 chipset like the Razor Blade 18. Of course, more and more will arrive as companies start implementing the technology into their devices. As I am writing this review, I do not own any Wi-Fi 7 devices, but I am looking at this router as an investment in future-proofing my home network. *TLDR at the bottom ============== SETUP: Setup is quick and easy. It may take a bit longer if you are not familiar with setting Wi-Fi routers up. Plug power and a cable into the WAN (blue) port and wait for the device to boot up. From there, the router should be broadcasting the default network. TP-Link offers two ways to set this router up. One can use the TP-Link Tether App, or one can set the device up using a web browser. I chose the latter since it was the quickest method as no TP-Link account is required. A couple more minutes of setup and the Wi-Fi router was good to go! ============== FEATURES: One can leave the default settings and set it and forget it. But there are some neat features for advanced users. A lot of these can be accessed via the web in the Wi-Fi router’s admin settings. A simple configurable feature but something everyone should do with this router is configuring the wireless settings. For example, renaming the SSID, updating the network’s password, changing the security for some older device support, separating the bands, etc. In the advanced tab, there are even more features. There is an option to create a dedicated IoT network for all your smart devices. You would want to do this for security reasons as well as free some bandwidth from the main network. If you would like to have your wireless network shut off at a certain time, there is also a setting that can be enabled to get this done. Parental controls can also be set up within the HomeShield tab too. Port forwarding, various security settings, and other miscellaneous settings can be configured as well. Firmware updates can be installed in this area too. ============== PERFORMANCE: What can I say, the latest and greatest Wi-Fi 7 router will certainly get you the best speeds possible. I am sure I’ll be able to obtain faster speeds once my older devices get retired and eventually replaced with Wi-Fi 7 devices. All I can say is that this Wi-Fi router provides speeds that are on par with my expectations. The speeds are exceeding the expectations that my ISP states. If you have an older router that is slower and needs to be replaced, this router will certainly yield better results in speed and security. I have yet to experience video or gaming latency. What is even nicer is that this supports a mesh network, so if you have a bigger home, you’ll be able to add another one for even more coverage. ============== CONCLUSION/TLDR: Overall, this is an excellent Wi-Fi 7 router for the price. Many do not have Wi-Fi 7 devices to experience the full capabilities of this router yet but having the comfort of future-proofing your home Wi-Fi network is the least this Wi-Fi router can do. The ability to set a Wireless schedule, parental controls, and a separate IoT network for all your smart devices are some of the items that can be done with this router. Have a bigger home? This Wi-Fi router can support a mesh network. If you are looking for a Wi-Fi router upgrade or a Wi-Fi router to future-proof your network, I wholeheartedly recommend this one.

This TP-Link Archer BE6500 replaced my 7 year old Wi-Fi Router. It really helps my security on the internet and my connection to the internet is much faster. It was an easy process to set this router up. This dual band router works well.

The TP-Link Archer BE6500 is a significant upgrade from its WiFi 6 predecessor delivering impressive speed improvements even for older devices. WiFi 7 technology offers several key advantages: - Blazing Fast Speeds: With a maximum speed of 6500 Mbps, you'll experience lightning-fast internet connections. - Enhanced Connectivity: Four 2.5 Gbps network ports provide robust wired connections for your high-performance devices. - Powerful Performance: The 1.5 GHz quad-core processor ensures smooth and efficient operation, even with multiple devices connected. - Superior Coverage: Six high-gain antennas deliver strong WiFi signals throughout your home, eliminating dead zones. - Efficient Spectrum Utilization: WiFi 7 allows simultaneous use of 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands, maximizing network capacity and minimizing interference. - Better coding: WIFI7 limit the loss in coding information over WIFI. I've been using the BE6500 for several days now and I am thoroughly impressed. Compared to my previous WiFi 6E router, I've seen a noticeable increase in internet speed and a significant expansion of WiFi coverage. Installation was straightforward, and the router has handled my numerous devices without any issues. I used the same SSD name and password as the previous router to avoid programming all devices. I immediately noticed: - Faster Speeds: quicker downloads, smoother streaming, and reduced ping times. - Wider Coverage: Eliminated WiFi dead zones and maintained strong connections throughout my living areas. Even to my car in the garage and the farther WIFI camera.. - Performance Improvement: It is handling multiple devices without experiencing any lag, interference or buffering. I’d recommend getting this TP-LINK BE6500 if you're experiencing slow internet speeds or poor WiFi coverage, the TP-Link Archer BE6500 is your excellent choice with affordable price. For optimal performance, connect the router directly to your ISP modem rather than using the original ISP equipment. Note: While the router generally runs cool, consider placing it in a well-ventilated area to prevent overheating. While this might not be necessary… It is just my recommendation. I highly recommend the TP-Link Archer BE6500 for anyone seeking a top-tier WiFi experience. Don’t worry about the jump in WIFI versions. Your old devices would still benefit from this change.

So i did a couple different setups with this router for testing reasons to see how it performs compared to my TP-Link - Archer BE800 BE19000 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 Router. I was very surprised that a midrange router preformed as well as this one did. So like the BE800 the BE6500 is a multi band router but it's a Dual band not a Tri band but in performance i did not see a big hit. It was still very fast and also is set up for Wi-Fi 7 so a very nice touch for future proofing the router to be around for a long time. Also it has 2.5 gigabit with the one 2.5 gigabit inlet and it has one 2.5 gigabit outlet to run to your system. It also has 3 1 gigabit outlets to run to 3 hardwired systems. I tested the wired 1 gigabit speeds because unfortunately were i live the fastest speed we have is 1gigabit. But i tested wired and wireless. Wired i was keeping a solid 1 gigabit speed and wireless i was getting a solid 900 megabit and would bounce around 995 meg and hit 1 gig so you will not be upset with the speeds. Also since this is an TP-Link Archer like my other router i tested it in mesh mode to see how easy it was to set up with my current Archer router. I was very easy to setup. I had it set up and added to the mech in about 5 minutes. Make sure you download the app for your phone because it makes it so easy like literally a few clicks on my phone and it was added to the mesh and i placed it out in my kitchen to broaden my Wi-Fi area and strengthen my existing Wi-Fi and now i my phone i can defiantly get a way stronger signal out in my back yard that is about 20 to 30 yards from my kitchen. Before i added it into the mesh i was getting a very bad signal in my back yard because i was just to far away from my primary router. at best i was getting 1 bar rite next to my kitchen window so all in all it made my Wi-Fi signal a bigger area and a lot stronger. So in the end the price for performance for this router is well worth the money.

– OVERVIEW– The TP-Link BE6500 is a dual band Wi-Fi 7 router that provides up to 6.5Gbps of wireless speed, and also provides 4 LAN ports for a wired setup. The unit has six pointable antennas that are beamforming. For those interested in moving to a mesh network in the future, the BE6500 is an EasyMesh compatible device, and you’ll be able to purchase a second unit to build your mesh. Lastly, there is a USB3.0 port to allow for storage sharing as well as Time Machine backup (Mac only). – SETUP– Setup was very straightforward; I downloaded the TP-Link Tether App. The app guides you step-by-step through the initialization process and ultimately asks you for a SSID name and password of your choice. The app was able to identify the BE6500 within my vicinity and the rest was easy peasy. I think you can configure the router logging into its default IP address on a browser, but I didn’t try that method of setup. But I was able to login to the router after the fact and see the various knobs that I can tweak and tune. And boy, there are a lot of knobs. But nothing unusual if you’re a power user of routers, wireless or not. The BE6500 is very capable. – PERFORMANCE – So this is the sticking point: the BE6500 is a Wi-Fi 7 router, which means you’ll only really benefit from this protocol if you have Wi-Fi 7 compatible devices. For many of us, that’s not possible, and even our latest and greatest smartphones can process this speed. But for the vast majority of us, Wi-Fi 6E is still here. I was not able to test the throughput of the router’s MLO function with Wi-Fi 7. This allows clients to simultaneously send/receive data on different high frequency bands (5GHz and 6GHz), effectively improving transmission speeds as well as reliability. 4K-QAM is another Wi-Fi 7 feature to boost peak rates and increase throughput. Going back to Wi-Fi speeds in general, the BE6500 far exceeds my typical ISP speeds so I didn’t have to worry about throughput in that department, but as I moved farther from the router, I did see drops in performance. Again, this is not a mesh router out of the box. Living in a 2400sq ft two-story home, I was finding a reduction of speed from my ISP as much as 75%. Another BE6500 set up in a mesh would probably solve this problem. Along with your main SSID, you are able to create a Guest Network SSID as well as an IoT Network SSID. The IoT SSID is a very cool feature considering that I use my current Guest Network SSID for my IoT devices. For us wired users, the router comes with 4 LAN ports (3x 1Gpbs, 1x 2.5Gbps) with its 2.5Gbps WAN port. Gigabit speeds are fast and plenty and moving data from one machine to another is no problem here. The USB3.0 port is a great addition to the router and to remind ourselves, USB3.0 is capable of 5Gbps. So if you don’t have a dedicated NAS, you can simply plug in a portable USB drive or the like. Setup is done through the web interface. I was able to field a 1TB drive that was just lying around my house. The drive is password protected and that is also set up in the web interface. You can only have two users: one with read/write privileges and one with only read privileges. – GOTCHAS – As I mentioned above, this is a Wi-Fi 7 router, reasonably priced I have to say, and a majority of us may not have devices that support this. That doesn’t mean that you can’t use this with your current devices. They will work completely fine. And seeing that Wi-Fi 7 will be saturating the market in the mere future just like Wi-Fi6(e), it definitely doesn’t hurt to purchase something like this now. If anything, you may see improvements overall in speed as these units are using the latest in chip technology. – CONCLUSION – I think this is a fantastic router for the price and features. And if you decide to buy two or more, it may end up being cheaper than your latest and greatest Wi-Fi 7 mesh routers. Just an observation, of course. If only using one, then be mindful of WiFi speeds relative to your distance away from the router. Line of sight was not really an issue for me, but distances rather. Your mileage may vary.

The TP-Link Archer BE6500 is a wifi 7 enabled router which boasts up to four times the speed. While as of this moment most have only begun to adopt to wifi 6 including myself. As of the moment I am using a wifi 6 enabled TP-Link mesh router and l am quite happy about it. But let us see if it is worthwhile to upgrade to the TP-Link Archer BE6500. Offhand, the TP-Link BE-6500 with its mesh design looks like and ordinary. It has a mesh design which is quite ordinary. And the connectivity options are the usual one ethernet port connecting to your modem and four ethernet ports for devices that require a hard wired connection. The main difference between this router and others is that the main ethernet port can support 2.5GBS and one of the four ethernet ports also has 2.5GBS speeds and the remaining three ports have 1GPS. That is a lot! Unfortunately I could not test it since I only have a 1GBS internet connection at home. One thing you’ll notice also is that it has six antennas. Do note that these antennas are strong. My home has 5,000 square feet and I need a mesh router (also by TP-Link) but my front and back yards have weak connections. And if I am connected to other nodes, my speeds go down by half. With the BE6500, I have strong connections allover and my speeds have a of 600GBS hence negating the need for a mesh router. So far these are the good points. But I have a couple of things to nitpick on. First I ny experience, it wasn’t a plug and play setup. A direct connection at the beginning did not result to a connection. I had to connect to the portal first so I can configure the router. I find this a bit odd, since I’m able to connect to the internet immediately. And when I connected to the internet, I as prompted to a firmware update. Easy peasy. However, when connected, there are no indicator lights which made me to get in touch with TP-Link support. I found out that the indicator lights are turned off by default. You have to disable the lightd through the router’s settings. Overall, this router seems to be another of those routers, but in truth, this router is fully packed. I’d recommend this.

TP-Link Archer BE6500 Dual-Band Wi-Fi 7 Wireless Router The box contains the router, an ethernet cable, power cable and a quick start guide. The quick start guide gave wonderful directions, so I unplugged my modem and old router first, then attached an ethernet cable from modem to the new TP-Link router and powered everything up. I waited for a couple of minutes for modem to settle and then a few minutes for router to have all the lights that the quick start guide said it should. All good. I turned on the wireless on my PC and got connected. I went to the routers address and made all my TP-Link usernames and passwords and got into the tether application. There I could see that it was broadcasting the default SSID in both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, so I changed the SSID to the same name as I had before and then changed the password for the wireless signal to the same as I had before also. On the application, I could see each device around my house such as cell phones, iPad, Roomba’s, firesticks, etc., start to connect to the wireless signal, whether it was a 2.4 connection or a 5 GHz connection or wired. I like to have a wired connection to my big PC, so I connected an ethernet cable from my PC to the router and restarted my computer. I was then able to turn off the wireless on my PC and get on the internet using a wired connection. I then connected the ethernet cables from telephone, temp/humidity/water sensors, security cameras, etc. which connected with no problem. The signal from the router on the 2nd floor is strong enough to connect in the basement and outside. I regularly facetime family walking around the yard showing them my garden and flowers and the signal did not drop once. Very pleased. Overall, installing the new TP-Link Wireless Router was really pain-free and easy. The unit is minimalistic and somewhat attractive, so not bad looking on my desk. I would have liked the power cord to be longer since it had to go behind the desk and to the floor before going to the power strip. I also would have enjoyed 2 more ethernet ports for other devices I may get in the future.

The router offers a seamless experience for home networking, providing reliable and fast internet speeds. Setup was relatively easy, with clear instructions and a user-friendly interface to manage the settings. Its coverage is impressive, easily reaching all corners of the house without any noticeable lag or drops. With its multiple antennas, it efficiently handles numerous connected devices simultaneously, ensuring a stable connection for everyone. Overall, the router is a great choice for anyone looking to upgrade their home network.

I recently upgraded to the TP-Link Archer BE6500, and it has exceeded all my expectations! Setup was incredibly easy with the step-by-step guide, and I was up and running in minutes. The Wi-Fi 7 speeds are truly impressive—streaming, gaming, and working from home are all noticeably faster and more reliable than with my old router. The range is outstanding; I get strong, stable coverage in every corner of my house, including the backyard. I love the sleek, modern design, and the TP-Link app makes it super easy to manage devices and security settings. If you’re looking for a future-proof, high-performance router, I highly recommend the Archer BE6500. It's well worth the investment for anyone serious about fast, reliable Wi-Fi!