Review and testing of the TP-LINK Archer C60 wireless router. Review and testing of the TP-Link Archer C60 wireless router: not just by design Connect the TP-Link Archer C60 and go to the control panel

The advantages of the Archer C60 model include support for the modern 802.11ac standard and the ability to simultaneously operate in two frequency bands - 2.4 GHz (up to 450 Mbit/s) and 5 GHz (up to 867 Mbit/s).

The first thing you notice when you unpack the box with the router is the unusual design of the device. The case has impressive dimensions, its upper part is slightly concave with a texture in the form of glossy triangles. The bottom and walls have holes for ventilation and protection from overheating of components.

Five antennas are located on the side faces of the case: three of them are for the 2.4 GHz frequency, and two are for the 5 GHz frequency. This design solution has a beneficial effect on the quality of the signal: a consistently high transmission speed is maintained even through major partitions in the apartment.

On the back side there are all the main communication ports, a button for pairing mobile devices using the WPS protocol, a power button and a connector for connecting a power adapter. The manufacturer has provided four Ethernet ports and one for connecting to an external Internet network.

It is noteworthy that the speed through Ethernet ports is limited to 100 Mbit/s, but for a wireless connection this level is not the limit. Testing showed that the speed within the Wi-Fi network reached 120–150 Mbit/s. True, many mobile devices accessed the Internet at speeds of 40–48 Mbit/s, which is due to the limited bandwidth of the Wi-Fi module of smartphones and tablets.

It was somewhat disappointing that the device does not have USB ports, which means the user will not be able to connect a portable HDD to the router and organize network storage. And you won’t be able to connect a USB modem from a cellular operator, which is important for rural areas where there are no cable Internet providers yet.

But this is perhaps the only gap in the equipment of the TP-Link Archer C60. Despite the low cost of the device (about 3,000 rubles), the manufacturer has integrated very powerful hardware into the case. The router uses a Qualcomm Atheros QCA9561 processor with a frequency of 775 MHz and has extensive network configuration capabilities. For example, you can limit the Wi-Fi signal strength and change the channel width.

The router has a convenient browser-based control interface, but you can also configure settings from your smartphone using the Tether application. When organizing a VPN connection, you can use the OpenVPN/PPTP VPN protocols.

Among the useful settings, we note the advanced capabilities of the software in the field of parental control (you can create black and white lists, specify allowed DNS), as well as the function of organizing a guest network, which can be useful both at home and in the office.

Advanced users will appreciate the options for setting priority for outgoing and incoming traffic, as well as creating priority rules for various types of data.

It is noteworthy that in the “Advanced Settings” section there is a function for protecting against DoS attacks and blocking source nodes.

Overall, the TP-Link Archer C60 router impressed me as a reliable device with high data transfer speeds and easy setup from a PC and smartphone.

Photo: manufacturing company, Andrey Kireev

Archer C60 looks original, while easily fitting into the line of TP-Link wireless routers.

The front model of the device is made of white plastic with a glossy finish and a diamond-shaped pattern. At the front there is a silver strip with indicators.

The router received 5 non-removable rotating antennas. Two side and central ones operate in the range 2.4 GHz, and the two middle ones are in the range 5 GHz.

The main part of the router's slightly curved body is made of practical matte gray plastic, and the circumferential sides are complemented by perforated grooves for cooling the internal components. The bottom panel also has perforations, plastic feet and a sticker with service information.

The rear panel turned out to be the most “loaded” with functional elements. There is a 10/100 Mbit WAN connector and four LAN connectors, also 10/100 Mbit. On the left there is a port for connecting a power supply, a power button, WPS, combined with a button to disable wireless networks, as well as a hidden button to reboot and reset the router.

The Archer C60 comes in a fairly large box that also contains a 12V/1A power supply, an Ethernet cable, and a set of paper documentation (including a setup guide and warranty card).

Easy setup via Tether app and user-friendly web interface

TP-Link offers two options for setting up the router: web interface and application Tether, available for Android and iOS. I suggest starting with the second method, as it is simpler.

In principle, Tether can be recommended as the main tool for setting up a router. The application will guide you through the process of setting up the device for the first time (you must first connect to a wireless network out of the box), help you monitor your network map, and provide easy access to wireless network settings, a shared password, Internet connection, guest networks, and parental controls. Everything is simple, accessible and understandable.

If you need access to advanced settings of Archer C60, then the web interface will come to the rescue. It is not complicated, but allows you to configure all aspects of the router, from the first setup to the DHCP and DDNS parameters.

Performance

Qualcomm Atheros QCA9561 and Qualcomm Atheros QCA9882 chips are installed inside the router, which are responsible for standard network operation 802.11b/g/n at 2.4 GHz and 802.11ac at a frequency of 5 GHz, respectively. By the way, the first one also ensures the functionality of the wired LAN and WAN ports. Claimed data transfer speed: up to 450 Mbit/s over a 2.4 GHz channel and up to 867 Mbit/s over a 5 GHz channel.

For testing, we used a PC and laptop with ASUS PCE-AC66 and TP-Link Archer T2UH AC600 network cards. The devices are placed at a distance of 8 meters through a load-bearing wall.

Considering that there are only Fast Ethernet ports both for connecting an Internet cable and for connecting devices to a local network, the data exchange speed between local devices is limited to 100 Mbit/s, including when copying files from a Wi-Fi device to a PC, connected by wire.

It is noteworthy that the Archer C60 squeezes the real maximum out of the provider, providing a fairly high connection speed to the World Wide Web.

As for data transfer between wireless devices, everything is not so simple here. In reality, it is frankly impossible to achieve the speed indicators declared by the manufacturer. But the router shows good speed over both the 2.4 GHz network and the 5 GHz network.

In synthetic tests, transfer speeds reach 130 Mbps for 2.4 GHz and just over 150 Mbps for 5 GHz. When copying a large ZIP archive between two devices, the average speed was 6 MB/s for 2.4 GHz and 9 MB/s, with a few peaks of up to 12 MB/s for 5 GHz.

I note that during the entire testing period the router never froze, showing high stability. At the same time, it easily withstood simultaneous work with a PC, two laptops, 5 smartphones and one TV.

Impression

TP-Link Archer C60 has an almost perfect price-performance ratio. So it is quite capable of becoming the main gateway to the Internet for a large number of devices at the same time. It is easy to configure, shows the best stability and high transfer speeds over wired (up to 100 Mbit) and wireless networks. Of course, it has its drawbacks: only Fast Ethernet ports and no USB interfaces. But these disadvantages are insignificant if you are not going to connect gigabit Internet, use NAS and connect devices to the local network via cable.

Behind:

Supports 2.4 and 5 GHz networks
Operation stability
High speed wireless transmission
Easy to set up
Parental controls, guest networks

Against:

10/100 Mbit Ethernet ports only
No USB

Specifications:

Model TP-Link Archer C60
Standards IEEE 802.11ac/n/a 5 GHz, IEEE 802.11b/g/n 2.4 GHz
Frequency ranges 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz
Speed 450+867 Mbit/s
Antennas 3 x 2.4 GHz, 2 x 5 GHz
Encryption WEP, WPA/WPA2, WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK, WPS support
Interfaces 1 x WAN (RJ45 10/100 Mbit BaseT), 4 x LAN (RJ45 10/100 Mbit BaseT)
Additionally indicators, WPS, reboot, power on, Wi-Fi buttons
Dimensions 230 × 144 × 37 mm

I decided to tell you a little about the TP-Link Archer C60 (AC1350) router. I think the article will be useful to everyone who is considering this model as a home router, or even for an office.

Let's get straight to the main characteristics. This is a dual band router. It can broadcast a Wi-Fi network at 5 GHz, and it has support for the 802.11ac standard. Theoretically, the maximum speed over Wi-Fi is 1350 Mbps. Up to 450 Mbps at 2.4 GHz, and up to 867 Mbps at 5 GHz. The router looks interesting, thanks to as many as five antennas. Three antennas provide network coverage at 2.4 GHz, and 2 antennas at 5 GHz. The antennas, by the way, are not removable.

LAN and WAN ports operate at a speed of 100 Mbit/s. This is of course a little sad. I would like to see gigabit ports. Well, the second minus is the lack of a USB port. If you need gigabit ports and a USB port, then check out the TP-LINK Archer C2 model. There, the Wi-Fi speed will be slightly lower than that of the TP-Link Archer C60 (you most likely won’t notice this), but the ports are OK.

If anyone is interested in the router's hardware, the Archer C60 runs on a Qualcomm Atheros QCA9561 processor. The frequency of which is 775 MHz. RAM 64 MB and 8 MB permanent. Of course, the router can easily handle online games, watching online videos in good quality, etc. There should be no problems with stability.

TP-Link Archer C60 Review

I'll start with the box: it's big. Really big. Most likely this is due to the fact that the router itself is not small, and the antennas are also non-removable.

The package is standard: router, power adapter, network cable and pieces of paper.

The body is made of gray matte plastic. So are antennas. Only the top part is made of white glossy plastic with an interesting structure. Other TP-Link router models have a similar design. For example: which we have already reviewed.

On the front panel there are indicators and the company logo.

The antennas fold, but the router cannot be hung on the wall. No holes needed.

At the bottom there is all the factory information (address for logging into the control panel, factory username, passwords, etc.). Also, there are many cooling holes for the TP-Link Archer C60.

All ports and buttons are located on the rear panel. Everything is standard there: 4 LAN ports, 1 WAN, power connector, On/Off button, button to disable Wi-Fi/activate WPS, and a button recessed into the case to reset settings.

The router already has a new, modern control panel installed.

There is support for control via .

Today we will take a look at the TP-Link Archer C60 router. The device belongs to the Archer line, which indicates support for the 802.11ac standard and 5 GHz Wi-Fi networks. Compared to previous models in the series, the Archer C60 increased the wireless network capacity, but like all relatively inexpensive models, it used 100-megabit Ethernet ports. Let's see who might be interested in a router with this combination of characteristics.

Scope of delivery and design

The router greeted us with the usual large cardboard box, typical of TP-Link routers. The Archer C60, power supply, Ethernet cable and documentation are neatly laid out inside.

The packaging dimensions are largely justified by the design of the device. Five relatively large non-removable antennas are placed on the body and in the “stowed” position the structure turns out to be long.

In appearance, the handwriting of TP-Link designers is easily discernible. We have already seen a slightly curved profile with a raised glossy cover in . This time the body was painted white, and the antennas and lower part were painted light gray.

On the front panel you can see the manufacturer's logo and a set of status indicators of medium brightness. Service information is printed at the bottom, and there are many ventilation holes at the base of the case.

Wall mounting is not provided, nor are rubberized feet, but the router will be quite stable on most surfaces.

The antennas are mounted on rotating hinges, which allows you to change their position within a wide range. The connectors are assembled on the back of the case: one WAN, four LAN, WPS and power buttons, a recessed forced reset button and a power socket.

Functionality

TP-Link Archer C60 belongs to the AC1350 class devices - it creates two wireless networks with a frequency of 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz with connection speeds of up to 450 and 867 Mbit/s, respectively, which provides a total theoretical data transfer rate of up to 1317 Mbit/s. Let us immediately note that these speeds will only apply to data transfer between wireless devices within the home network, because the speed of all Ethernet ports is limited to 100 Mbit/s.

Archer C60 is built on a Qualcomm Atheros QCA9561 processor with a frequency of 775 MHz, equipped with 64 MB of RAM and 8 MB of permanent memory. The router supports all standard Internet connection types and wireless security standards. In addition to the two main Wi-Fi networks, it is possible to create two guest networks, one for each frequency range.

The router is configured and managed using the familiar web interface. During the first setup, the user will be asked to replace the standard password and login to access the settings, specify the basic parameters for connecting to the network, and set a name and password for Wi-Fi.

For additional settings, you can use the basic and advanced list of parameters. In general, the list of settings is no different from any other modern router. For more details, you can read . Among the innovations we noticed, we note the ability to disable status diodes and check for software updates, which were not available previously.

In addition to the usual web interface, you can use the TP-Link Tether smartphone application to configure and manage the router ( iOS, Android ). Since our The functionality of the program has not changed, the design has simply been updated, which has made it more beautiful.

Testing

The router was tested in an apartment building, next to many other Wi-Fi networks. During a week of use, I had no complaints about the stability of the TP-Link Archer C60. The router coped well with providing network access for three computers and a couple of smartphones. The device did not freeze when simultaneously downloading torrents on a couple of computers, and opened the settings normally.

Each antenna operates only in its own frequency range (three for 2.4 GHz and two for 5 GHz), which, in general, had a positive effect on the quality of Wi-Fi throughout the apartment.

100-megabit network ports are used, so the speed of Internet access in all cases will be limited by their bandwidth, as confirmed by tests. A similar situation will occur when exchanging data between wired and wired-wireless clients within a local network.

To check the speed of data exchange between wireless devices on the local network, we used a PC with an ASUS PCE-AC68 adapter and with module ( Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8260 ). When both computers were connected to a 2.4 GHz network at speeds of 300 and 450 Mbit/s, the actual data exchange rate reached only 80 Mbit/s, which can be explained by the noisy range. When connecting to 2.4 and 5 GHz networks, as well as only 5 GHz, it was possible to achieve speeds of about 120-180 Mbit/s. In general, this can be considered a normal result, taking into account real and not laboratory testing conditions.

Site evaluation

Pros: stable work; nice design; Wi-Fi 802.11ac support; antennas dedicated for each frequency range

Minuses: Ethernet ports with a speed of 100 Mbit/s; no USB

Conclusion: TP-Link Archer C60 left a good impression in terms of stability and compliance of the stated characteristics with reality. Compared to lower models in the line, it offers a slightly more powerful hardware platform and probably better Wi-Fi coverage due to dedicated antennas for each frequency range, but without a direct comparison we will not present this as a fact. The Archer C60 is better able to handle a large number of wireless clients, but there is no USB connector for connecting storage devices or a printer and it still uses slow Ethernet ports. Considering the price of 1.5 thousand hryvnia, these factors can make choosing a suitable TP-Link router a little more difficult. Some models with gigabit ports cost comparable money, have USB, but offer slower Wi-Fi (like the Archer C2), while the cheaper Archer C20 and C50 have USB, slow Ethernet, and support slower connection speeds for modern Wi-Fi standards.

All this has led to the fact that now some models of home routers can quite tolerably serve a small SOHO network (SOHO - from the English Small office / home office - small office / home office) of up to 15-20 people.

However, I would classify the hero of today’s review - TP-Link Archer C60 - as an exclusively home router. But first things first. Go!

Let's start, as always, with the configuration and appearance of the device.

The first thing that surprised me was the size of the box.

Archer_C60 (RU)_1.0−385X290X76mm-7022504146_(2)_1478081326220z.jpg

This size gives hope that since the gadget is large, its performance will be appropriate.

The package is standard - the router itself, a 12V power adapter, one Ethernet cable (which, by the way, made me very happy, since manufacturers usually forget about it) and some documentation.

The lower part of the body and antenna are made of gray matte plastic, while the top is made of white glossy plastic with a ribbed surface. It is clear that the designers from TP-Link are true to their style - other routers from this company are made in a similar design.

There are indicators on the front of the case. On the bottom of the case there is all the necessary information for the initial setup and the serial number of the device.

And here I discovered the first significant drawback in my opinion - there are completely no holes for mounting the router on the wall. Agree, in this state the device would look very attractive.

There are also no rubber feet at the bottom of the case, due to the absence of which it is not recommended to place the router on a sliding surface.

On the rear panel there are Ethernet ports, a connector for the power adapter and three buttons - Power On/Off, WPS/WiFi On/Off, Reset.

The lack of a USB port in the router could also be considered a disadvantage. But, taking into account the fact that many printers are now equipped with a WiFi module, and NAS is increasingly being used instead of conventional external hard drives, I will not do this.

Functionality and hardware

Here you need to immediately say why this router is really good and why buy it at all. And he is good, first of all, for two things. The first is support for the IEEE 802.11ac standard, which implies support for wireless network throughput of 433 Mbps and higher. The second point that deserves attention is as many as five antennas for signal amplification, three of them operating at a frequency of 2.4 GHz, and two at a frequency of 5 GHz. Let's look at each of these advantages in more detail, since there are certain nuances in each of them.

The high throughput of the wireless network would be 100% revealed, if not for one thing - wired Ethernet interfaces have a limit of 100 Mbit/s. That is, when working with the Internet, you will not even theoretically be able to go beyond this limitation. Which, in principle, does not negate the usefulness of the IEEE 802.11ac standard, since you will transfer files between two laptops, or broadcast a movie from a wireless NAS to your TV at a very decent speed. Naturally, to achieve good throughput, all devices on your network must support this standard.

As for dual-band support, again, be careful whether your device supports 5GHz. This frequency is now used much less frequently than 2.4GHz, so there will be much less interference on the air from neighbors. You also need to remember that the higher the wave frequency, the more data you can transmit, but there is a downside to this coin. The higher the frequency of the wave, the worse the wave bends around obstacles; take this fact into account when using 5GHz - its range in residential areas is less than that of 2.4GHz.

Inside the router there are two processors, the first - Qualcomm QCA9561 - is responsible for the IEEE 802.11b\g\n standards in the 2.4GHz range, the second processor is called Qualcomm QCA9882 and works with the IEEE 802.11ac standard in the 5GHz range. On board the device has 64Mb of RAM and 8Mb of ROM. All this stuffing allows you to process network packets quite quickly, ensuring stable operation of the router.

As for the signal strength, compared to the Mikrotik 951G-2HnD, which I use at home, the Archer C60 surprisingly showed slightly worse results, even despite 3 amplifying antennas (the 2.4 GHz band was used).

Although, the result can be considered quite good.
Screenshot_2017−02−24−02−28−03−471_com.farproc.wifi.analyzer.png

Setting up the router

Setting up the router raised some questions for me. Firstly, for some reason the standard login/password written on the router did not work. I had to do a reset.

Secondly, when creating a user account, I noticed that special characters cannot be used in the password (such as at the end of this sentence, for example)! Apparently, the guys from TP-Link are unfamiliar with the concept of password cryptographic strength, which is a pity.

Fortunately, this is where my questions ended. Further setup of the router was the easiest in my life (probably because the last router I set up was Mikrotik). A very beautiful and usable web interface, with two settings modes - quick setup and basic setup. The first is a kind of wizard, after going through which I successfully set up an Internet connection and set the wireless network parameters.

If you want to change some settings later (for example, change the password for a wireless network), you can do this in the basic settings section.

Well, in the additional settings section you will find VPN, DMZ, there is even QoS and many other scary letters. To be honest, I was very pleased with the built-in IPS (cyber-attack prevention system), the ability to quickly configure OpenVPN and not only perform port forwarding, but even publish some service externally.

Well, these are small joys for geeks and IT specialists, who, nevertheless, will look more towards more professional devices with command line support, because of the depth and flexibility in settings. But I couldn’t help but note such a wide selection of additional settings in this router.

Oh, by the way, if you notice that your wife often sits on Facebook or Instagram after midnight, and you don’t like it, there is a wonderful “Parental Control” setting that allows you to regulate Internet access for devices connected to the router by time, or in a targeted manner prohibit visiting any sites.

Let's sum it up

Overall, I liked the device. The only downsides are the lack of gigabit ports (after all, gigabit is now a standard in local networks and is not as expensive as before) and the lack of holes for wall mounting. I was pleased with the web interface (by the way, you can test it for usability), ease of setup, variety of additional functions for advanced users, and overall stable operation of the device. There was a small failure with a standard password, but I don’t dare say that this is some kind of bug common to the series, it’s quite possible that I just came across such a router.

Archer C60 is suitable for people who have recently increased the number of wireless devices in their apartment, but the router has remained the same. If an Internet connection speed of no more than 100 Mbps is enough for you, but data transfer between wireless devices is critical for you (for example, in a laptop-NAS-TV-tablet combination), then you can pay attention to this router. Moreover, the price is not exorbitant, as always with TP-Link.