TP-LINK AC3200 WIRELESS WI-FI TRI-BAND GIGABIT ROUTER (ARCHER C3200)
If you are facing a problem with multiple clients vying for bandwidth in a high-traffic network, you may want to upgrade to a tri-band router. The dual-band routers offer one 2.4GHz and one 5GHz whereas tri-band routers offer one 2.4GHz and two 5GHz bands. The extra 5GHz band helps a long way in easing wireless network congestion giving you more control over how clients connect wirelessly.
The TP-Link AC3200 wireless Tri-band router gives you good 5GHz throughput and ample management settings. It also offers solid job of transferring files to and from attached USB storage devices.
Design and features:
The design of TP-Link AC3200 is similar to Netgear’s R8000. Both have permanently attached external antennas that can be folded up from the router when not in use and makes it easy for storage and transport. All surfaces except for the rear panel have plenty of ventilation holes to make sure that heat generated by CPU and the co-processor is eliminated quickly.
The router is black and its top is covered with a grille which gives it a touch of style. It features nine LED activity indicators on the front panel for USB, power, all three bands, Wireless Protected Setup WPS and Ethernet and WAN ports. Around the back, there are four wired Gigabit Ethernet ports, a power switch, a USB 2.0 port, a USB 3.0 port and a WAN internet port.
On the bottom, there are two mounting screw slots that can point the connectors up and down when the router is mounted on the wall, although the TP-Link recommends horizontal installation to achieve best performance. There is a label in the center that displays the MAC address, the default SSIDs, serial number, wireless password and WPS PIN number.
The management interface of TP-Link C3200 is clean and easy to navigate. It provides comprehensive descriptions for each setting. The number of connected wired and wireless clients, storage devices and printers are shown in a network map on the page of Basic settings. It also shows the status of your internet connection and which bands are enabled.
When you click on any of the Wi-Fi band icons, a status page is opened that displays any guest networks and channel, MAC address and SSID for each band. The Basic Wireless settings allow you to change password, enable or disable a band and edit or hide the SSID for each band. You can go to the USB settings page to enable print sharing for attached printers and to set up folder shares for attached USB hard drives.
In the Parental Controls section, you can create content restrictions based on keywords and restrict Internet access to specific days and times. To create guest SSIDs for each of three bands, you can use the Guest Network page and you can also choose to let guests see your local network or each other.
Under the Advanced settings tab, there are menus for internet (Advanced Routing, VPN and DHCP), Wireless (Smart connect, Channel Width, Network Mode, Security and Encryption), NAT Forwarding (Application Layer Gateway filtering), IPv6 settings, Bandwidth Control and Security (Access Control, Firewall and DoS Protection. You will also find here Port Triggering and IPSec settings. The System Tools Page provides Firmware Upgrades, Diagnostics and Backup and Restore options.
The TP-Link Archer C3200 with its fastest combined Wi-Fi speed of up to 3200 Mbps, lets you game online and stream 4K Ultra HD video across multiple devices simultaneously without lag.
The six high performance external antennas of TP-Link C3200 greatly increase its range and signal stability. It features Beamforming technology helps the router locate wireless devices to form more reliable and stronger connections which in turn improves the router’s coverage.
It features a powerful Broadcom BCM4709A 1GHz dual-core CPU and three co-processor that easily handle the demand on the network of Archer C3200 when multiple users are streaming, browsing and gaming all at the same time. It also includes 128MB flash memory and 256MB DDR3 RAM.
You can connect external hard drives directly to the TP-Link Archer 3200 via USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports that make it easy to share music, photos, files and video across your network. Its four Gigabit Ethernet ports enable blazing wired speeds 10 times greater than fast Ethernet and helps connected PCs, smart TVs and gaming consoles to achieve their best performance.
All these features are combined in a box measuring 7.9 × 7.9 ×1.5 inches.
Setup:
You can set up the router in minutes because of its intuitive Web interface and powerful Tether app. Via Tether you can manage its network settings from iOS device or Android including media sharing and parental controls.
Once you have connected the power adapter and the device to the internet, it is time to power it up. You will get instructions on how it is done and about the step taken to configure the router, by the Quick Installation Guide.
When connected to the router either wirelessly or by Ethernet by using the default settings, you simply have to enter the address into a browser then the router resolves it to its own IP address automatically. You are then presented with Quick Set-Up.
When you have entered the default user name and password, you can create new credentials promptly. Next you select the correct time zone for your region. The TP-Link C3200 can auto detect the type of WAN connection to the cable modem or other device that you may use otherwise you can select the type if known. Then you can change the wireless LAN settings from defaults finally. The setup is easy and quick.
Pros:
Fast file transferring speed
Lots of management features
Good 5GHz throughput
Cons:
Middle-range performance and 2.4GHz throughput
May be considered expensive
The TP-Link AC3200 Wireless Tri-Band Gigabit Router Archer C3200 provides you an extra 5GHz band that helps ease Wi-Fi congestion. The router offers a good selection of basic and advanced settings to optimize your bandwidth and manage your network. It provides decent 5GHz throughput but its overall range performance and 2.4GHz throughput can’t compete with other tri-band routers of similarly priced.