*update*
4/3/19 - the latest firmware no longer bricks the router and actually addresses issues I was having. Updated and it's working fine.
Fast and good signal until you update the firmware. There is a known bug that of course I only found out about AFTER I updated the firmware. You will loose one of the 5G radios and you will have issues with older devices -- ironically Alexa Tap -- won't see the 2.4G radio either. Also enabling the 'Smart Connect' feature might cause older devices not to work but I think it's more to do with the firmware update. Smart Connect merges all the SSID's to a single name and connects devices to the appropriate radio based on what they can see and what will provide the best throughput.
If you buy this, verify that both the 5G radios work out the box and that your older devices can see the 2.4G radio. If the radios work your good to go at this point, just enjoy and go on with your life, however under no circumstance update the firmware!!! Updating wont brick the router, that would be fine actually. No, it just hobbles it to the point that you'll want to shoot it.
I very rarely, if ever spend the time to write a review of a product, however after using this router, I felt I had to give you my two cents worth. Very simply put, this router just works. It took me all of literally 4-5 mins to get it up and running and connected to all my devices (9). I live in a modest two story house, roughly 2000 sq ft. My router is located on the bottom floor on one side of the house and my mancave (where I watch most of my tv via roku streaming stick) is on the top floor on the opposite side of the house. I had an Asus A66u router before this that was not allowing me to get a full sharp picture a majority of the time...especially at peak times (6-10p) when traffic is heaviest. I have Comcast by the way...150mb down, 12mb up. In the mancave with my old router I was getting maybe 20-25mb download at off peak times and maybe 8-10 during peak traffic. I now get roughly 55-60mb download at off peak and around 25 mb download at peak times...plenty fast for full sharp streaming. Keep in mind, I do have a baby monitor that does effect my streaming.
Now, I bought the router without doing much research on other routers and started feeling buyers remorse after reading about a certain D-Link router that people were raving about (ac1900 to be specific), so I ordered that to compare, figuring I would just return whichever was slower and didn't meet my needs. Long story short, the OnHub kicked the D-Links butt. I won't get in to exact numbers, but I will say that the OnHub almost doubled the D-Links speeds in my mancave. So back to Amazon the DL goes...haha
I'm sure for the power user, the OnHub may not suffice, as it doesn't have a ton of manual controls within the mobile app, however for the "average" user who just connects their router to their modem and runs multiple wifi devices around the house...the OnHub is the router to get. You can set priorities with certain devices to make sure they get top speeds at certain assigned times...very nice in the evening when the wife is using her phone or tablet but I want to stream my roku upstairs. Just give my tv priority for a set amount of time and no slowdowns for me :)
Don't waste your time testing other routers...I've done it and this comes out on top. Just put your order in and enjoy!
Easy to configure. Great range. Great signal that is consistent. Nice features and form factor. Had it a week with zero complaints. It is feeding a PS4 on 1 level of our house, a 4k TV on a different level, and phones, Roku's, Firesticks, computers, ipads all over everywhere else. At some times we have 15 active connections in our 3 story house and no complaints from anyone (including teenagers) yet. This is my first TP-Link as I have been a Linksys guy for years but in my opinion (and experience) they are now a lower tier product after having been taken over by Belkin. The TP Link also has a useful app and web interface. Glad we purchased this device and got it at a great price on a lightning sale. And of course Amazon got it to the house in 2 days. Highly recommend.
Blazing fast wifi.
I was upgrading from a WNDR3400. On the old wifi router, I was getting 30 mbps max. And 15 mbps on one floor above router. I was getting 240 mbps from wired modem. I was very annoyed at how slow my wifi was compared to my wired speed.
On the AC2300 router, I was getting 100 mbps on 2.4 ghz and 240 mbps on 5.0 ghz wifi. I even went one floor and even two floors above the router, and was still getting similar speeds.
You may be debating between getting this router, and the Archer C7 router, because its much cheaper and has such great reviews. However, look at the specs, and you see that the AC2300 has a 1.8 ghz dual core cpu, while the Archer C7 has a single core cpu. This makes a huge difference in performance (note that the power brick is pretty big on this router because of it's processing power). In addition, the C7 is two years older than the AC2300. Technology moves fast in two years, so why buy old tech, when the new tech will last many years forward in the future.
Future tests to do and will update review:
1. I sometimes have 20+ devices connected to router, and I will see if the router can handle all the traffic.
2. Going to test USB NAS speed, and usefulness of the proprietary apps included.
3. Long term reliability and firmware updates.
Tests were done on Dell XPS 9560 with Killer 1535 NIC.
This is by far the best router Ive come across in a long time -at least for wireless range on the 2.4Ghz radio (the 5Ghz radios, of which this has 2 of, is never great for distance anyway). Using it in Pakistan, so the broadband connection is quite limitsd, peaks at 5mbps, so, cant vouch how it'll perform under high loads, but we have a house with 2 laptops, 6 smartphones, 2 to 3 ipads, and it hasnt lost a beat, required a reboot or slowed down.
The user interface is not as feature rich as the Asus routers ive favoured recently, but Im finding that more and more, we are being forced to use ISP supplied routers anyway, days of being able to get the modem from isp coupled with your own router are diaspparing as tv/telephone services get bundled by the same service provider and hence smart features like QoS, DDNS etc on 3rd party routers dont actually add much value.
Where this shines is, the wireless range. Typical pakistani construction, solid concrete and cement block walls through out the house. I had an Asus AC88 router before which struggled to reach my bedroom. With the tp-link, i get good to excellent reception in the same spot that AC88 struggled.
Highly recommended.
Feature Product
- The companion Google Wifi app makes setup simple and lets you to control your network from your smartphone
- Super fast Wi-Fi speeds up to 1900 mbps to help with smooth streaming, gaming and downloading
- Helps eliminate dead zones with 2.4GHz and 5GHz Band1/2/3/4 Wi-Fi antenna-13, 2.4GHz Bluetooth antenna- 1 & 2.4GHz Zigbee antenna-1. Reliable coverage for most homes up to 2,500 square feet
- Supports 100+ connected devices, so everyone can get on at once and signal rate- Wi-Fi 5GHz is Up to 1300Mbps,2.4GHz is Up to 600Mbps, Bluetooth is 4.0&HS
- Supports 100+ connected devices, so everyone can get on at once and signal rate- Wi-Fi 5GHz is Up to 1300Mbps,2.4GHz is Up to 600Mbps, Bluetooth is 4.0&HS
- A separate guest network helps get friends online easily, and allows you to share devices, like your Chromecast, with them.
- Industry-leading 2-year warranty and 24/7 premium technical support.
Description
Meet OnHub, the router from Google and TP-Link that’s built for fast Wi-Fi on all your devices. OnHub provides Wi-Fi speeds up to 1900 mbps to help with smooth streaming, gaming, and downloading. Its unique design and 13 antennas provide reliable speed in every direction, covering up to 2,500 square feet. And OnHub can connect 100+ devices at the same time, so everyone can enjoy what they love to do online.
I’ve been using this for over a year. I come from an IT background and have a junk pile of various SOHO routers that have served at some level of success over the past 20+ years. I’ve also used DD-WRT and various PC carcasses running Linux software router/firewalls distros. Overall, the Onhub has been a great experience. It’s morphed seamlessly into the Google WiFi ecosystem and I have a Google WiFi bridged into it to cover the upper floors of my house. It’s easily configured via the Google Wifi app on both iOS and Android. It's been very reliable overall and rarely requires a restart. Some advanced features are lacking:
You're locked into the 192.168.86.XXX network
There is no DMZ
There is no web management console.
No QoS or traffic shaping other than designating a priority device for a time.
Etc..
Also, it is my understanding that the TP-LINK version of the OnHub can only do 200 Mbps on the WAN interface. If you're one of the lucky ones with Gigabit internet service the TP-Link will not work for you. Get the Asus version or a Google Wifi instead.
I have run my own tech firm (managed service provider) for over 15 years. We deal with about 15% of our customers as residential clients (usually employees of our business clients) or, they are work-at-home entrepreneurs. We're always being asked about what wireless routers to use. From our perspective, the best solution is a wired router plus an access point. The router typically last 2-3x the life of the radios of a good access point. Also, when dealing with a large house (say 3K+sqft) having more than one access point (AP) is suggested for really good wi-fi. So, for the smaller homes, we usually are ambivalent on the choice of a "wireless router" because it rarely makes a big difference.
The Google OneHub solution is an interesting approach for the residential user that doesn't typically employ an IT firm to install and support the wireless.
As an MSP, we NEVER use the CD or stupid application that comes with a wireless router, to configure it. We simply connect the its web site and configure it. We adjust the network address, the wireless SSID(s) and passwords, and insure the firmware is up to date. The OnHub setup is VERY different.
The bottom line for this unit is that it ROCKS. If you want more details, read on.
I have an Android phone, but I will assume the IOS setup is the same. On this device, the way you configure it is through your phone. OK, that's different, and you just have to work with that.
The unit comes with a default SSID, and password. you'll need to enter those after downloading the app and off you go "configuring the WAP". The app doesn't let you do much more than decide the SSID (the Wireless network name) and the password. Then it configures it and updates firmware if necessary.
Want to configure the SSID for the 2.4 differently than the 5G network? Don't buy this. But Apple doesn't make this easy either. Why you want to make them different is usually only because you're VERY techie and don't have a device that makes it easy to choose. Bottom line? Don't worry about this and let them have the same name!
Then comes the fun. You have some cool features that will test internet to the WAP, and WAP to your phone. It's mostly eye candy. Oh, how did you set this up? You connect this unit to your wired router. But what you didn't know... is this unit will act like a router as well. Running a house with ONLY wi-fi? Then this unit can be perfect as a wireless router. Already have a router? Well, AFTER it is all configured from the phone app you'll want to visit the Network And Settings section and change the operation to BRIDGE mode. This allows it to operate as a normal, Access point. Can you adjust the IP address of it? Not from the app! Should you care? Not in a home environment.
My suggestion is to play with all the features and test your speeds before you are ready to flip it to bridge mode. Once there, about 75% of the features and test functions will disappear. There is very little you can configure at this point.
But speed? Killer. Distance? Superb. Now if it is stable, and remains so for the next several years, this will be the 2017 product of the year.
Buy it!
Recently, I ran a scan and was surprised at the number of devices on my home WiFi network, i.e. 11. In addition, I was concerned about the potential performance impact of competing with my neighbor's networks for the available 2.4 GHz channels.
I purchased the TP-Link AC2300 hoping to migrate some of my devices to 5 GHz channels, ensure the continued responsiveness of my network, and eliminate the occasional disconnect of my WiFi printer and the intermittent buffering of my streaming devices. Finally, I was hoping to get a stronger signal to my upstairs bedroom.
The TP-Link AC2300 was easy to set up and provides the information I need to monitor the network. In addition, after two weeks of operation, it is running flawlessly, provides a strong signal to all of the rooms in my 2,400 sq. ft. colonial, and is meeting my performance expectations.
So far, I'm a very happy TP-Link customer.
I have now used this for several months, and I've got to say it is the best router I've ever used (for the casual user).
PROS:
Amazing range with a very strong signal throughout the household. We used it in a 2 bedroom apartment, and never once lost a full signal. In our 4 bedroom house, we will possibly need an extender, but only because of where we have to place it in the house. The signal travels downstairs just fine, but it doesn't reach to the far corner of the house in the guest bedroom downstairs. Hard to explain, but a normal router would never make it that far, and this one just gets a 1-2 bar signal that sometimes goes out down there. I can live with that.
Very easy setup. Plug it in, get the app going on your phone, sync up, and voila, you've got a signal.
Speed is FAST. I've had several routers that couldn't get past the 50mbps to save your life. This baby shoots past that and doesn't look back. I've gotten to my max of 100mbps throughout my house, and usually average around 80mbps, which I blame more on my provider than the router (because I get the same with direct connection).
Visually pleasing. Doesn't LOOK like a router, and actually stands out as a decoration. Routers always have that "techy" look, whereas this one stands out as more of an interesting piece in the room.
CONS:
Customization isn't there. As a normal user of the internet, with no need for tweaking my router in the least bit, it's not a con for me. I can surf the web, check email, play games if I want, and use all my devices without a problem. HOWEVER, many people like to customize their settings a bit more, and this router isn't for them (but those people probably know that, and they're not even going to read this review).
Only one port for direct connection makes it to where you have to purchase a hub in order to have more direct ethernet. I bought a nice 5 port hub for cheap, and it does a fantastic job. You really don't NEED it, but if you have any devices that aren't wireless, or you just want that direct speed, you'll want to buy a hub.
We absolutely love this thing, and we will end up buying the recommended extenders down the road.
This is the best route I have used for a home setting. It has a lot of great features. It works just how you would expected. Ive had this route for about a month and I have not needed to restart it due to network issues. It has worked with no hiccups. I did have some issues getting it to work with Cox, the solution was that you need to run the startup config from the router homepage and also make sure you choose that Cox has a static MAC address for connecting to the internet. That solved my issues.
Nice Blog Post thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteTP-Link Support Number
enable wireless radio tp link