Advice needed about TP-Link Archer C7 AC1750

[sobamonster42]

Hi all, I recently recontracted my broadband and was entitled a free Asus N56U router which has seen distinguished reviews about its speed and reliability.

However at this time with the rise of 802.11AC, I feel the need to future proof my network. The cheapest AC option on the market is the TP-Link Archer C7 AC1750.

However I have read forum posts elsewhere of its performance issues largely due to sloppy firmware. Are there any users of this router that can shed light on the issues other users have faced?

http://www.tp-link.sg/products/details/?categoryid=2872&model=Archer+C7#down

 

[fyrye]

Read some reviews on some sites like newegg and amazon:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704177

To shed some light on the entire scope, lets start off first by asking what your advertised broadband service offers.
At the moment unless you are lucky enough to be able to subscribe to google fiber (1Gbps), the fastest is with cable coming it at around ~100Mbps. With plans to double that to ~200Mbps.
Wireless N can operate at 600Mbps, 6 times that of cables fastest, 3 times after the update (2-3 years).
Wireless AC can operate at 1.3Gbps (1300Mbps)
The model you have (Asus N56U) operates at 300Mbps+300Mbps.

I would at this time wait for 802.11ac to become more seasoned with perfected firmware. In 2-3 years when you actually can utilize the speed of 802.11ac for your internet. Unless you do a lot of WLAN (access point) activity, you won't notice any benefit of switching from 802.11n to 802.11ac as 802.11n already exceeds the speeds your ISP can provide.

As for my recommendation for 802.11ac, I would look at the ASUS series of 802.11ac routers and adapters:
802.11ac Wireless Router: http://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RTAC66U
(Runs hot and would suggest getting a cooler for it and updating to the latest firmware out of the box, This particular router has already received a Tom's Hardware Award)

802.11ac Wireless Adapters:
http://www.asus.com/us/Networking/PCEAC66/
http://www.asus.com/us/Networking/USBAC53/

 

[sobamonster42]

Read some reviews on some sites like newegg and amazon:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704177

To shed some light on the entire scope, lets start off first by asking what your advertised broadband service offers.
At the moment unless you are lucky enough to be able to subscribe to google fiber (1Gbps), the fastest is with cable coming it at around ~100Mbps. With plans to double that to ~200Mbps.
Wireless N can operate at 600Mbps, 6 times that of cables fastest, 3 times after the update (2-3 years).
Wireless AC can operate at 1.3Gbps (1300Mbps)
The model you have (Asus N56U) operates at 300Mbps+300Mbps.

I would at this time wait for 802.11ac to become more seasoned with perfected firmware. In 2-3 years when you actually can utilize the speed of 802.11ac for your internet. Unless you do a lot of WLAN (access point) activity, you won't notice any benefit of switching from 802.11n to 802.11ac as 802.11n already exceeds the speeds your ISP can provide.

As for my recommendation for 802.11ac, I would look at the ASUS series of 802.11ac routers and adapters:
802.11ac Wireless Router: http://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RTAC66U
(Runs hot and would suggest getting a cooler for it and updating to the latest firmware out of the box, This particular router has already received a Tom's Hardware Award)

802.11ac Wireless Adapters:
http://www.asus.com/us/Networking/PCEAC66/
http://www.asus.com/us/Networking/USBAC53/

Oh I read the reviews on newegg and seems like the problem of dropped downloads is due to the hardware NAT. I tried wikipedia for an elaboration on NAT but got more questions than answers. Could you simplify the explanation, like what are its uses? Is it necessary for day to day internet use?

My current broadband connection was just upgraded to 200mbps fiber so future proofing sounds like a good idea.

On another note, I managed to get wired speeds of 160mbps down and 94mbps up on the desktop connected directly to the router connected to the fibre gateway. The router is a gigabit Aztech GR7000 (http://www.aztech.com/sg/wireless_gr7000.html) so it should be able to handle the increased bandwidth. However the desktop on the second floor hits a limit of 94mbps down and 80mbps up. It is not directly connected to the router and instead runs through a gigabit switch by Zyxel (http://www.zyxel.com/uk/en/products_services/gs_105b.shtml) which should be able to handle the 200mbps connection. When I open task manager under the networking tab, I see local area network 1gbps so I assume the interface detected is gigabit? A little off topic here but any idea wheres the bottleneck??

Diagram:
Fiber modem --> Aztech GR7000 --> 20m Cat5e cable --> Zyxel GS-105B --> 15m Cat5e cable --> Desktop

The Archer C7 is the cheapest model on the market for AC1750 routers and hence a tempting choice. The hardware is solid but the firmware leaves much to be desired in terms of reliability. However the price of the competing routers by asus, cisco and dlink are about 50% higher, so if the hardware NAT is the only issue before a firmware update, it might be a good investment.

 

[fyrye]

The issue I can see with your connection to the switch is the CAT 5. Are you 100% sure it is CAT5e?
Doesn't appear that you can check the switch light colors to determine what mode the port is in Most switches have a light combination to determine what mode a port is operating at.
If you have a cable tester, test to make sure all 8 pins are communicating from the switch to the PC/Router, it could be a bad pair or a cheap cable.
I would switch it to CAT6 which is 550mhz vs CAT5e 350mhz. Relatively cheap upgrade and save you the hassle of getting a wire tester.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10232

NAT stands for network address translation and acts similar to a firewall by rejecting unsolicited traffic to the router protecting your PCs from unwanted access. While not needed, it is highly recommended.
Unless your PC requests something, it won't receiving anything, stopping activity at the router. If you were to monitor your traffic directly hooked up to a modem, you would see an ENORMOUS amount of hits and requests being made. Behind a NAT it would be specific responses to the requests your PC is asking for. This is why port forwarding is needed to allow servers to operate such as Ventrilo servers etc. It says that all unsolicited traffic on port xyz is sent to IP abc.

From the wiki:

A NAT device is similar to a phone system at an office that has one public telephone number and multiple extensions. Outbound phone calls made from the office all appear to come from the same telephone number. However, an incoming call that does not specify an extension cannot be transferred to an individual inside the office. In this scenario, the office is a private LAN, the main phone number is the public IP address, and the individual extensions are unique port numbers.

I am however jealous of your bandwidth. Despite that, I would still wait until 802.11ac is more seasoned, possibly even see a boost like we did with 802.11n providing speeds up to 600 Mbps vs the original 150Mbps when it was released in 2009. As well we are expected to see 802.11ad soon. With that said running on Wireless N you still don't hit the cap of your bandwidth for internet. I personally want to upgrade but considering all the issues with them, I am waiting as well. I have a 802.11n 300 and do perform a lot of large file transfers and HD video streaming on the LAN.

As a side note, with computers, you usually (not always) get what you pay for when new products are released.
If they have issues "due to the hardware NAT" that is a bad sign right out the bat vs overheating IMHO.
Buggy firmware is to be expected though with any new specification release.