Archer BE600 - tri-band Wi-Fi 7 router priced at 6 million VND

For many years, TP-Link's Archer product line has not changed much in design and the BE600 model is no exception. The router includes 6 antennas with flexible rotating joints and Beamforming technology for the ability to determine device location and focus signals, helping to increase coverage in hard-to-reach areas, maintaining stability and good wall penetration ability.

TP-Link's products are among the few Wi-Fi 7 routers on the market that support three bands. Besides the two popular frequency bands on household routers, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, the device integrates 6 GHz - the band that was just included in the National Radio Frequency Spectrum Planning by the Department of Radio Frequency - Ministry of Science and Technology at the end of last year.

Compared to 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, 6 GHz has wider bandwidth with the frequency range 5925-6425 MHz, thereby transmitting data at a higher speed, reducing latency when using applications that require large bandwidth such as 4K video, online conferencing, and online gaming. In addition, the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands are considered overloaded due to the use of many devices, so 6 GHz helps disperse traffic, reducing interference and congestion, thereby improving the stability of the wifi connection.

On the Archer BE600, the three bands 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz provide theoretical maximum connection speeds of 1,032, 2,882 and 5,765 Mbps, respectively. Adding the nominal speed of the three bands, the device reaches about 9.7 Gb/s. However, the advantage of three bands does not simply lie in the total speed, instead it can help users have more options, reducing the situation of multiple connections competing for resources on one band.

Practical experience shows that, when using a local network, through OpenSpeedTest measurement software and using an Asus Zenbook Duo laptop that supports Wi-Fi 7 6 GHz band, the speed when using this band alone always reaches over 5,000 Mb/s for both upload and download, while multi-band combination gives download speeds of more than 9,000 Mb/s and upload speeds of 8,000 Mb/s. With two frequency bands 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and using a 1 Gb/s network package, the speed is about 700-800 Mb/s download and 750-900 Mb/s upload.

Despite high download speeds, the actual benefits that 6 GHz Wi-Fi 7 brings depend on the capabilities of the router, receiving device, signal quality and interference level. Currently, the Vietnamese market does not have many products that support this band except some newer phones such as iPhone 18, iPhone Duo, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8... as well as laptops launched after July. With other 6 GHz-supported devices that are not compatible, users may need to wait for the manufacturer to release a firmware update to activate this feature.

Archer BE600 features one 10 Gb/s WAN/LAN port, one 2.5 Gb/s WAN/LAN port and three 2.5 Gb/s LAN ports, along with a USB 3.0 port. For most home routers, the Gigabit Ethernet port can become a "bottleneck" when users want to transfer high-speed data within the local network. The 10 Gb/s port creates more room for high-speed transmission and network storage systems, such as connecting network hard drives (NAS), desktop computers or high-speed network switches to build private data transfer systems.

TP-Link products also support EasyMesh, a technology that allows combining routers with compatible devices to build Wi-Fi Mesh networks. Instead of using many separate wifi networks, users can set up a system that shares the same network name, helping to roam the connection when moving between areas, suitable for multi-storey houses, large apartments or workspaces with many rooms. However, the effectiveness of a mesh network depends on the location of network nodes, the quality of the links between them and the compatibility within the network.

In addition, Archer BE600 integrates the HomeShield home network security and management toolkit, sets up a separate VPN client and VPN server but must purchase additional services, as well as supports IPv6 and QoS. Users can manage the router via the included TP-Link Tether application.

With a price of 6 million VND, Archer BE600 does not have many competitors in the tri-band Wi-Fi 7 router market, other than the Asus TUF Gaming BE9400 model (5.8 million VND). The product is aimed at small business or individual users who want to build a home network system that can meet their needs for many years, instead of just replacing the router to improve the regular wifi signal.

Bao Lam