TP-Link - Archer AC5400 Tri-Band Wi-Fi Router - Black

This is a review of a free product received from TP-LINK as part of the review program I’ve always been one to not purchase a routers unless I was certain that it had open-source firmware capability, and thus, I’ve always been a generation or two behind the cutting-edge in router technology. I’ve been an IT professional for 18 years, and I always thought to myself that I “needed” a router that I could tinker with endlessly. Little did I know how much of a headache I was making for myself. The TP-Link C5400 has made me re-think my home network, and what is important to look for in a router. This router is a monster. It’s large, it’s in charge, and it has the performance to match its size. It’s external design is very pleasing to the eye, it doesn’t look nearly as much like a spaceship as other routers in its class. Coupled with 8(!) external antennas, the Archer C5400 absolutely destroys the old ASUS RT-N66U that it replaced in both range and throughput on both the 2.4GHz and the 5GHz bands. I realize that we’re not comparing apples to apples here, one is N (max 300Mbps throughput) and the Archer C5400 is AC5400 (max combined 5400Mbps) but the difference is clear: I’ve been stubborn about needing open-source firmware for way too long. Setup was very simple out of the box. The Quick Setup asks you very simple questions to get you up and going. Most users will be able to complete the quick setup, close the admin page, and never have to think about it again. Not me though, I like to tinker. One very important thing to me is VPN support. I like to run my own VPN server on my home network that allows me to remote back from anywhere in the world, access my local files, help my wife troubleshoot issues while I’m not at home, and also encrypt my internet traffic while on Public WiFi at places like Starbucks. The Archer C5400 supports OpenVPN (my choice), and PPTP (not nearly as secure as OpenVPN). It was also the most simple setup I’ve come across for OpenVPN. There is a simple Generate Certificate button (which takes a while) and an Export Configuration button. Boom, all done. If you use a Dynamic DNS service, be sure to set that up prior to configuring the OpenVPN server, and exporting the configuration file - your DynDNS hostname will be pre-configured in your profile. Another very important thing to me is QoS. With two kids (3 and 6 years old), we must have 25 devices accessing the Internet at my house. They may be young, but they’ve discovered Netflix, and it eats up bandwidth. QoS settings are available under the Advanced tab, and you can assign priorities to different devices (Low, Middle, High). If you configure this properly, everyone should be able to access the services they need without hogging all of the pipe. Super handy for large households with tons of devices. A few other great features are: -Tri-band support: Segment your most important devices onto separate wireless bands for optimum performance -MU-MIMO (Available after a future firmware update, but will be a game changer once implemented) -Beamforming technology: Automatically adjust the WiFi radios to “aim” toward the devices that are connected. -Easy setup Parental Controls -File and Printer Sharing via the USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports -Guest network: Let your friends access the Internet without having access to your complete network, protect your devices! A few things that I’ve noticed that could use some improvement: -Traffic Statistics: These are disabled out of the box, and can not be enabled unless you disable something called “NAT Boost”. Even after trying them out, they just don’t provide enough info to keep track of your data usage. Some households have data caps attached to their broadband plans, and need some way to keep track of their usage. This really needs improvement. -UPnP - I’m having an issue with my Amcrest camera not being able to map ports via UPnP, where it had no issue with my previous router. I’m still troubleshooting this to see if it’s a camera issue or router issue. UPnP seems to work OK with other devices/services. There are a few things that my old open-source router was handling on my network that I can’t do with this router (certain cron jobs, etc…), but that’s OK. I was looking for a reason to buy a Raspberry Pi anyway. I should be able to fill that gap very easily. After about 10 days of thorough testing and comparing, I am absolutely thrilled with the performance and options that the Archer C5400 has to offer. I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending this router for its ease of use, broad feature set, and fantastic performance.

Ease of setup, it works for wireless as specified. As far as any other functions like storage sharing, it really lacks functionality. I managed to connect to it two 4TB drives. It recognized them. Forget about setting any accounts on this router for file and drive access management. You got one account and that's it. File management is non existent. Once the drives start to fill up the router bogs down, utilization goes to 99% and after two minutes it reboots. And what function did I use? I opened a directory on the hard disk in a mapped network drive on my windows PC to browse 356 files which were ripped MP3's. Anything beyond basic wireless this router fails to do. I had this router for two weeks. I returned it for refund. This much money for basic wifi is too much. It does have a great wifi range. That's about it. I bought it because of the reviews. I made sure I had the latest firmware on it. It was the latest and it was over a year old from 2016. This router is not open platform, meaning you are dependent on the manufacturer for updates. It has a Broadcom chipset. I worked for Broadcom for over 15 years and it is not the chipset issue but poor quality firmware. I wouldn't recommend it to my friends or anyone unless they just want to plug it in and never do anything advanced. But then why buy such an "advanced" and expensive router? I went back to my old router, bought wifi extender, put my drives on a 9 dollar C.H.I.P computer running Linux, and shared my drives through it over the network. Instead of the router slow file access of 24MB/S I get now over 80MB/s. Don't buy it. The company charges a lot but offers over a year old firmware with basic functionalities and buggy too. You can verify this by going on their site and look for updates. There's none. I will never buy routers from that company. Best Buy was great and took the return. Thank you Best Buy.

Appearance: I took some pictures when I first received it so you can see exactly what I received. I’ll upload them with this review. Construction: Very well constructed. The main unit and antennas are made from strong plastic. Functionality: I hooked up this in place of my TP-Link 3200 model in order to test its performance. It preformed just as good as my 3200. The only difference in the models is 50mb in bandwidth and the 3200 have two 5GHZ lines so I was expecting this result. I’m able to run a PS4, XBOX one, 2 laptops, 1 desktop, 2 mobiles, 1 tablet, 4 Raid devices (huge personal online drives), printer, and more. I generally have all these devices running at once besides the PS4 and Xbox One and I usually am streaming plus downloading something. I also have two family members who occasionally log onto my network. I never have any problems with bandwidth. I also get a solid 1000 ft. though walls. The USB ports allow for linking of printers and standalone hard drives. Negatives: Nothing negative was observed. Noteworthy comments: Setup with TP-Link routers is incredible easy. Anyone with the most basic computer skills can easily set one up in under 5 minutes from cutting the tape on the box. Would I recommend to a friend and family? Yes, I’d recommend this product to friends and family. 1-100 Rating: 100 (Works as described and performs well). Did I receive all listed parts/pieces? / Packaged well? Yes / Yes. Current price / Current date: $299.95 (Prime) / 8/1/2016 Name of Seller / Company: TP-Link

This is a really great router so far (online for about 3 months). The speed is as advertised. I have a TWC internet connection rated at 200MBs down and 20 MBs up. My speeds on my Apple devices via the 5G connection are showing 220 MB down and 22 up. The router has also been very stable as well; no unplanned reboots; no lock ups; etc. My only complaint so far has been the inconsistency between the Router's Desktop software and TP-Link's Tether software. The Tether software allows you to change the name of a device from a cryptic manufacturer's name to a easily recognizable name. This changed name transfers to any other device running the Tether software, but does not transfer to the Router's Desktop software. The Desktop software also does not allow the user to change a device name. Also, the connected devices count sometimes differs between the Tethered software and the desktop version. If you are looking for speed, dependability and good bandwidth this is your router.

There is alot to love about the C5400 router. The only con I can think of is the advertised MIMO technology being available in a future firmware upgrade. This is important to note if you're expecting that feature to work outside of the box when purchased. The C5400 is extremely fast and offer the numbers to prove that. With the C5400 delivering combined Tri-Band speeds you can game without slowing down your network. My favorite feature of this router is the ease of setting up, and using TP-Links clean admin interface. I did notice much smoother performance with Smart Connect automatically assigning the proper channels to your devices. I highly recommend this router if you're looking for a router that can handle multiple simultaneous connections, and allow you to still game with no lag. Your frag count will increase while dominating your foes.

Bought this to replace an older n600 that didn't have the bandwidth to support my connected home. Plus the 5ghz band kept cutting out on my old one... Anyway, this thing is heavy and big but it gets the job done easily. Set up was extremely easy and I get better coverage through my two story house on both 2.4 and 5ghz. My wireless lights no longer randomly disconnect on me and my Amazon echo doesn't jitter while streaming audio anymore. The ui is the only thing that can be a bit hard. If all you want is standard settings you can just leave it on basic and it still gives enough info for the average household user. The advanced tab is way more in depth but some of it can be hard to understand. All in all well worth the money, it's a beast.

TP-Link Archer C5400 router. What a GREAT router. This replaces my old wireless router in a 2 story 3200 sq. ft. home office. The old router signal wouldn't reach every room, had to install a repeater. The C5400 has a very powerful signal. I did several speed tests on iPhone and get 200 Mbps wifi, even in the furthest room. Major improvement. Router configuration is simple but I didn't try anything advanced. Used an Ethernet cable for configuration and screens popped up quickly, no delays. Found later firmware on TP-Link website and installed that. Simple. Turned on the "Smart Connect" so that all 3 SSIDs look like one and it seems to work fine, no problems. It is a bit expensive but if you want a really simple, fast, very powerful wireless router then this is it.

I honestly didn't realize how much my previous router sucked until I upgraded to this. I went from transferring data at 15 mbs over my wired network to almost 90 mbs. My download speeds increased dramatically and my upload speeds exponentially increased. This router may be overkill for what I currently need, but believe me when I say this router offers the basic user a future proof sense of security for at least the next 5-7 years as streaming 4k-Ultra video from Netflix becomes more common. It was worth every penny. *Plus who doesn't want to own a router that looks like a face hugger from Aliens