New WiFi 6 router?

clv101

clv101

clv101

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
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Location
Bristol
Now I've finally got a decent Internet connection to the house, I want to upgrade my router to something more sophisticated than my old BT Home Hub 5.

The 'TP-Link Archer AX73 - AX5400 Dual-Band Wi-Fi 6 Router' seems a good compromise between features, WiFi performance and price (~£130).

Anything wrong with it? Anything better for no more money?
 
Huawei AX3. It does everything you’d want, and it’s £50 or less if it’s on offer.
 
WJA96 said:
Huawei AX3. It does everything you’d want, and it’s £50 or less if it’s on offer.
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Thanks, that looks great for the price... what's the catch? It's only 2x2 MIMO compared with the AX73 4x4, but less than half the price!
 
clv101 said:
Now I've finally got a decent Internet connection to the house, I want to upgrade my router to something more sophisticated than my old BT Home Hub 5.

The 'TP-Link Archer AX73 - AX5400 Dual-Band Wi-Fi 6 Router' seems a good compromise between features, WiFi performance and price (~£130).

Anything wrong with it? Anything better for no more money?
Click to expand...

Sorry for stating the obvious but you say you want to upgrade your BT Home Hub 5 and you've gone with a lesser 2x2 MIMO offering? The BT Home Hub 5 is 3x3 MIMO device. Seems like a total downgrade doing for the Huawei AX3. The Archer AX73 spec blows it out of the water. Sometimes things are cheap(er) for a reason.
 
Firegod said:
Sorry for stating the obvious but you say you want to upgrade your BT Home Hub 5 and you've gone with a lesser 2x2 MIMO offering? The BT Home Hub 5 is 3x3 MIMO device. Seems like a total downgrade doing for the Huawei AX3. The Archer AX73 spec blows it out of the water. Sometimes things are cheap(er) for a reason.
Click to expand...

3x3 sounds better than 2x2 doesn’t it? Except that the instant it encounters anything other than a 3x3 client it drops to 1x1 x 3 or 2x2 plus 1x1 and it doesn’t have OFDMA (AX only) which means it can’t run 2x2 and 1x1 without slowing 2x2 down. And let’s tackle 4x4 AX on the TP-link which is a great idea but that’s all it is because the only 4x4 AX clients are currently beta test units, so it’s actually a 2x2 unit.

The AX3 is a bargain. It’s £50 direct from Huawei or £80 for 2 or £90 for 3 in a mesh set.
 
Got my AX3 for 30 quid a pop, now have 4 of them in my house. Won't lie I did have some initial teething, though mostly due to my own incompetence. Very happy with them now, had them since October.

Lack of usb port, and ever so slightly not-that-clicky-and-secure RJ45 ports the only gripe now.
 
WJA96 said:
3x3 sounds better than 2x2 doesn’t it? Except that the instant it encounters anything other than a 3x3 client it drops to 1x1 x 3 or 2x2 plus 1x1 and it doesn’t have OFDMA (AX only) which means it can’t run 2x2 and 1x1 without slowing 2x2 down. And let’s tackle 4x4 AX on the TP-link which is a great idea but that’s all it is because the only 4x4 AX clients are currently beta test units, so it’s actually a 2x2 unit.

The AX3 is a bargain. It’s £50 direct from Huawei or £80 for 2 or £90 for 3 in a mesh set.
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Not quite. MU-MIMO allows the Router to deliver a channel to multiple users at once. This means that a 4x4 Router is able to talk, say for example, with a 2x2 phone and 2x2 laptop at the same time. No device has to queue and wait, and the Router can happily use all its 4x4 streams. Or alternatively it can serve four 1x1 devices at the same time. If you only have a 2x2 MU-MIMO capable Router you can only serve one 2x2 device and others would queue or two 1x1 devices. So yes a 4x4 MU-MIMO Router is still a better buy and doesn't have anything to do with needing a comparible 4x4 client.
 
A Home Hub 5 is an eight year old 802.11ac Wave 1 device. A 2x2 802.11ax radio is going to significantly outperform it.
 
Firegod said:
Not quite. MU-MIMO allows the Router to deliver a channel to multiple users at once. This means that a 4x4 Router is able to talk, say for example, with a 2x2 phone and 2x2 laptop at the same time. No device has to queue and wait, and the Router can happily use all its 4x4 streams. Or alternatively it can serve four 1x1 devices at the same time. If you only have a 2x2 MU-MIMO capable Router you can only serve one 2x2 device and others would queue or two 1x1 devices. So yes a 4x4 MU-MIMO Router is still a better buy and doesn't have anything to do with needing a comparible 4x4 client.
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But it’s not going to run 4x4 which was your main rationale for claiming the TP-link was better. Clients will only run at 2x2 on either router and with OFDMA it no longer has to queue like AC did. The truth is that for any given mix of clients currently available the AX3 will match the TP-link. It just will. And its so much better than the 3x3 Homehub you initially claimed was superior it’s laughable.
 
clv101 said:
Now I've finally got a decent Internet connection to the house, I want to upgrade my router to something more sophisticated than my old BT Home Hub 5.

The 'TP-Link Archer AX73 - AX5400 Dual-Band Wi-Fi 6 Router' seems a good compromise between features, WiFi performance and price (~£130).

Anything wrong with it? Anything better for no more money?
Click to expand...

lol if you do buy this, ive had one for about 3 months now and i have only 1 complaint.
The statistical "stuff" is hidden behind a subscription paywall... frankly ridiculous feature/idea, so i cant even check who is sucking up all the bandwidth, useful to know when you are using a usage bound contract!
other than that "feature" its been flawless so far, set a reboot schedule for once a week.
 
WJA96 said:
But it’s not going to run 4x4 which was your main rationale for claiming the TP-link was better. Clients will only run at 2x2 on either router and with OFDMA it no longer has to queue like AC did. The truth is that for any given mix of clients currently available the AX3 will match the TP-link. It just will. And its so much better than the 3x3 Homehub you initially claimed was superior it’s laughable.
Click to expand...
I never said the 3x3 Home Hub 5 was superior. I made a a statement in my sentence, where I simply say "The BT Home Hub 5 is a 3x3 MIMO device." My "superior" claim as you put it, then followed in my next sentence where I compare the AX3 to the AX73. "Seems like a total downgrade doing for the Huawei AX3. The Archer AX73 spec blows it out of the water." Sorry if that was unclear.

And I never said the 4x4 MIMO feature was my main rationale. I clearly say the spec of the AX73 is better. So the entire specification, not just focusing on 4x4 MIMO part, but which the 4x4 MIMO is a small part of that superior spec of the AX73.

I think we'll end up going round in circles here so lets just leave this one be. :)
 
The AX3 came today, £30 and it works great. Looks smart and uses very little power. Better choice for my uses than the AX73 would have been.
 
Just one and it does cover whole house well... but our house isn't typical! Very open plan; kitchen, dining, large hall downstairs with large open upstairs mezzanine-living room, plus internal walls are relatively lightweight.

Have an external access point for veranda & garden.
 
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