TP Link Archer AX21 AX1800 Dual-Band Wi-Fi 6 Router
$84.99
15% Off
TP Link Archer AX21 Router is, without a doubt, one of the greatest cheap AX1800 Wi-Fi 6 routers around. With a good combination of speed and features, this router is a great choice for someone planning to get more out of Wi-Fi 6 devices without spending too much on features they’ll never use.
TP Link Archer AX21 AX1800 Router Feature:
Dual-Band Wi-Fi 6: Outfitted with the newest wireless technology, Wi-Fi 6, for faster speeds, greater capacity, and decreased network congestion.
Next-Gen 1.8 Gbps Speeds: Delight in smooth streaming, downloading, and gaming all with no buffering with Wi-Fi speeds of 1.8 Gbps.
Connect More Devices: Wi-Fi 6 technology communicates more data to more devices using revolutionary OFDMA technology while simultaneously reducing lag.
Quad-Core Processing: The 1.5 GHz quad-core CPU makes sure communications between your router and all connected devices are smooth.
Extensive Coverage: Beamforming, independent FEM, and four antennas combine to deliver focused reception to devices far away.
Increased Battery Life: Target Wake Time technology decreases your devices’ power consumption to extend their battery life.
USB Easy Sharing: A USB 2.0 Port enables easy file sharing within your network or building private Cloud Storage.
Easy Setup: Set up your router in minutes with the powerful TP-Link Tether App.
Improved Vent Design: Unleashes the full power of the whole machine.
Where To Buy TP Link Archer AX21 Router:
TP Link Archer AX21 AX1800 Router Spec:
| Standards | Wi-Fi 6 IEEE 802.11ax/ac/n/a 5 GHz IEEE 802.11ax/n/b/g 2.4 GHz |
| WiFi Speeds | AX1800 5 GHz: 1201 Mbps (802.11ax) 2.4 GHz: 574 Mbps (802.11ax) |
| WiFi Range | 4× Fixed High-Performance Antennas Multiple antennas form a signal-boosting array to cover more directions and large areasBeamforming Concentrates wireless signal strength towards clients to expand WiFi rangeHigh-Power FEM Improves transmission power to strengthen signal coverage |
| WiFi Capacity | Dual-Band Allocate devices to different bands for optimal performanceOFDMA Simultaneously communicates with multiple Wi-Fi 6 clientsAirtime Fairness Improves network efficiency by limiting excessive occupation4 Streams Connect your devices to more bandwidth |
| Processor | 1.5 GHz Quad-Core CPU |
| Ethernet Ports | 1× Gigabit WAN Port 4× Gigabit LAN Ports |
| USB Support | 1× USB 2.0 Port
Supported Partition Formats: Supported Functions: |
| WiFi Encryption | WPA WPA2 WPA3 WPA/WPA2-Enterprise (802.1x) |
| Guest Network | 1× 5 GHz Guest Network 1× 2.4 GHz Guest Network |
TP Link Archer AX21 AX1800 Router Reviews:
TP Link Archer AX21 Router is a dual-band router with a 2.4 GHz band claiming top speeds of as much as 574Mbps and a 5GHz band with a top transfer rate of 1,201 Mbps. The caveat there is that you can only connect to one band at a time, so when TP-Link says that the router uses speeds of as much as 1.8 Gbps, what it really means is 1.2 Gbps.
I tested TP Link Archer AX21 Router against two budget-priced AX1800 routers: the Netgear R6700AX and the Asus RT-AX55. All three can be yours for about $100, or less if you catch a good sale, and all offer decent performance for the price.
Still, it was TP Link Archer AX21 Router that inched out ahead in my speed tests. Those room-by-room speed averages are the product of lots of tests across various days at my smallish, 1,300 square foot home, where I have a fiber internet connection that tops out at 300Mbps. TP Link Archer AX21 Router can push that connection to the max in four out of five spots in my house. In the fifth, a back bathroom dead zone that’s on the opposite end of my house from where the router sits, my average download speeds plummeted down to 99Mbps– but that’s still a serviceable connection, and it’s more than twice as fast as what Netgear or Asus was capable of.
That’s not to say that Archer AX21 Router beat the R6700AX or the RT-AX55 outright. Though TP-Link scored the highest average download speeds, it was Netgear’s router that notched the greatest average upload speeds, averaging in at about 195Mbps across my entire home (TP Link Archer AX21 Router was a close second at 188Mbps, while the Asus RT-AX55 averaged out to 170Mbps).
And then there’s latency, or ping. All three routers performed pretty well, but it was the Asus RT-AX55 (yellow) that completed with the lowest average latency, never spiking any higher than 19ms. TP Link Archer AX21 Router (blue) was, again, a close runner-up, with only a handful of minor spikes above 20ms. The Netgear R6700AX (red) finished third, with an average latency just above 20ms and multiple spikes as high as 26ms. So-so, but noticeably behind the other two.
With all three routers, I also made sure to run two completely separate sets of tests– one on a device that supports Wi-Fi 6 (an iPhone 12 Pro) and the other on an older device that uses Wi-Fi 5 (an iPad Air I purchased about five years ago). Wi-Fi 6 is backward-compatible, so older devices like that will still have the ability to connect to TP Link Archer AX21 Router just fine– they just won’t be capable to take advantage of newer features that make Wi-Fi 6 faster.
In this case, the difference in download speeds was pretty slim. Across my entire home, the Wi-Fi 6 iPhone 12 Pro notched a near-perfect average of 299Mbps, while the Wi-Fi 5 iPad Air averaged in at about 270Mbps. The difference between upload speeds was slightly more pronounced– the Wi-Fi 6 iPhone 12 Pro averaged in at around 190Mbps, while the Wi-Fi 5 iPad Air appeared in closer to 150Mbps, which is a dip of about 20%. In both cases, the difference will likely be even more noticeable with a connection that’s faster than mine.
Final:
The TP-Link Archer AX21 gets you there for $100 or less, and it offers stronger overall performance than the competition, plus a very good app for keeping an eye on the network. I didn’t notice any major bandsteering issues with the router’s SmartConnect feature, which automatically routes you between the 2.4 and 5GHz bands as needed, and I never encountered any drops or stalls as I ran tests in my house. I even think the design is nicer-looking than average.
Anna –
Archer AX21 router is packed meticulously inside the retail box. Once unpacked and plugged in, it walks the user through basic, and/or personalized, setup. The web interface is well crafted, and finding various features of the router is relatively easy. This router improved the transfer speed of my devices by about 50%-80%; compared to my old ac router. The signal/speed is acceptable up to 60ft in all directions through floors and walls. Physically, the router is built well and relatively small. It is sturdy, for a delicate electronic equipment that is.
I recently bought a NetGear AX router. I returned it partly because it lacked basic quality, and primarily because it stopped working after five days. The NetGear router gave me a base of comparison for this TPLink router. I am now convinced that this TPLink router is a superior product.