Small business and consumer networking specialist TP-Link announced the Archer C2600 and Archer C3200 WiFi routers, which will be available in the third quarter of the year and are aimed at home environments and small business office settings.
The Archer C2600 utilizes Qualcomm Vive 802.11ac WiFi technology delivering speeds of up to 2.6Gbps using the 2.4GHz band at 800Mbps and the 5GHz band at 1733Mbps.
It also features Qualcomm MU EFX, a multi-user MIMO technology designed to make WiFi work more efficiently to multiply performance for all devices on increasingly crowded networks.
“Our latest routers reflect greater emphasis on design. Routers are often found next to home entertainment devices and must now blend in and be much more aesthetically pleasing than in the past,” Dana Knight, director of marketing at TP-Link, told eWeek. “Interestingly, many consumers are now placing more importance on design than the technology itself, because technology has advanced to the point that all routers can get the job done and provide the entertainment experience desired.”
The C2600 employs a multi-user input and output architecture, allowing it to establish a point-to-point connection with up to three devices at once.
This architecture is designed to improve speeds and reduce device wait times by as much as three times in comparison to traditional “round-robin” architecture, allowing the router to serve more WiFi clients simultaneously while minimizing bandwidth bottlenecks.
Though MU-MIMO EFX architecture allows for up to four point-to-point connections, the C2600 dedicates one of these connections to monitoring, optimizing and minimizing interference for the other three connections in order to provide faster and more reliable overall data transmission.
Other features include USB 3.0 ports for high-speed data transfer with connected storage devices, and four high gain external antennas and amplifiers to boost range coverage.
Knight noted all routers come with WPA2, the highest type of wireless encryption available today.
“Also look for MAC filtering which ensures that only devices granted permission to access the network can do so. Going a step further, ask for a router that includes built-in firewall protection and parental controls,” Knight said. Many more parents want to control the time and websites their children can view during the day. For business networks, wireless guest access is essential for visitors to your office using a distinct SSID, but you want to make sure your private network remains off limits and secure.”
The architecture also has the ability to perform “Dynamic Grouping” of devices based on usage and network demand, ensuring each connection operates at the fastest capacity possible.
The Archer C3200 features Smart Connect technology, which automatically assigns devices to the most appropriate band and boasts two 5GHz bands, each operating at speeds of up to 1300Mbps, one 2.4GHz band operating at speed of up to 600Mbps, six high-powered amplifiers and six external antennas and substantial RAM for reduced buffering times.