TP-Link Archer AX55 review

Summary

In addition to being one of the most affordable Wi-Fi 6 routers available, the TP-Link Archer AX55, which retails for $110, is also one of the tiniest routers currently available. This makes it possible for it to conceal itself while still providing wireless internet access to a house of moderate size. Due to the fact that it is built with a dual-band design, it is capable of moving a significant amount of data for the money; nevertheless, during testing, it was unable to meet the requirements for mid-range distances.

TP-Link Archer AX55 review

In addition to a variety of customization choices that other routers can only dream of, it comes with a guarantee that is valid for two years. At a price that won’t break the bank, the Archer AX55 is an excellent option for individuals who are looking to upgrade to Wi-Fi 6. With the aid of our TP-Link Archer AX55 review, you will be able to determine whether or not this is the best Wi-Fi 6 router for you or if you would be better off paying a little bit more money to get higher-performing mid-range routers.

Comparison of the TP-Link Archer AX55 in Terms of Cost and Availability

The TP-Link Archer AX55 can be purchased from Amazon for $109.99.

The first Wi-Fi 6 router that is as easy on the pocketbook as it is at delivering high-speed wireless data, the TP-Link, is a router that is equal parts economy and performance. Its price starts at $110, and it is all about performance. It is priced similarly to the Reyee RG-E5, but it is more compact, it has a greater number of possibilities, and it offers a plethora of configuration choices that other products do not provide.

An Analysis of the TP-Link Archer AX55: Design

We might call the TP-Link Archer AX55 the lilliputian of Wi-Fi routers since it is just 10.2 inches tall, 5.3 inches wide, and 1.5 inches deep. There is just one piece of embellishment on it, and it is a raised center triangle design feature on top. It is dressed in basic black. It is about fifty percent smaller than the Reyee RG-E5, and it is not much larger than a book with a hardcover.

Although they cannot be changed, the four amplified antennas may be rotated and swiveled in any direction. The height of the router is increased by five inches when it is swung up. The Archer AX55, on the other hand, is sufficiently small to be able to conceal itself in plain sight on a desktop, kitchen counter, or bookshelf.

The Archer AX55 has been thoughtfully created, and it has soft rubber feet that will prevent it from scratching your furniture. Additionally, it has slots beneath it that allow it to be hung on a wall. Even while the system was operating at a high level of efficiency, the vents on top of the AX55 kept it cool. Even while transmitting large amounts of data back and forth, it still maintained a temperature of 95 degrees.

The well-known IPQ5018 Wi-Fi chipset from Qualcomm is installed inside, and it is responsible for the creation of a dual-band wireless Wi-Fi 6 network. There is 512 megabytes of random access memory (RAM) and 128 megabytes of flash storage for the router’s software and settings. The action is controlled by a dual-core CPU operating at 1 GHz. Over its 2.4GHz band, it is able to offer up to 574Mbps, and over its 5GHz band, it is capable of providing up to 2,402 Gbps. It is also capable of handling four distinct data streams. An additional drawback is that the Archer AX55 is unable to take advantage of the high-performance 6GHz band that Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 devices have available to them in order to increase total throughput. A moderate AX3000 Wi-Fi throughput rating is associated with it, which is significantly lower than the AX3200 rating that the RG-5E has.

The Archer AX55 takes advantage of all that Wi-Fi 6 has to offer. Included in this is the MUMIMO technology, which allows for the simultaneous servicing of up to 256 devices; the beamforming technology, which allows for the customization of each broadcast to the receiver; and the Orthogonal Frequency Division Many Access (OFDMA) technology, which allows for the simultaneous transfer of data to and from many clients. It is equipped with a fairly modern selection of ports, one of which is a USB 3.0 connection, which is capable of sending the contents of a data drive over the network at a pace of 5 gigabits per second. On the other hand, the Reyee RG-E5 does not include this feature.

In spite of the fact that it has a 1Gbps input WAN port, which ought to be more than sufficient for this category of router, it disregards the most recent multi-gig developments. It is not possible to combine any of these ports in order to achieve maximum performance, despite the fact that there are four downstream 1Gbps ports for a range of networking equipment.

Along with a WPS key that allows for the rapid insertion of devices, the rear panel also has a recessed reset switch and a button that allows for the on/off process. On the front, there are six LEDs, some of which indicate power, the two operating bands, an active Internet connection, Ethernet data flow, and whether or not a USB item is attached. The software of the system allows for the lights to be controlled and programmed to turn on and off at certain times.

The one-button mesh networking that Reyee offers is not available on the Archer AX55. In spite of this, it may be used in conjunction with other TP-Link equipment to establish an EasyMesh local area network (LAN) or function as a generic access point; activating it just needs a few steps of setup.

Last but not least, the AX55 has security under control, as it can function either as a VPN client or a VPN server, allowing users to remain anonymous while using the internet. In addition to protecting Internet of Things devices that are sometimes overlooked by the security software that is included with other routers, it comes equipped with TP-Link’s HomeShield software, which is embedded into the router with the purpose of preventing malware and cyberattacks. Although the fundamental protection is free, the Security+ membership includes additional features such as SafeSearch, the capacity to restrict the watching of videos on YouTube, and the ability to control the usage of devices by minors.

HomeShield, on the other hand, is a router-only method, while Netgear’s Armor combines router protections with antivirus software from Bitdefender. The annual cost of HomeShield Security+ is $55, whereas the cost of Netgear Armor is twice as much.

Review of the TP-Link Archer AX55: Performance Highlights

A Samsung Galaxy Book laptop and the networking benchmark tests conducted by Keysight IxChariot demonstrated that the TP-Link Archer AX55 is a router that is both dependable and capable of performing its intended functions. Despite the fact that it is able to satisfy all but the most data-hungry people in the house, it is not capable of reaching the astronomical gigabit-per-second rates of a Wi-Fi 7 device. However, tests conducted in my home, that is one hundred years old, were amazing, despite the fact that the router is very affordable.

The Archer AX55 router and the test system were separated by 15 feet, and the network transmitted 823.7Mbps. This is only a hair shy of the throughput of the Reye RG-E5, which is 849.2Mbps, but it is something that very few people will be able to see for themselves. The more costly Linksys MR9000, which was capable of pushing 822.0Mbps at this distance, was defeated by both of them. To put that into perspective, the TP-Link Archer AX6000, which has a throughput of 884.4Mbps, completely outperformed all three of them.

When measured at a distance of fifty feet, the Archer AX55 network was capable of moving up to 288.4 Mbps, which is 17% more data than the RG-E5 was able to transfer at 240.1 Mbps. Both of these were much slower than the Archer AX6000, which had a capacity of 396.4 Mbps and supplied a quarter more bandwidth than either the Archer X55 or the RG-E5 routers would have.

At a distance of 75 feet, most Wi-Fi 6 routers often see a resurgence in performance; however, the Archer AX55 began to fail and plummeted to the bottom of the class. Its throughput saw a decline to 89.6Mbps, which is one-third of the RG-5E’s 298.0Mbps and much lower than the 227.0Mbps and 149.9Mbps that were attained by the Linksys MR9000 and Archer AX6000, respectively.

The Archer AX6000 and the MR9000 were both offline at the terminal distance of 90 feet, which was the distance for the test. With a maximum of 15.0Mbps accessible at the test system, the Archer AX55, on the other hand, still had some room for improvement. At that distance, it is less than one-third of the throughput that the RG-E5 was capable of producing, but it is still sufficient for sending emails and maybe watching a movie. The RG-E5 had a range of 100 feet, whereas the Archer AX55 had a range of 110 feet, which was much more.

The test system was able to offer 697.1 Mbps of bandwidth when it was installed in an adjacent room that was 25 feet distant from the router and separated by a wall. This is an almost twenty percent decrease from the speed that the RG-E5 achieved under identical circumstances.

However, the AX55 was able to pass our data saturation test with flying colors. During the time that we were streaming 4K films to an iPad Pro and playing the BBC World Service news feed on a ThinkPad T470, we were also watching videos on YouTube on a MacBook Air. Additionally, a Samsung Galaxy Book was managing the transfer of data onto and off of a network RAID server. Every single item was sent without any freeze-ups, glitches, or oddities, and everything was heard clearly and loudly.

The Archer AX55 was the power miser of the router world since it only used 8.4 watts of power when it was doing its function of moving data packets back and forth. If you pay the national average of 15 cents per kilowatt hour for energy, the X55 should cost around $11 per year to run if it is kept on continuously. That is assuming that there are no power-saving strategies taken into consideration. Some, such as the RG-E5, use a substantially higher amount of electricity.

Configuration of the TP-Link Archer AX55 Review

There was no difficulty in installing and configuring the Archer AX55; the whole process took a total of ten minutes and thirty seconds, beginning to end. Although I could have simply utilized a linked browser and the router’s internal interface, I decided to use the Tether app, which is available for both Android and iOS versions of the operating system. The first thing I did was create an account, which required me to provide proof of my existence by means of an activation email.

After that, I proceeded to configure my Samsung Galaxy S20 phone to join with the default local area network (LAN) of the router. The SSID and password information are printed beneath the phone. After this, the next step was to choose “Router” from a selection of drawings that appeared on the screen.

After that, I connected everything to the power source and waited for four of the LEDs on the router to turn green. At that moment, the application instantly located the Archer AX55 and displayed the MAC address of the device to me. Setting up a new network name and login credentials, in addition to establishing an administrator password, was a necessary step that I needed to do after this.

An update to the router’s firmware was completed successfully. This was the first time that it connected.

The Configuration of the TP-Link Archer AX55 Review Device

The TP-Link Archer AX55, in contrast to many other inexpensive routers, provides the option of using either the Tether app or a linked browser in order to customize its operation precisely to your specifications via a wide range of setting adjustments. The Home window of the application is colorful and displays a simplified network map in addition to the number of clients that are connected to the local network.

On the bottom, there are tabs for Clients, which provide a list of everything that is connected along with the download and upload speeds, and HomeShield, which includes the additional protection provided by the router. A surprising amount of information is included inside the Tools area of an economy router. For example, it is possible to retry the installation, construct a mesh LAN, or transfer the login credentials to another person.

There is a three-line hamburger link located at the top of the page on the left side. This link allows users to see a list of routers, utilize Alexa or IFTTT instructions for home automation situations, and access a great list of usual queries about troubleshooting. In addition, there is a Settings area that allows you to determine the version of TP-Link’s software that is being used by the AX55.

Making use of a linked browser and the internal interface of the router provides not only that but also a great deal more. Because it is not possible to connect two different systems to the router at the same time, this circumstance constitutes an either/or scenario. Despite this, the primary screen displays a map of the links in the network.

This form of setting includes additional features such as the capability to fine-tune the wireless broadcasts, which includes on/off switches for orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) and target wake time (TWT).

Although there is a section dedicated to security, the Advanced category of the router has the majority of the power that the Archer AX55 has. Despite the fact that the majority of users would disregard this section, it gave me the opportunity to do a comprehensive degree of optimization, which included modifying the airtime fairness, beacon interval, and RTS threshold. The majority of the time, for the sake of cost savings, these are the customisation choices that are eliminated first.

A little further down, the USB section is where you can make the contents of a drive accessible to all of the clients who are connected to it. After putting a flash drive with a capacity of 1 gigabyte into the rear of the router, I instructed the system to do a rapid scan, which located the drive and made the music on it accessible across the network.

Just like the Reyee product, the Archer AX55 comes with a guarantee that lasts for two years and support that lasts for the whole of the device’s lifespan. Unless you are willing to pay an additional $100, it is a significant improvement over the one-year coverage and ninety-day support that Netgear offers. Simply because of this, the Archer AX55 is an excellent value.

On TP-Link’s support sites, you can find a great deal of online assistance that may assist you with configuring the Archer AX55 and getting the most out of it. There are videos that you can watch to learn how to install and configure the software, as well as access to a comprehensive manual and live or email support.

The Final Word on the TP-Link Archer AX55 Review

In spite of the fact that it is not the fastest Wi-Fi 6 router available, the Archer AX55 from TP-Link is not only one of the most affordable options, but it is also quite small. able to provide performance that is superior to what is considered satisfactory, especially for individuals who do not have access to gigabit internet. Thankfully, it offers a plethora of configuration choices that other products do not provide because of their pricing.

The AX55 is the most rounded router of the two, despite the fact that it is absolutely rectangular. Its pricing, throughput, and two-year guarantee are nearly equivalent to those of the Reyee RG-E5, which is priced at $110, and its throughput is also around the same. It provides a large number of additional customization possibilities, a high-speed USB connector that allows the contents of a data drive to be accessed from one end of the network to the other, and the capability to conceal the little router in plain sight.

The Archer AX55 is an excellent choice for those who do not want the highest possible performance of Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7, but who are looking for a router that is well-designed and will continue to distribute data for many years to come.