TP-LinkArcher BE230 Dual-Band WiFi 7 Router, 3600Mbps Lightning-Fast Speeds, 2x 2.5G WAN/LAN and 3x 1Gbps LAN Ports, USB 3.0 Port, VPN WiFi Router, HomeShield Security, Easy Setup, EasyMesh

If you, like me, are a Virgin Media customer who has been gnashing their teeth in frustration at their absolutely rubbish so-called 'Superhub 3.0', then prick up your ears (and/or eyes) and read on. I've had my Superhub for about five years now and it was ok at first and its coverage used to reach the very rear of my long, narrow house, but over the past few months its WiFi has been randomly dropping until earlier this week when I received a message from Virgin Media saying 'Your account has been upgraded - reboot your kit', so I duly rebooted the Superhub only to find that the WiFi from it had completely stopped working. My partner and I both work from home, so this wasn't the best, but after some hair-pulling moments of panic I discovered that the ethernet ports on the back of the superhub still worked, so I was able to get some semblance of connectivity restored (the WiFi hotspot feature in Windows 11, indicentally, is absolutely superb) and decided that it was time to switch the superhub to modem only mode and purchase a WiFi router.After a little bit of hunting and research, I whittled my selection down to a few routers. The TP-Link Archer C64 obviously won the battle due to its bargain basement price and richness of features, so I snapped one up and it landed into my grubby little paws a few hours later, and I was quickly tearing through its cellophene wrapping to get a gawp at it.>>> WHAT'S IN THE BOX?In the box, you'll get the router itself, a short ethernet cable, the power adapter and a couple of quick-start instruction books. Bonus green points to TP-Link for making the packaging purely out of cardboard and better for the planet.>>> FIRST IMPRESSIONS?The first thing that struck me about this router is just how small and light it is - it's really tiny and weighs next to nothing. It's also square, which is a radical departure from the routers I've bought in the past which resembled artfully modelled matchboxes, and is very minimalist in its design. At each corner are its massive antennas which make it look like some sort of dead robot/crab creature.There are a row of LEDS on the front of it and, around its back, there are four ethernet ports (with a dedicated one for plugging into your hub) and a WPS/Reset button and the input for the power adapter.>>> IS IT EASY TO SET UP?Well, I work in IT and have set up a few routers in my time so I've got a fair bit of experience in such things. Saying that, I did find this router particularly simple to set up, mainly thanks to the TP-Link app which guides you through the setup process. From plugging it in, setting the Virgin Superhub to modem-only mode and getting the Archer C64 router up and running and pumping out its WiFi connection, it took less than 15 minutes, I reckon.Less IT savvy folks might find it a little more difficult (the app isn't great at explaining what you need to do next) so you might want to grab an IT-savvy pal to help you if you're not too sure what to do.>>>WHAT FEATURES DOES IT HAVE?Despite the relatively cheap price of the Archer C64, I think it's pretty fully featured. It's got all of the bells and whistles such as a built-in Firewall, Dual SSIDs, DMZ, port forwarding and all sorts of things.>>>HOW DOES IT PERFORM?Well, coming from a Virgin Superhub 3 - a hub that's not exactly well regarded - this thing is lightning fast and has an impressive range. The superhub failed to reach the bathroom at the very rear of my old, long, narrow house (with thick walls), but with the Archer C64 I'm getting a fantastic signal and good speeds. Running a speed test sees this router hitting and sustaining the maximum speed my contract is capable of. You can't ask for more than that!>>>SUMMING UPThis is an absolutely cracking router for the price and, if you're sick of the hub that came with your broadband package you should definitely consider getting one of these!

This fixed all of our issues in the home. No signal issues and extremely strong in each area. I've wanted to swap to modem only mode for a while so having done this I'm very surprised how easy this was and the the tether app interface helps and is so self explanatory. I no longer need my wifi extenders in the house which is a shame but I can now sell these on. We've now future proofed the house for when we get full fibre in our area so this is exciting. We have around 20 devices connected and this doesn't even break a sweat!

This review is for the TP-LINK Archer C50 AC1200 Dual Band Wi-Fi Cable Router (it’s too easy to read the wrong review on these multi product listings)The Background:My Sky Q Fibre Hub, Sky Q TV Box and Sky Mini Box all emit a consolidated boosted WiFi mesh network throughout the house. This makes the signal very strong as the boxes are located in different rooms. They play nicely together and streaming HD video content from one Sky product to another is no problem at all. The Sky Q Hub combines it's 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks into one. This is handy and when on 5Ghz it's very fast. However, the latest iPhones (8 onwards I think) don't seem to like this mesh network and drop off when moving between rooms (access points). This is frustrating because It seems that Sky blame Apple and Apple blame Sky for the incompatibility. I have great new technology in a Sky Q network but I can't use it. Sky do not allow you to swap out the router for another which would be my first-choice solution.My Solution:I wanted a new Access Point capable of a 5GHz signal and also capable of producing a gated Guest Network that I could attach to my Sky Q Hub via a Cat5 cable (through a TP-Link Powerline socket to be exact). I knew that this router is a Cable Router but also read that it can be set up in Access point mode.Turning on the Archer C50 (Version 4 not 3 arrived in the post) I connected to its WiFi and set it as an Access Point. I connected the Cat5 cable from one of the ONLY TWO ethernet ports on the Sky Q HUB to the Archer C50. I renamed the SSID’s of the 2.4GHz and 5GHz separate WiFi signals and created a third separate Guest Network. When connecting with my iPhone I achieved the full speed of my internet connection (I only pay for 40Mbps).The Tether app is nice and simple for the basic tasks otherwise use the web UI.The Problem:Unless I have missed something, I do not see this product listed as having REDUCED functionality when in Access Point mode. The Guest Network can not be isolated from the other devices and the parental features and bandwidth control are not listed when in this mode.So, yes. I have a nice new WiFi signal that the iPhones play ball with and I can now achieve maximum speed. Every device on my network whether Sky WiFi, Archer WiFi or Cat5 through my Powerlines all talk to each other correctly. BUT so can any Guest that I allow onto the “Guest” network.Bottom Line:If you don’t need a “secure gated” Guest network (who doesn’t these days?), bandwidth control, parental controls or are going to use this with a cable router such as Virgin Media then this would have 5 stars for the price (I paid £30). I give it 4 for not stating the limitations.

Amazing product, quick set up and no issuesYou will need the login from your internet provider but BT for example is generic and can be found online.Higher speed than the BT smart hub 2, and the option to split into tribands which is so great.

Amazing router blistering speed s great wide range WI FI connections to multiple devices with ease very easy to set up and use