Today in our TP-Link Archer AX6000 router review, we’re taking a look at this high-end router from TP-Link. It’s a WiFi6 product ideal for those who have a huge space to cover and tons of devices to link.
It’s a bit on the pricey side, but it looks appealing and is packed with tons of excellent features.
For our TP-Link Archer AX6000 router review, we tested it on our devices for a week or so.
This is to help you determine whether or not it’s the perfect router for your office or home.
TP-Link Archer AX6000 Router Packaging
To begin our TP-Link Archer AX6000 router review, we’ll discuss its packaging and the contents included in it.
When our Archer AX6000 router arrived, it came in a typical-looking TP-Link package. In front, you’ll see the company’s name and logo on the upper-left corner. To its right, you’ll see 802.11ax and “faster, broader, higher-capacity” written.
The centre of the box displays an image of the router. The name of the unit is on the upper-right corner.
Inside the box, the router comes with a few other items. These are the power adapter, RJ-45 Ethernet cable, and the quick installation guide.
TP-Link Archer AX6000 Router Review – Design and Functionality
The Archer AX6000 router is a squarish-shaped router featuring eight external antennas that can be folded up/down. Its overall size is similar to that of a dinner plate. So, you’ll need extra room for wherever you want to set it up.
On the base, you’ll find a couple of mounts if you want to link it upside-down under the table. Or, you can install it sideways to a wall. Any way you choose to position it, these will undoubtedly help with its size issue.
The router’s side features a USB-A 3.0 and USB-C 3.0 port for linking external devices.
For our TP-Link Archer AX6000 router review, we streamed videos and shared these between PCs easily. And that’s all thanks to the available ports for linking devices.
The other side of the product features three slim buttons. One is for the toggle WiFi, the WPS, and for toggling the top LED.
The router’s LED indicator on the top glows blue when things are working normally. It pulses blue during firmware upgrades and startup. Then, it becomes solid orange when it’s linked to the internet, but wireless is disabled.
Then, it glows solid red when there isn’t any internet connection.
There are tons of connectivity ports on the router. The rear panel has a total of eight gigabit LAN ports, a power port & button, and a reset button. It also houses a 2.5 Gigabit WAN port.
For its left side, it houses a USB-A 3.0 port and a USB-C 3.0 port. There are also WPS, WiFi on/off buttons, and LED on/off buttons on the front edge of the product.
The TP-Link Archer AX6000 router doesn’t sport a multi-gigabit LAN port. However, link aggregation is allowed between the second and third LAN ports. If it’s something you require, this would provide wired speeds of about 2Gbps.
The next thing we’ll discuss in our TP-Link Archer AX6000 router review are the different key features of the router.
Key Features of the TP-Link Archer AX6000 Router
Fast and High Efficiency
The Archer AX6000 router is the company’s first router that features the next generation 802.11ax WiFi technology. It’ll take your WiFi connection to the next level. Plus, it’s also backwards-compatible with 802.11 a|b|g|n|ac WiFi standards.
802.11ax is also known as WiFi6, and with it, you’ll get to simultaneously link more devices. Thus, allowing you to enjoy adequate speed for each device.
Blazing Fast Speed
The latest technologies come with the 802.11ax such as 1024QAM and Long OFDM Symbol. These allow the Archer AX6000 router to offer industry-grade speeds of up to 1,148Mbps on a 2.4GHz band. And, it also offers 4,804Mbps on a 5GHz band.
With the boosted maximum bandwidth to 160MHz, you can enjoy blazing-fast speeds without experiencing any lags.
Boosted Coverage
A total of eight high-gain external antennas, RangeBoost, and Beamforming merge to extend reliable and strong WiFi. And you get all of these in a single package when using the Archer AX6000 router.
Larger Capacity with the TP-Link Archer AX6000 Router
During our TP-Link Archer AX6000 router review, we connected numerous devices simultaneously. With that, we enjoyed non-stop entertainment on all devices.
With the MU-MIMO and OFDMA technology, the Archer AX6000 router offers up to 4x higher capacity and throughput. This is compared to the regular AC routers in dense use environments, greatly boosting the number of linked devices.
The OFDMA technology greatly boosts the number of linked devices by assigning channels to more devices.
Far-Reaching and Extending Wi-Fi Coverage
The Eight high-gain external antennas offer a strong WiFi signal throughout your entire home. Beamforming focuses the signal strength to the linked devices while Rangeboost produces stronger and far-reaching WiFi throughout your home.
Removes Wi-Fi Dead Spots
OneMesh enhances signal strength while keeping a single WiFi network that reaches every corner of your space. You won’t have to bother searching for stronger signals to get a faster connection. To enable OneMesh you will need to pair with a TP-Link OneMesh enabled range extender, sold separately.
Seamless Wi-Fi Connections with Just a Single Network Name
OneMesh smartly links mobile devices to your extenders or router, or whichever offers the best connection. The OneMesh extenders and router share one WiFi name so you can stay connected to the network in each room.
Lightning-Fast Wired Connections
The Archer AX6000 router offers a 2.5Gbps WAN port to make great use of over 1Gbps internet access. Plus, it also boosts the entire internet throughput.
The Type-C and A USB 3.0 ports, plus eight Gigabit Ethernet ports also help transfer data at outstanding speeds. This is done for you to enjoy peak performance.
HomeCare
The TP-Link HomeCare guarantees that every device on your network stays protected with live threat database updates by Trend Micro. Utilise powerful parental controls to limit the time spent online. Or to block unnecessary/inappropriate content based on unique profiles made for each family member.
Ready for Today and the Future’s Smart Home
With the number of different devices today, everyone needs a smarter and easier way to bring all products together. Use Amazon Alexa to control everything through voice commands to enjoy fully intelligent life.
Specifications
This section of our TP-Link Archer AX6000 router review focuses on the specifications of the router.
The Archer AX6000 router is powered by a 1.8GHz quad-core processor, 128MB of flash memory, and 1GB of RAM. It’s a dual-band eight-stream router that uses the latest 802.11ax technology with 1,024 QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation).
This is to achieve maximum theoretical data rates that reach up to 1,148Mbps on the 2.4GHz band. Then, up to 4,804Mbps on the 5GHz band.
It also supports 160MHz channel width, MU-MIMO data streaming, auto band-steering, and direct-to-client signal Beamforming.
Hardware Specifications
The dimensions of the TP-Link Archer AX6000 are 261.2 x 261.2 x 60.2mm. For its processor, it’s equipped with a 1.8GHz 64-bit quad-core CPU.
System Requirements
For proper function, it requires Internet Explorer 11+, Chrome 20, Firefox 12.0+, Safari 4.0+, or other JavaScript-enabled browsers. If necessary, you’ll need a DSL or cable modem, and a subscription with an internet service provider.
Hands-on with the TP-Link Archer AX6000 Router
Of course, our review won’t be complete without sharing our experience and results during our tests. To begin, we’ll talk about setting up the Archer AX6000.
Setting up the TP-Link Archer AX6000 Router
Setting up a new router can be challenging especially for the less tech-savvy people around. But thanks to TP-Link, they made setting up the Archer AX6000 router as easy as possible.
The first time we connected the device, it only took us about five minutes to complete. We were able to do it using the TP-Link Tether app or via the web browser with a linked PC.
The Tether app from TP-Link has tons of settings that you can adjust. But accessing the router via browser will provide you with extensive control with advanced settings.
You can tweak the LAN, DHCP, IPTV, DNS, VPN, IPv6, NAT, etc. for more advanced options if you want. However, the router will work fine without having to delve too deeply.
Basic Settings
Discussing the basic settings in our TP-Link Archer AX6000 router review, it allowed us to set up internet settings. It also configured USB sharing settings and created a guest network.
Here, we even had access to the company’s Home Care settings where we could utilise Parental Controls. These were necessary for making user profiles, as well as assigning child, pre-teen, teen, as well as adult content filters. It was also useful for setting up activity-specific QoS settings with presets for gaming, streaming, surfing, chatting, standard, and custom.
To change the wireless network passwords and names, we simply entered new data then saved the changes.
The Archer AX6000 router is a rare router that does not require a full restart if its parameters are changed. When it lost contact for a minute, it immediately got back online which was great.
It also offered a Speed Test for checking the connectivity and showed the number of devices connected.
Advanced Mode
By contrast, this section was among one of the most complete sections for tweaking and optimising the router. We were able to see the Status Page that featured the figures on the processor and its memory usage. It also helped with troubleshooting which was great.
Aside from being able to run as an IPv6 router, it had an Operation Mode. This was for altering the router into an access point and options for encryption, WiFi mode, and channel width.
Aside from controlling the LED lights, it featured a diagnostic section so we could check on problems. Plus, we were able to schedule reboots each night for added convenience.
The System Parameters page gave us complete management over the usually-hidden controls. Plus, it opened a world of fine-tuning for the router with adjustments such as the RTS Threshold and Beacon Interval.
Parental Control
This was handled per device. We found one in the linked devices list, gave it a name, then selected an age group. Then, we added the categories we wanted to filter.
We were able to set time limits and sleep times to guarantee that no one would utilise WiFi during late hours. Once we set up the control profile, we were able to check the time spent online and sites visited. That also goes for how long these were checked out.
QoS
We were able to configure the QoS control per device, though we also had the option to configure per activity. There, we successfully set high demand devices at the top of the list to be served first. We also set those that required bandwidth immediately.
Of course, we also tried setting video streaming as the top priority.
Integrated Antivirus
We appreciate that the router came with an integrated antivirus from Trend Micro. It was something we could toggle to block malicious content, quarantined devices, and external attacks.
In addition, the router also had an SPI firewall enabled, plus a configurable blacklist for available devices.
It was possible to securely access the home network even if we were away. This was by setting up a VPN via OpenVPN or PPTP.
Guest Networks
Lastly, the guest networks on radio were easy and quick to set up. It allowed visitors to access the internet without them having full access to our network.
Performance of the TP-Link Archer AX6000 Router
One of the appeals for us and also other people is the boost in performance when switching to WiFi6 routers. Of course, that also goes for devices.
It’s a good thing that the router didn’t have any issues working with the much older devices that we have. So, we think that’s really convenient especially for those who don’t change their devices regularly.
WiFi6 is designed to be backward-compatible, and with that, we didn’t see any issues connecting to all our devices. That’s whether they were old or new.
Mesh capability is possible if paired with a TP-Link OneMesh range extender, should you need that extra bit of wi-fi range, Smart connect combines the bands 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz, devices connect to the most preferable band for best performance.
When we enabled this feature, the router showed one SSID where we could connect. Once linked, the router moved the devices back and forth between the two WiFi bands based on the best performance.
On the 5GHz band, our network speeds remained impressive and we got fantastic signal range and strength across the home and office.
The Archer AX6000 router offered reliable bandwidth for various tasks. It delivered fast speeds for sending emails, web surfing, media streaming, and online gaming.
Even with multiple devices connected, we didn’t have issues with the router’s performance. There were no skips, freezing, or even out of sync audio during our tests.
For its overall performance, the Archer AX6000 was excellent. With its easy set-up process and impressive features, this product is something we’d recommend.
TP-Link Archer AX6000 Router Review Summary
The TP-Link Archer AX6000 Router is an efficient WiFi6 router that meets the needs of most users. Although it’s not the cheapest router available, it comes with all the necessary features and delivers great performance. Plus, it’s easy to set up and manage via its software, making the product worth the purchase.
This is an excellent router for medium homes with fast internet speeds. But of course, keep in mind that you’ll need to use WiFi6-compatible clients to experience the increased performance benefits.
Overall, we were satisfied with this router since its performance was excellent and we didn’t experience any issues. To get your hands on the TP-Link Archer AX6000 router, check out the store locator for authorised sellers.
