For most people, the router they are given as part of their broadband provider is good enough; it does the job. For those that want something a little bit more customisable or feature deep though, there are a lot of aftermarket options. Take for example, the newly announced TP-Link Archer C2600, with full support for multiple MU-MIMO devices, meaning that everyone can connect whatever they want without impacting performance.
In terms of its more traditional features/specifications, the C2600 offers speeds of up to 1,733 Mbps over the 5GHz band, and up to 800Mbps on the 2.4GHz band. TP-Link claims its new router hits these top speeds more often than a lot of competitor products, thank to its “4-stream” technology, which it says helps devices reach their networking potential.This should make this router a useful piece of kit for those interested in streaming 4k content to their devices.
Related: Netgear is releasing the Nighthawk X8, a Wi-Fi router supporting up to 5.3Gbps
Internally this router has a 1.4GHz dual-core Qualcomm CPU and has four dual-band antennas for data transmission. Unsurprisingly, it supports all of the latest Wi-Fi standards, as well as legacy b/g/n. For those not wanting to connect wirelessly though, there are four ethernet LAN ports on the rear, as well as a single ethernet WAN port. The right hand side also sports a pair of USB 3.0 ports and the typical controls: Wi-Fi toggle, WPS and a reset button.
But resorting to such hardware buttons feels archaic with a piece of kit like this. For those looking for a quick set up and access to back-end functions, there’s a tether app for the new C2600 that is available for both Android and iOS smartphones from their respective stores.
The only downside to all of these fancy features and specifications is the price. Expect to pay as much as $250.
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