Page 5 - Conclusion
As communication will probably continue over the Internet for the many years to come, this router will hopefully keep up. When we received this item, the TP-Link Archer C2300 had the makings of being a more compact and slim version of the larger Archer C3150, with an expected performance drop on paper. On a physical stance, this is very true. It is smaller with one less antenna, but it follows a lot of the same physical looks. The glossy and matte black mix looks pretty nice for a router, and the options of I/O including the LED indicators and ports is great to see. I am also really happy to see they kept the flexibility of either wall mounting or laying the router flat. As for the software, the firmware included with the C2300 is pretty similar to our last Archer router too, which provides a good mix of basic and intermediate features. It may not beat the customization of some more advanced firmware, but it does cover a lot of the bases still. However, if there is one place where the C2300 is slimmed down, it is its performance. With a maximum download speed of just over 350Mbps, these numbers are about as expected for an AC2300 router. However, I would have liked to see better upload performance overall, which seems to be the weakest point at every location we tested even considering its slower AC2300 rating and, correspondingly, its price. It also should be noted there is no support for DD-WRT firmware on this router, which may deter some from buying this unit. At press time, this router can be found at a price of $135 USD, which is one of the cheaper routers we have seen. With this in mind, the TP-Link Archer C2300 is still a decent router for its cost, offering a good firmware feature set and design for most users.
TP-Link provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
APH Review Focus Summary:
7/10 means Great product with many advantages and certain insignificant drawbacks; but should be considered before purchasing.
6/10 means A product with its advantages, but drawbacks should not be ignored before purchasing.
-- Final APH Numeric Rating is 6.3/10
Please note that the APH Numeric Rating system is based off our proprietary guidelines in the Review Focus, and should not be compared to other sites.
The TP-Link Archer C2300 brings a similar aesthetic and firmware from other Archer models, but its performance could be improved upon even relative to its speed specification.
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Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware
3. Configuration and User Interface
4. Performance Tests
5. Conclusion
