Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsFiber Ready? Not for Me.
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2024
My town recently installed a new fiber network, and so I excitedly signed up for the speed of 2 gigs per second. Knowing I'd need a new router capable of such high speeds, I went hunting for a router that was capable of bandwidth of at least two. Ideally, it would also have parental controls.
Well, the TP Link AX6000 looked perfect, the reviews were great, and it indicated it was capable of 2.5 gps - that's a whole half a gig above what my service was even offering. Perfect! I watched a few online reviews first to verify, and they all insisted the speed of the device was as advertised. I've connected multiple home Wi-Fi networks in my lifetime, so I wasn't worried about any of the setup involved, and sure enough, setup was easy and painless. So far so good.
Then I ran the first internal router speed test. It measured 1.1 gps up and down. Not horrible but . . . not really what I was hoping for on a new fiber connection. Still, I figured it might be a fluke, or any number of other factors. Then I noticed some nights my connection would slow to a near crawl. It would often come back, but there was still that period of time where it wasn't very impressive. I then did another internal speed test . . . after one week of 1.1 suddenly it dropped to below .5 gps. What in blazes? It's stayed there for weeks now. Never again hitting the awesome 1.1 and certainly nowhere close to the 2 gps. This thing is supposed to be able to go up to 2.5 gps . . . what gives?
So I brought in some other routers. One was a loaner from the ISP - theirs tested at 1.9 gps right out of the box and over and OVER again. Never before have I been so envious of people leasing their routers. Then I brought in a few that some friends were using . . . they were also in the 1.8 - 1.9 range. This one? Still stuck below .5 gps.
The parental control features are awesome. I REALLY want to like this router, and yet, I just can't feel good in my mind using my new fiber connection at speeds largely slower than my old cable connection. Most of the time things function okay . . . but then they'll suddenly slow down for a while. I reached out to TP-Link's support center and I think I got an android, and not a particularly intelligent one at that.
Buyer, beware. At least from my experience, if it's blazingly fast internet you are after, that's not really what you're going to get with this model.