Reddit reviews TP-Link AC5400 Wireless Wi-Fi Tri-Band Gigabit Router (Archer C5400)

What an absolute waste of time that was.

First off, they were pinging a local router and got a 3542 ms response at one point and dropped 29, oh and an average of 35ms all with 32 bytes of data. I've seen circuits to branches running weeks with absolutely no data loss with real data running across it. In "controlled environment" I'd expect 20,000 sent, 20,000 received min ping of 0 ms, max ping of 2 ms average ping of 2 ms. I want to point out, "ping" (the Microsoft program) allows a max packet size of 65500 bytes per packet. 32 bytes to my local router is <1ms and the full size gets to 2ms. It's a solid send/receive of 536 Kbps. At 2ms I'm wondering why it's so slow.

But that's besides the point to be honest at best they wasted what... 5.5 hours of time on that? It would have taken less time to just swap out the hard drive into a new chassis and send it back leaving the failing model to be dealt with later.

But, here's some fun stats. I ran a ping to my local router with max packet size (I know, it's not the best I'm just mimicking what they used), and I watched a 1080p video on youtube.

Packets: Sent = 303, Received = 303, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 4ms, Average = 1ms

Video ID:-omXBKlDa2M
Resolution:1920 x 1080@24
Dropped Frames:0/6585

But that wasn't enough. I ran the ping test, and launched a 1080@30, 720@30, 1080@24, and 2160@30. About 30Mpbs on average (a few spikes up to 54Mbps, with some moments of network rest) I dropped no frames and my max ping to my router went to 7 ms (likely when I loaded the 4K stream).

Asus's terrible tech support is why my $300ish router (that I got for $200 on sale) I bought this year is TP-Link (which, I'd give it an 8/10 if I'm feeling generous). And why I won't recommended Asus to anyone. They're stuff might be fine 9/10 times but that's not good enough.

I can't find any specific specs for the internals for that laptop. But I'd guess it's either using a cheap wifi card (since they don't list the brand as a selling point) or it's just bad. But look at this card. It's just an example. If they can't/won't fix it for $30 this might fix it (assuming it's compatible.)

So in Freedom Units, the least you could spend to get 58,000 gold, starting from zero, is $242.94. (leaving you with 500g to spare). If we assume you already had 8000 or more lying around, which you had bought at the best rate (25,000 for $99.99), you could spend as little as (lol) $232 USD to get the 58k gold!

Just to help anyone out who would like to be as precise as possible.

I'll throw in with this very nice Gigabit Router for only $199!

I meant this one TP-Link AC5400 Tri Band Smart WiFi Gaming Router – MU-MIMO, Beamforming, Gigabit, Works with Alexa and IFTTT, Integrated Anti-Virus & QoS(Archer C5400) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DXVK3KY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_9usPCb1ZZC280 the main reason I suggest going for higher bandwidth is the internal devices would have enough space to transfer data. But even the 3100 would be enough to save money. Just a heads up the 3100 first one I got was V1 but when I chat with amazon they sent a replacement for the latest version.

You can get a 3rd party insurance with amazon itself. The tp link support wasn’t that good but I usually fixed all the problems on my own but the warranty would help.

Oh you absolutely need something beefier. I was using an Apple Airport Extreme and it kicked the bucket. So I purchased this ugly TPLink monster. I don't know if you need AC 5400. The 3200 might be fine but having a really good router is a great investment. If you don't want to go to TPlink I'd say get a different brand that has above AC3000 such as the Nighthawk X6 or the Asus routers.

I can say that it not only made the streaming to my Vita better but also my Vita TV, even though it was a wired connection on the old router as well.

I don't think N750 can push the necessary bandwidth.


TP-Link AC5400 Wireless Wi-Fi MU-MIMO Tri-Band Router – (Archer C5400) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DXVK3KY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_DWIVAb10PR80C

Edit: oh and something I learned recently is that you should not merge all the networks as one name if you use this router. The 2.4 band has trouble handling too many devices and can shit the bed. Name all the networks differently and have your devices split between them. Although, I have quite a few smart lights and such on the network as well as multiple phones and computers and tablets, which could be why I experienced the issue

>I'll throw in with this very nice Gigabit Router for only $199!

Help me understand wtf is going on, please. Was like 260, with offer is 199 and so you save 380? How did they conjure the math for that page?

I've got the TP-Link AC5400.

Which aside from it's troubles with Pihole is amazing. I've got a large house. It is 4,100 sq ft between the basement, main level, and upper level with a detached garage on a half acre. Plus it's a brick house, with a lot of slate tile floors and a big marble fireplace on each of the three levels. It's also old enough that the walls are plaster instead of drywall.

So the fact that this router gets me good signal everywhere in the house, plus in the yard and garage is amazing.

My last router was a D-Link. The signal was okay in the house, but crap in the yard and garage. The only good thing about that one was that it didn't have an issue just using my pihole as a DNS and letting the router be the DHCP server.

Using the Pihole as the DHCP server works fine I suppose. Just seem unnecessary but the router's bios seemed to think otherwise.

Get a better router. Any router purchased at Walmart is not at all suitable for playing CS:GO, or any game besides Farmville for that matter.

I had the exact same situation as you, and then I upgraded the router. Literally instant improvement. My pings went from 150+ down to a steady 30. And this is on WiFi.

If you have a dedicated Wi-Fi card in your PC capable of AC Wireless, you are in the best situation possible, and will benefit the most from a router upgrade. If you have a cheap USB dongle from Amazon, then it's probably not worth it at all to even play CS:GO.

This is the router I have. It does cost quite a bit, however it is one of the best investments I have ever made. If you have a hard time convincing your parents that you need a new router, tell them that it will benefit the entire family, and make the Wi-Fi a hell of a lot faster.