TP-LinkTri-Band BE9300 WiFi 7 Router Archer BE550 6-Stream 9.2Gbps Full 2.5G Ports 6 Internal Antennas Covers Up to 2,000 Sq. Ft. Add Easy-Mesh Device for Extended Coverage VPN Support

I'm a 37 year old computer scientist that has breathed computers, internet, and all its assorted devices his whole life. TP-Link is a standout router company right now, probably due to relative under-performance in the medium term. But their current Wifi 7 routers are unmatched; it's not even a debate. This is the best router you can get for the money right now, and with Wifi 7 bringing the MLO network, your wifi will have never been better (once you have devices that also support it, with the most important one being your smartphone (Samsung's newest as of writing already has Wifi 7 support, with iPhone 16 pro rumored to be getting it. If you have both of these, you need to turn on the MLO network setting in your router. It is absolutely worth paying for to have it done if you don't have the slightest clue how).The app is also very easy and very pleasant to use, with a modern UX that today's consumer demands. It can also help you set up your router, including said MLO network. Don't forget to enable EasyMesh, too, if applicable.And speaking of EasyMesh - do you need a new router? If that's the question you have for yourself, I'd say that if it's not Wifi 7 (and it almost definitely isn't, or you wouldn't be here) at the very least, then you do. But there's another metric with a lower bar: go into your router settings and update its firmware right now. If it doesn't support EasyMesh after that firmware update, yeah, you should upgrade. EasyMesh is the Wifi Alliance's new standard Mesh system that will support a mesh network not just between different models of routers, but different companies. That's huge. This, along with the MLO network, means that these modern routers are a very large step-change in technology, quite possibly the largest since 5Ghz and the advent of WPA2 encryption, and these were ages ago.Bonus MLO network section:Why is the MLO network a big deal for your smartphone? At a glance, it seems to just combine all the bands (2.4, 5, and 6Ghz) into one. So that just means higher throughput, right? Isn't 5Ghz enough even for HDR 4k video on Netflix? Yes, it is. But while greater throughput is nice, think about it for a second. Right now, any Wifi network you connect to (meaning a singular named SSID) only supports one band. So if you're connected to 5Ghz, and then you go outside into your backyard, you have to depend on your phone to be smart enough to switch to the 2.4Ghz to maintain a connection (since higher Ghz don't travel as far). This often fails. What's worse, even if it does switch, the phone often never sees the use in switching BACK to 5Ghz when you go back in the house, so you will be connected to the slower band potentially indefinitely, unless you go change the Wifi you're connected to manually. And you'd have to do this every. single. time. Why even have all these nice bands with specific purposes if it's so annoying to use? Well, here comes the MLO network to save the day. If all the bands can simply always be active on just one Wifi network, there's never a choice to make in the first place: not for you, NOR your phone. You're just always using all them. That means when you go into your backyard, your phone will simply be unable to use 5Ghz only because it's too far away, but the MLO will still be sending packets on 2.4Ghz. And when you go back inside, there doesn't need to be any intelligent decision by you nor the phone, since it's still on the same network, and once you're back in physical range, the 5Ghz will just start sending again right away. No user input needed, and no stupid algorithms making bad choices. And, it works with 6ghz too, of course. All 3 bands at the same time, on the same SSID. Do you see what I'm getting at now? It's a huge step forward for both performance AND ease of use. Wifi 7's MLO network, along with the Wifi Alliance's EasyMesh standard will usher in a new era of Home Wifi performance, reliability and user experience, with the long-term goal of single band Wifi SSID's disappearing completely and MLO network SSID's being the norm.But don't get too excited - devices have to support Wifi 7 to see the MLO network. So for now, your phone will be one of the only devices to use it. But honestly, that's good enough for now - the tech is that transformative. But one day, your toaster, fridge and Hue lighting system will simply connect to the one MLO network that exists, and no other single-band Wifi's will even be on, because they will no longer have a use outside of legacy devices that some people just can't live without.

My first review of this product (below) was very negative and deeply sarcastic due to the many issues I was experiencing at the time. Since then, I've gone through many, many hours of troubleshooting, replacing products, replacing all the cable in my house, you name it - only to find that the issue lay with my Motorola cable modem the entire time. (FYI: apparently Motorola no longer makes their own modems; use that information as you will, then buy an Arris.) Since discovering the true source of the problem, this router has performed excellently. And now that everything is actually stable, I've been able to go beyond basic connectivity and finally start digging into the more advanced features of the product. This router has a number of enhancement and convenience features that I never even looked at before. I would strongly urge those that read my previous review to give this device a second look, as I've been able to coax truly impressive performance out of this. I'm leaving my original review up for the lulz, but when reading it, just substitute "Motorola MB8600" whenever you see this product's name. Cheers!---Original review: I ordered the TP-Link AC4000 less than six months ago. Initially, it was decent--good speed, good stability, and the range was a noticeable improvement over my trusty old Tenda. The setup "required" you to install some absurd app, but after some digging, I was able to get to the web interface on the unit and skip taking up yet more space on my phone. After that, setup only took a few minutes, and all was well with the world for quite a while.And then, about two weeks ago, I noticed I had never installed the firmware update. I suppose I'm at least partly to blame here, as I didn't do my usual scouring-the-internet-for-bug-reports before clicking the button. Lesson relearned yet again.I code for a living, but I know very little of what goes into making a firmware build or what the process is like. That said, I understand enough to know that something went very, very wrong with the version I upgraded to ( '1.0.3 Build 20191026 rel.16299' ). The same day as installing it, I started to experience intermittent loss of connectivity, not on any of the wireless networks, but on the connection to the cable modem itself. When it happens, I can't even get to the cable modem's interface to see what's going on there--instead I get some unhelpful message about lost connectivity to the internet (so I need the internet to get to a device in my house. Got it). This is now happening at least twice per day. To top it off, when it IS working, I can no longer connect with my phone when I'm in certain spots in my yard, areas that worked before the update. (I wonder if the range change is some sort of FCC thing, but that wouldn't explain dropping the wired connection to the modem.) When this happens, the only fix is a power-off cold boot, as the 'reboot' function in the menu doesn't fix the issue.I won't go through all the troubleshooting I've done, except to note that once you upgrade the firmware, this device will not let you go back to a previous version. And considering the "current" version appears to be from two years ago, a new update is about as likely as Harvey Weinstein taking back Miramax. I tried a number of tricks to force it but none worked. At this point I should note that, no, I haven't contacted support for this, and frankly, I'm not going to. I don't have hours to spend turning things off and on again while wishing for the sweet release of death, or at least mandatory jail time for whoever it is that records and sells hold music. Plus, I came up with a sort-of-drastic solution that should solve the issue permanently (more on that in a bit).The last straw came yesterday when it dropped connection during a critical server maintenance procedure, literally at the single worst possible moment it could have happened. Fortunately, everything was fine (I was running my code in a Linux screen session, so it kept going), but the two-to-three-minute window waiting for it to come back up was absolute white-knuckle terror, not to mention the post-mortem drudgery of digging through logs to make sure all the steps had completed, as I had output piped to a different terminal, which of course went <poof>. I'm too old for this mess. Since it's outside the return window, *BECAUSE OF COURSE IT IS*, I petitioned (read: "begged") my employer to reimburse me for a Linksys, which is on its way. Meanwhile, it's back to the super-cheap nearly-no-name Tenda, which has worked flawlessly for years now and was only replaced because I upgraded my internet and wanted something faster for working from home, which is very popular lately for whatever reason. Sigh.In summary, if I had the resources to do so, I would build a tiny rocket, strap the TP-Link AC-4000 to it, and launch it directly into the sun, whilst enjoying the fresh spring air with a few close (read: "vaccinated") friends and a glass of something expensive. Alas, I do not. Instead, I'm planning to give it as a Christmas gift to a couple I don't like. I'll flip it upside down, glue a couple of googly eyes on it, and tell their kids it's a robot spider. At least then no one would make the mistake of trying to use it as--shudder--a router.