TP-Link Archer C6 AC1200 Wireless MU-MIMO Gigabit Router

The TP-Link Archer C6 is an AC1200 dual-band router with full Gigabit wired ports, the sensible pick for a home or small office on a fast line that has no need for Wi-Fi 6 yet. Wireless is Wi-Fi 5: up to 867 Mbps on 5GHz and 300 Mbps on 2.4GHz, following IEEE 802.11ac/n/a and 802.11n/b/g. What separates it from most AC1200 units is the wiring — 1 Gigabit WAN port and 4 Gigabit LAN ports instead of 10/100 Fast Ethernet — so a wired desktop, console or NAS gets the full speed of the connection rather than being capped well below it. 4 fixed external high-performance antennas with beamforming direct the signal, and MU-MIMO keeps several devices moving at the same time rather than in turn. Security covers WPA, WPA2 and WPA3 with an SPI firewall and access control. This is the V6 hardware revision, and it comes with a 1 year limited warranty. It suits a roughly 3-bedroom home or a small office where somebody works from a wired desk and everyone else is on Wi-Fi. If your broadband is quick enough that a Fast Ethernet router would be the limiting factor, this is the level to start at, and those Gigabit ports keep the unit useful even after the first Wi-Fi 6 devices arrive on the network.