Anyone with TP_Link Archer C7 AC1750 Router, How's Your Wifi Range?

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Jul 2, 2007
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I'm looking to add a wifi range extender and have decided to go with TP_Link's One Mesh system, specifically the RE300 AC1200 unit. However in order to work as the seamless One Mesh solution, I'll need to upgrade from my TP_Link C59 AC1350 router to one of the TP_Link routers on their One Mesh compatibility list. I'm looking at the C7 AC1750 (v5.0) unit, it's on the compatibility list and is at the desired price point.


What I need to know is anyone with a C7 are you getting at least -73 dBm signal strength in an indoor distance of about 60 or 70 ft with at least four regular 2x4 and gypsum board interior walls to penetrate. That would be the general path to where I want to RE300 plugged in which should allow it to provide fair signal to the swimming pool. That would put the RE300 about 30' from our pool area with the RE300 high mounted approx 7' up the interior side of exterior wall that faces pool. This wall is standard 2x4 studs with brick veneer on exterior side. House is single level.

There's the plan. If the C7 is powerful enough to get at least -73 dBm signal to the RE300 I should be able to pull off poolside wifi this summer for under $100 total.
 
We've had one for a few years with no problems. I can access it from inside my car in the garage, but that's probably only 30-40 feet from the router.
 
I have experience with the C7 v4. As far as radio performance goes it's a typical desktop router. It's likely to be slightly better than the C59 but nothing groundbreaking. Do some signal surveys with your C59 and a smartphone with an app like WiFi Analyzer.

The whole point of a mesh network is you can add another node in the middle of a long path and it will automatically start relaying the signal.
 
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Have you tried a speed test near current router and then at the point where you plan on installing the extender? Use your smartphone for this.

There will be a slight upgrade potentially from your current setup with what you propose but not leaps and bounds.

My personal findings is extenders and mesh at least in my 1910 home only work well connected with wires between them. I move off TP Link (except a travel router) and onto Google Wifi and love that. 100-240 Mbps all over my home. My 1 acre lot manages about 20-100 Mbps it seems.
 
I think you know I have the Archer C7 AC 1750 V2.
I cant answer your question and why the delayed reply.

Different home from yours. All I can say is I LOVE the product, freaking amazing piece of equipment for the price, been up and running for years now and maybe I can count on one hand the number of times I ever had to reset it.
We have a 3000 sq foot home, router is in a central coat closet on the main floor, mounted at the top of the closet, which is also under the second floor staircase. There isnt a place in the house (but will need to verify, its been a while where it is worse then -65) But our home is an open floor plan, central in the house are 16 foot high ceilings so it really opens up the home for signal to get everywhere on the second floor but, think you will admit, having the router under the staircase isnt ideal, yet, having it in the middle of the house is.
I think a BIG factor in good performance is to put ferrite noise filters on ALL lines going into ANY router.

So impressed with this router, just bought an Archer AC1900 A9 for my daughters home as a Christmas present, they couldn't believe the difference in speed from the cheap one they just bought which replaced a netgear that went bad.
 
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Originally Posted by madRiver
Range is decent but the router crashes and locks up with 20 devices. Owned two and never happy with it.


I have one, the v4 version, and this is never a problem, and I peak out at about 40 devices. Memory utilization is always low.

I've never used it with stock firmware, though. I bought the router for its OpenWRT support.
 
^^^ Agree^^ I forgot to mention, and this is just off the top of my head.
We have on our Archer C7 AC 1700 V2 network;

7 Roku players
2 laptops
2 tablets
2 desktops
1 Workstation computer** (see note below)
1 Printer
2 cell phones
1 Channel Master DVR
3 Outdoor Security Cameras
1 Indoor Security Camera
1 Doorbell Camera
Telephone interface* (see note below)

*Ooma Telephone Interface Plugged into the port on the router
**Cisco Router for my wifes workstation computer AND her company telephone interface in her office plugged into a power line adapter terminating into the back of the C7 router. The Cisco router is a company provided router/VPN and only used for the workstation computer but again plugged into the back of the C7.

We also on occasion connect our TVs and Xbox just for firmware updates but never leave them connected.

Gosh, I type this post and think, my god, it amazes me and NEVER a hiccup on our wifi.internet system. But I will admit, I have had this router for YEARS now, love it but since getting my daughter the newer one (posted 2 posts above this one) I may replace it, when our local electric utility finally gets fiber into our area, they are about 1 year behind, right now we have Spectrum 100 which is great/rock solid but they have become whores endlessly raising the price, our electric utility is 40% cheaper and up to tens times faster on the upload.
 
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I bought one for my mom's 800 sq ft apartment and used it for about a month, kept having connection issues and low speeds issues even over short distances.
It was a referb unit though, so maybe that was the issue? Not sure which version it was either.
Also be aware I heard that there are 2 different versions of this router, one that is Alexa compatible and one that is not. The Alexa one can't be flashed to DD-WRT/OpenWRT if that is something you want to do.
Again, not positive on this, but need to look into if you plan on buying and flashing to open source.

I also tried a D-Link AC1700 with similar issues as the TP-Link (poor distance and slow speeds) as well as frequent disconnects and needing resets.

I ended up with a Netgear Nighthawk R6700 (AC1750) that has great coverage and getting full speeds (110Mbps). Had it for 2 months without a single reset or connection issue.
Only complaint about it is that it does not allow the same SSID on the 2.4 and 5 ghz channels.
 
Had an Archer C7 years ago then stepped it up to a dedicated firewall (edgerouter) and dedicated AP (unifi AC Pro). These are not beginner pieces of equipment but I've not experienced a WiFi hiccup in 2 years. In my field we consider wireless routers than look like space ships and are plastic to be total junk.

My professional IT recommendation for a good router/wireless is the Ubiquiti Amplifi kit (3 piece kit). Some of the other ones like Eero, or Orbi may be decent but I don't have first hand experience with them.
 
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I wish I got decent results with my TP Link but I cried uncle threw three(2 C7 AC1750 and the C9 AC1900) into a cardboard box in disgust after wasting hours.

New world on Google Wifi-3 Pucks in terms of speed(250Mbps same as internet) in majority of home and reliability.
 
Originally Posted by blupupher

I ended up with a Netgear Nighthawk R6700 (AC1750) that has great coverage and getting full speeds (110Mbps). Had it for 2 months without a single reset or connection issue.
Only complaint about it is that it does not allow the same SSID on the 2.4 and 5 ghz channels.

Tomato firmware supports same SSID on both channels. But why would you want that? How would you know which one you are connecting to?

I've been running FreshTomato on my R7000 right from the day I bought it. I love it. Very stable.
 
Originally Posted by Quattro Pete
Originally Posted by blupupher

I ended up with a Netgear Nighthawk R6700 (AC1750) that has great coverage and getting full speeds (110Mbps). Had it for 2 months without a single reset or connection issue.
Only complaint about it is that it does not allow the same SSID on the 2.4 and 5 ghz channels.

Tomato firmware supports same SSID on both channels. But why would you want that? How would you know which one you are connecting to?

I've been running FreshTomato on my R7000 right from the day I bought it. I love it. Very stable.


It's the default for enterprise gear to have the same SSID on both bands. Your device and AP should negotiate which is the most appropriate based on congestion, signal strength...etc. It's only home gear that I've noticed the separation. My Meraki MR20 has 3x SSID's broadcasting on both bands for example, as did my Aruba AP-207 before it and the Cisco SAP702i before that.
 
Archer C7 AC1750 Router - Have been using this router for over a year and it's been awesome. Great coverage and I purchased it after reading many favourable reviews.
 
Originally Posted by JGmazda
Archer C7 AC1750 Router - Have been using this router for over a year and it's been awesome. Great coverage and I purchased it after reading many favourable reviews.


Yes, exactly, our C7 1750 has been running V2 (gosh, just guessing) maybe 5 years now?

I see some other comments in here about someone having an issue in a 800 sqft house with more then one brand of router. If that is the case, there is an issue in the house, not the router as this router is Rock solid in our 3000 sq ft home. (see previous posts)

Many routers (all brands) are incorrectly set up/positioned improperly in the home. Also in the home, electrical interference will kill wifi, so the purchaser goes out and gets a super more (claimed) powerful unit at great expensive with good results and thinks they found the solution. BUT that is because the router is able to overcome the existing flaws in the placement or electrical interference occurring in the home with more power.

One other reminder to those who do not know. the router we are talking about here is the Archer C7 1750 NOT the Archer A7 1750 - these are two different routers.
One thing TP LINK could improve on is making it more easy to discern between routers.

(my background includes working on customers cameras system connected to their routers on a daily basis, Most homes are a complete mess regarding proper router placement, wiring ect)
 
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Originally Posted by mk378
The A7 is identical hardware to the C7 v5. It's simply rebranded for Amazon.


Incorrect -

The A7 is Alexa enabled and marketed as a mesh router which right there will tell you there is something else different in the firmware and/or hardware.
There is also only 1 USB port on the A7 vs 2 on the C7.
The processor is a newer version in the A7 as well.

https://www.windowscentral.com/tp-link-archer-c7-ac1750-wi-fi-router-vs-tp-link-archer-a7

Also keep in mind it was the C7 that has had stellar reviews/test results for a budget router.

This was something written less stellar on the A7 regarding 5ghz range
https://slickdeals.net/article/buying-guide/tp-link-archer-a7-ac1750-router-review/
 
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