TP-Link AX5400 WiFi 6 Router (Archer AX73)- Dual Band Gigabit Wireless Internet Router, High-Speed ax Router for Streaming, Long Range Coverage

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NEXT LEVEL PERFORMANCE FOR EVERYONE. AX5400 Dual-Band 6-Stream Gigabit Wi-Fi 6 Router Archer AX73 Fully Featured Wi-Fi 6 Warp Speeds up to 5400 Mbps Extensive Wi-Fi Coverage Up to 4x More Capacity HomeShield Security Wi-Fi 6 Upgrades Everything The latest generation of Wi-Fi technology brings faster speeds, less lag, and higher capacity, enabling more simultaneous connections on your home network. Warp Speed for Smooth 8K Streaming Drastically improved speeds enable smoother streaming, faster downloading, and gaming, all at the same time. Need to go faster?Hop on 5 GHz with full speed-boosting features to stream multiple 8K videos without lagging.6 Stream Wi-Fi Router 2033 MbpsArcher AX73 5378 Mbps 164% Faster HT160Doubling bandwidth 1024-QAM25% faster speeds 6-Stream Simultaneous transmission Extensive Wi-Fi Coverage with Advanced Technology Enjoy stable Wi-Fi connections in all rooms, even in the kitchen and bedroom. High-Power FEM, 6 antennas, beamforming, and 4T4R structures combine to adapt Wi-Fi coverage to perfectly fit your home and concentrate signal strength towards your devices. Connect More Devices Easily handle dozens of devices streaming and gaming at the same time – OFDMA and MU-MIMO combine to future-proof your home network by providing greater capacity to connect more devices. OFDMA Enables different devices to share one transmission stream, increasing efficiency. MU-MIMO Transmits data to different devices simultaneously using multiple streams. Designed to Be Cool The slant rectangle atop of the scaled armor design provides a contemporary aesthetic. The vent design takes up 167 cm² (25 in²) of its top surface for improved heat dissipation, unleashing the whole machine’s full power. TP-Link HomeShield: Advanced Security for Your Network and Clients HomeShield protects all connected clients against DDoS, malicious sites, and p

Features & Specifications

Gigabit WiFi for 8K Streaming – Up to 5400 Mbps WiFi for faster browsing, streaming, gaming and downloading, all at the same time
Full Featured WiFi 6 Router– Equipped with 4T4R and HE160 technologies on the 5 GHz band to enable max 4.8 Gbps ultra-fast connections.Power:12 V ⎓ 2.5 A
Connect More Devices – Supports MU-MIMO and OFDMA to reduce congestion and 4X the average throughput
Extensive Coverage - Enjoy stable WiFi connections, even in the kitchen and bedroom. High-Power FEM, 6× Antennas, Beamforming, and 4T4R structures combine to adapt WiFi coverage to perfectly fit your home and concentrate signal strength towards your devices
More Vents, Less Heat – Improved vented areas help unleash the full power of the router
USB Sharing – 1× USB 3.0 port enables easy media sharing and private cloud storage
TP-Link HomeShield – TP-Link's premium security services keep your home network safe with cutting-edge network and IoT protection. Free features: 1. Network Security Scan 2. Basic Parental Controls 3. QoS 4. Weekly/Monthly Reports 5. IoT Device Identification, HomeShield Pro paid service ads more robust protections and features for, 5.99/Month, 1-Month Free Trial
Works with all internet service providers, such as AT&T, Verizon, Xfinity, Spectrum, RCN, Cox, CenturyLink, Frontier, etc.( a modem is required for most internet service providers)
Dimensions: ‎10.73 x 5.8 x 1.94 inches
Weight: ‎1.46 pounds

Pros & Cons

Pros

Perfect router for most users. There are many routers claiming to be fast and support the max speed of the wifi 6 protocol. However, most routers fall short terribly. Some heat up like a toaster like AX3000 and some don't have the processing power i.e. the required number of CPUs to quickly process the packets by 20+ devices. Further, some are $300+ which kind of brings the affordability into play. This router however finds the right balance in all the features which I was looking to upgrade. I was looking in the range of about $100 and tried to AX3000. However, it heats up too fast and then starts to thermal throttle the speed and doesn't even stay connected with the clients like a laptop or mobile devices. I have tried a Netgear router from Costco AX4300 but fall short when around 20 devices are connected to it and don't support the mesh networking. Features which I wanted and like: Range: This device has a superb range by itself and covers my home pretty easily. I see I have a good wifi signal at all ends of my home and I live in a 2-floor apartment with the router placed upstairs. Mesh: I like to receive a good network in my backyard as well and so I have added a RE505X which costs another 80 bucks but saves money on my mobile data plan as I don't invest in an unlimited data plan. There is only 1 SSID that is broadcasted and it automatically switches based on where I am in the home. Heat: Some routers heat up and create a fire hazard and also have the probability of breaking down sooner than I like them to. This is not the case with this one and it stays relatively cooler and never experienced any slowing down of the network. I have touched it to check several times and it's good. Setup: The setup was really easy. The basic setup can be done in minutes and there is no RnD required. The tether app is pretty cool for basic setup. I also have requirements for static IP based on mac address and port forwarding. Both of them are easy to configure. They also have support for dynamic DNS so you can easily host your basic website in your home network. For this, I need static IP address reservation and port forwarding. Parental controls: This is a real plus that allows me to block youtube or any site whenever I need to get my kid away from the TV. Reboot schedule: I like to have a reboot schedule which is good this router has it and very easy to set up. LED lights: This router allows to turn off led lights and I like it that way once the setup is complete. Summary: I think its a router for average home with right balance of ease of use and price and features. Note: I have not been paid for this review and have bought the router with my own money. 2 Weeks Update: Going strong with over 20 devices connected, no disconnections reported by anyone in device. I have 3 heavy internet users at home. No heating issues, range is good. 4 Months Update: Working perfectly for 4 months. No issues.

An excellent device. The TP-Link AX5400 is a WiFi 6 router with dual band and long range wireless capabilities. Also known as the Archer AX73, the WiFi 6 technology allows this product to achieve speeds up to 5400 Mbps as a theoretical maximum. Even though actual speeds will probably be lower than that, it will still be fast enough to perform bandwidth demanding tasks such as large file transfers over the network or Ultra High Definition streaming on your local home network. Installation is super easy, it’s basically plug and play. You connect the router to your internet modem, and then connect your devices via the WiFi networks. The A5400 will come with default wireless settings, including a predefined network name and password, for easy initial setup. It is strongly recommended to change these settings to your own, for security reasons. Management can be done either via the smartphone app or (very happy about this one) the web interface. More about that later. Aesthetically, you will notice that this router has a rather interesting rectangular design, and it is equipped with 6 (!!!) antennas. Yes, you read that right: 6 antennas. TP-Link claims that this supports large wifi coverage and good signal strength to all devices with their beamforming and 4T4R technologies. Even though I have no practical way of measuring the performance of these technologies, I can attest to the fact that the AX5400’s coverage is excellent and I didn’t notice any dead spots at home (including the devices located outside my home, such as wifi cameras and doorbells). In case you do experience dead spots, you can add an extra TP-Link mesh device compatible with the AX5400 to solve the issue. I talk more about mesh networking below. One of the major features of the AX5400 is mesh networking. Mesh means that all your routers connect with each other, forming a mesh of coverage rather than having one router that acts as a single point of connection. Your wireless device will always connect automatically to the mesh router that provides the strongest signal. This is called Roaming. Much like in telecom/mobile networks, your Wi-Fi devices might change positions and move around your house. This means that the wireless signal between your device and the router gets weaker with distance. With mesh routers your device will automatically connect to a different router unit that offers a stronger signal, without interrupting the running service and streams. This not only increases the coverage vastly, but also offers seamless handovers and transitions of Wi-Fi services as you change your position in your house. In other words, you get Wi-Fi Roaming capabilities that will vastly improve the reliability of your wireless connection. That, of course, means that you need another TP-Link mesh capable device to achieve this functionality. TP-Link provides a list of mesh devices compatible with the AX5400 on their website. So far I have no complains regarding the AX5400’s performance. The Wi-Fi is very quick and outperforms my internet connection. I haven’t noticed any issues with latency either. One remark I want to make here is that, even though older WiFi cards will still be able to connect and operate with the AX5400, you will need a Wi-Fi 6 compatible wireless card to make the most out of the mesh system. Making the most out of it doesn’t mean that you will experience speeds close to 5.4 Gbps. These speeds are a theoretical maximum, they are achieved in the lab and they are impossible to see in the average home network setup. You will see, though, very high speeds depending on the quality of your wireless card (in my tests, I used the TP-Link WiFi 6 AX3000 PCIe WiFi Card), the distance from the router and the obstacles that separate you from it. Bottom line: it’ll be fast, but be realistic with your expectations. But probably one of the things I’m most happy about this router is the availability of a web interface for management. Being the owner/user of the otherwise great TP-Link Deco system, one of my main complaints was the lack of a web interface for network configuration. As a power user, I find it hard to configure my network equipment via the small screen of a smartphone. You can access the web interface by typing the router’s management IP (you can find it listed as Gateway on your computer’s network settings) in your browser. You’ll have to first set up a local password (or create an account with TP-Link) before accessing the router configuration. Once you log in, the first screen you’ll see is the home screen, or a summary screen if you like. You can see the internet status, the router status and some shortcut button to common functions, your mesh devices (if you have any) and the connected client devices. This last bit is quite interesting, since you’ll be able to see the connected devices, their real time speed (up/down), the interface they’re connected to (ethernet, 2.4G or 5G), their “negotiated” max bandwidth, how long they’ve been connected to the router and, finally, a “block” button to deny the device access to the network. Below, I’m going through some of the functions that I find interesting, but I will omit the ones that are so common you can find them virtually in every router out there. On the Wireless screen you’ll find your WiFi settings. You can turn on or off OFDMA, TWT, Smart Connect and, of course, the Wireless radio itself. OFDMA (simultaneous transmission to different devices within the same transmission window) will significantly increase the traffic speed with compatible devices (your device must support OFDMA), TWT will help increase your device’s battery life by maintaining the connection with the router and allowing the device to go to sleep (aka not forcing the device to send keep alive messages to the router too frequently), while Smart Connect optimized the connectivity of the router’s radio bands with the client devices. TP-Link offers a security platform with the AX5400, similar to what they offer with the rest of their flagship devices, HomeShield. The user will get some basic functionality out of the box, and additional sophisticated features and analytics are available with a subscription service. The last screen on the web interface is the Advanced screen, where all the advanced options are located. Power users will definitely appreciate some of these. The first thing that caught my eye was Lan —> Link Aggregation. You can aggregate (combine) up to two Ethernet ports into one (logical) network port, aggregating their bandwidth as well. Of course, you’ll need to aggregate ports on the other end of the connection as well, but that is the other side of the problem. Pretty cool. The router also supports direct DynDNS logins, for those of you who still use a DynDNS client on your computer. Another cool section is Routing. You can use your own static routes defined in the router’s config if you need to direct specific traffic to specific destinations. Use this only if you know what you’re doing, otherwise a bad routing config will probably block your access and traffic. The router comes with a USB port, which is nothing unusual. What is very cool, though, is the fact that the USB port supports (except for mass storage devices) Apple’s Time Machine. Just connect a storage device to the AX5400’s USB port, enable Time Machine in settings, and voila! No need for one of those old Apple AirPort Extreme routers anymore. NAT is, of course, present in this device as well, for your port forwarding needs. Security features include a Firewall, ACLs and MAC spoofing protection (by binding IPs to specific MACs). You have your standard VPN server built in, supporting both OpenVPN and PPTP, IPv6 support for you dual-stackers out there and a bunch of router Admin features (firmware update, backup, remote management, system logs etc.). Last but not least, you can switch the mode of the device between a Router (the device will route traffic and provide routing services) and an Access Point (the device will become a wireless gateway for clients, but you will need to connect it to a router for routing services - this is used mostly to expand the WiFi network). Overall the TP-Link AX5400 WiFi 6 router is a great home routing device and a strong contender in this segment of products. I’m very happy with it for the time I’ve been using it, and I definitely recommend it.

Excellent router! This machine is fast and easy to manage. I have over 25 years of computer networking experience. I needed a simple but powerful router for my home network. I had an older TP-Link router but I wanted something with Wifi 6 as an upgrade. I chose this one based on reviews and I am very happy with it. At the price point it can't be beat. Setup was very quick and easy with the Tether app. I had no problems and upgrading from my previous router took less than five minutes including the time to have my cable modem reset and all router configuration complete. In the time it takes to make a cup of coffee you can have your home or small business network on WiFi 6. The signal is powerful and I have coverage at higher connection speeds than I ever did before. The router easily manages network traffic with multiple devices streaming HD or 4K video. Gaming and file sharing is flawless with this router. I can't say enough good things about this TP-Link AX5400. If you can read simple instructions you can upgrade your network. You don't need to be a computer networking expert to figure this one out. Five stars! Highly recommended!

Cons

Good if set to auto-reboot each night. WAN bandwidth bogs down the router performance over time. Setting the router to reboot each night (fairly easy to set up) seems to solve this. Otherwise, I have had it for nearly four weeks and it seems to be a good performing and stable unit. The features to cost ratio is good. Routers seem to be a commodity product and I find that manufacturers are quick to market minor evolutionary improvements as a proprietary revolutionary change. I contacted tech support with a general question regarding load-balancing and received incorrect and rude responses. I attempted to help by clarifying the question and suggesting a load-balancing solution using TP-Link's TL-R605. The manufacturer denied the solution and refused to offer an alternative. Tech support also said I should return the router. To be clear, my question was about the viability of using other TP-Link products and we were not discussing a defect of the router I purchased. The tech support representative was consistently unkind and incorrect over a four-day period. This approach can never be productive for the vendor or the user. After posting the same question on this website, a different group representing the manufacturer came back with a single appropriate and accurate response. Maybe one bad support representative prompts this two-star review but I have reservations that I made a good purchase.

Slower than Asus. Extra cost features. Security risk. Bought both this router and asus-ax86u for a lot more money. I've run extensive speed tests throughout the house. I have gigabit internet. I've run speedtest, download file from NAS via http. Download using smb share. Run iperf to local server. I have extensive results I may post later. Bottom line, the Asus is always faster. Often marginally faster, around 5%. But sometimes, especially uploading at distance, the Asus can be 3x faster. The Asus also has 2gb WAN port and 2.5gb port. The admin UI on the tp-link is only ok. Looks like lots is missing vs the Asus. There are advanced menus that reveal a lot more. Many of the advanced features can't be done using the Tether app. But some features like parental controls require the Tether app and can't be configured on a PC. The most shocking though is that some simple features like turning off internet access for a device on a time period is an extra cost feature! I didn't realize that. Can be $160 presumably lifetime. The Asus included all features with no extra cost. The $160 is more than I paid for the router. It makes the Asus cheaper. It’s not sophisticated features either. It’s nickel and dime how can they disable and break simple features. As an example, you can set limit every day but not weekends only. That will cost you. Seriously? Like it’s hard to limit on weekday vs weekend? What other innovation will they decide to limit. I'm done. Not happy with a router that charges monthly for advertised features. Several other very concerning items. I’ve only had the asus a few days and already there a firmware update available. Showing they maintain their firmware quickly. The Tplink router is running firmware that’s 9 months old and there is NOT a firmware update available. And most concerning. I specifically told it NOT to open up the router to be managed over the internet and it enabled it anyway. Exposing administration of my router in the internet. I can’t help but think it’s Chinese spyware. Low priced router that can be managed remotely from their servers even when I went out of my way trying NOT to enable this access.

Easy User Interface But... I upgraded from a TP-Link AX3000 to this router and returned it immediately after the connection speed kept bouncing between 54Mbps and 1.2Gbps while having the 5GHz channel width setup at 160MHz. It couldn't even get to 2.4Gbps. The connection was so inconsistent even after updating the firmware and having my laptop with an Intel AX200 card 3 ft. away from the router. The one thing this router has going for it is the user interface is very easy to navigate and configure.

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