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

I had great success with this router so far (BE550). This is probably one of the easiest routers I have ever setup. The wireless capabilities are really impressive having great range and speed. I also love the look of it and I like how it’s oriented vertically. For anyone using CenturyLink Fiber, this router has all the VLAN tagging settings already in the router menu. To get it working, connect your ONT to the routers WAN port. Then, go to Network > IPTV/VLAN and check Enabled, then on the dropdown menu for Mode, simply select USA-CenturyLink. It sets the VLAN tag setting and all other settings for this ISP. It sets your Internet Connection Type as PPPoE and asks for your user name and password (if you don’t know this, call CenturyLink). That’s it, I was connected in under 60 seconds. It was as if this was a preconfigured router from CenturyLinkl - AWESOME!Oh, and when I ran a speed test on my Gaming PC (it is directly wired to the router), I got faster speeds then when I was using my CenturyLink’s router (Zyxel C3510XZ). Very happy.

UPDATE: 23 May, 2024Now it's been awhile. I have to write: If something is messed up, it's NEVER the EAP225 WiFi units or this thing! It's been months since it's been rebooted! We have enough off-grid solar so the internet stuff and the comp room can stay off-grid all the time. It never gets rebooted nowadays and it's always there and it doesn't mess up! It has a gigabit (24 port) switch and two (8 port) 2.5 gigabit switches plugged into it. A total of 4 NAS's; three of them 2.5 gigabit dual LAN's; one with dual gigabit LAN's. And three computers, all 2.5 gigabit. And the Yeacomm 5G gateway is also 2.5 gigabit. Nothing bothers this thing. I'm still not using its WiFi, because of those EAP225's, which are also great. I read a few reviews, before, raving about this thing's WiFi, though and people write that it works great. The wife is Korean and she watches Korean soap opera's all day. We usually download way over a terabyte a month here. The Yeacomm connects at about 400 megabits down and 110 to 130 megabits up.___________________________________________________________________This runs a whole bunch of stuff - WiFi and LAN - typically about 15 devices. I'm not going to rate the Wifi because I'm not going to use it yet. 1) I have two EAP225's; they're VERY strategically located and they mesh with each other. Unfortunately they won't mesh with this thing. 2) I don't have anything else that will even do WiFi 7 yet.I got this mainly for the five 2.5 GbE ports - one WAN and 4 LAN's! I've also got a Yeacomm (Speednet) NR610 (also a very nice, but expensive device), and my internet is blazingly fast! Just very snappy. Internet tasks are usually as fast as doing stuff locally on the computer. You can easily tell when it's the website that's slow. That Yeacomm has a 2.5 GbE port and I was drooling at the thought of getting that 2.5 GbE speed to the LAN. (I also have a gigabit switch, a PoE switch [for the EAP225'sand the Magic Jacks that only do 10 MbE], and two 2.5 GbE switches.) Really nice that all my stuff plugs into this!The WEB interface on this device is a thing of beauty! Everything is very logically laid out, most changes, you don't have to reboot for, and if you know your network stuff, you'll find it nice and easy to use.If you don't know your network stuff, you're still in luck! It took its time communicating with the Yeacomm (LTE CPE Modem) (and a bunch of other devices) on the first boot - maybe 3 minutes or 4 minutes - but it configured itself very well! I have two Magic Jack lines and those didn't work right away. It took some hair-pulling-out time to straighten it out. But I've had one way audio problems with those before. This time, this router had the provisions to fix it (on one of them only.) That's not this router's fault; it's just the way it is. You need to forward a range of ports on two different devices and you can't. It took a very long time to get fixed. It was like a combination lock. Turns out the final step was some settings in the Yeacomm. The Magic Jacks now talk directly to the cell phone tower. One of them works perfectly and the other one only has one way audio when calling [mostly] cell phones. If I had another 2.5 GbE port on the Yeacomm, I could do it, I think, but as long as I can get calls on both lines and call out on one of them, I'm happy.Everything else worked like a champ with settings that this router came up with all on its own! The only thing I changed (not counting the Magic Jack settings) is making a bunch of MAC | IP reservations.When you set it up, you get a light show for awhile. Then the lights can be turned on or turned off with a WEBUI switch. You can also set up a night time mode and have them on in the daytime and off at night, specifying the times. You can plug a USB hdd into the USB port and use it as a very fast, very big network share. It's almost like having an NAS. It's been totally stable and reliable so far.It's a lot of money. I had to talk myself into it. I shopped for about a week. That should tell you something. Now that I've gotten to use it, I consider it well worth the money! I give their tech support 5 stars, not because of this thing, but because I've used their tech support in the past and I already KNOW it's exceptionally good! I have a lot of other TP-Link stuff. Advanced, hi-end stuff.Half of the 12 connected devices shown in the pic.

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.