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The pool of Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) routers has just gotten a little larger. Following Netgear and Asus, TP-Link today announced its first two, the Archer AX6000 and Archer AX11000.
Next-gen Wi-Fi
Like all other Wi-Fi 6 counterparts, the two new routers both feature advanced Wi-Fi technology, including OFDMA, AX MU-MIMO, 160MHz channel, and 1024 QAM, allowing them to serve more clients at the same time and do so more efficiently—faster Wi-Fi speeds—than Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) routers.
Both routers also sport a 2.5Gbps WAN port and eight gigabit LAN ports with Link Aggregation. They also have USB-C and USB-A ports to host external storage devices. What’s more, both use eight high-gain external antennas and promise to deliver large Wi-Fi coverage.
Bluetooth-based setup, Alexa-enabled
According to TP-Link, the two new routers use Bluetooth and TP-Link’s Tether app for the setup process and ongoing management. You can also use their web interface.
Both routers work with Alexa and IFTTT. As a result, you can use voice command to manage some of their features, including adding new devices to a network, prioritizing Internet traffic, turning Wi-Fi on and off and more.
There are a few differences between the two, however.
Archer AX6000: dual-band home router
TP-Link says the Archer AX6000 has TP-Link HomeCare which is a built-in Trend Micro-powered antivirus protection that keeps the entire network secure. It has the Wi-Fi speed of up to 1140Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and up to 4804Mbps on the 5GHz band. Note that you can only get these speeds when using Wi-Fi 6 clients.
The router uses a 1.8GHz quad-core processor with two Wi-Fi co-processors and 1GB of RAM.
Archer AX11000: tri-band gaming router
The AX1100 shares similar Wi-Fi and hardware specs of the AX6000 but with an additional 5GHz band, allowing it to handle double the amount of concurrent clients on the 5GHz band. It also has 512MB of flash memory in addition to the 1.8GHz quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM.
What’s more, this router has built-in TP-Link’s Game Center, a unique feature that automatically optimizes Internet bandwidth and creates a VPN tunnel for the best gaming performance. TP-Link Game Protector, powered by Trend Micro, will also protect the safety of accounts, passwords, and documents.
Availability and Pricing
The AX6000 is for pre-order on Amazon right now for $349.99 and will ship on December 21st. The AX11000 will be available in January next year for $449.99.
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