The TP-Link Archer GE800 features Wi-Fi 7 with the new 6 GHz band, 320 MHz bandwidth, 4k-QAM, Multi-Link Operation and Multi-RU for a combined speed of as many as 19 Gbps across 12 streams. Now, every device in your home network will perform at full speed. Enjoy immersive AR/VR gaming and Massively MOBA with faster scoring.
TP-Link Archer GE800 Router Pros and Cons
TP-Link Archer GE800 Router Design
As a router blogger, we will review the TP-Link Archer GE800 today. First, let’s take a look at its exterior design. At the back of the Archer GE800, there are plenty of ports for connecting all of your devices and to top it all off, these are all multi-gig ports. You get four 2.5 gigabit per second (Gbps) Ethernet ports, two 10 Gbps ones and a USB 3.0 port for sending data on a flash drive or a hard drive across your home network.
If you look closely though, you’ll find that the 2.5 G port on the top right of the Archer GE800 is labeled as a “Gaming Port”. When I spoke with TP-Link at CES while going hands-on with the device, a company spokesperson explained that if you plug one of the best gaming laptops or gaming PCs into this port, the router will automatically prioritize their traffic. This way, you can focus on the game you’re playing rather than fighting with other devices on your home network for bandwidth.
As for the build quality, the Archer GE800 uses high quality plastic material and a premium metallic-esque finishing. It’s also a really heavy product thanks to the amount of heatsink used to dissipate the heat generated by the high performance CPU and high power Wi-Fi 7 radio. This means the router is really huge with a big footprint that will use up a bunch of space.
Certainly, a gaming product is not complete without some RGB flair. TP-Link hoped on the band wager and added proper RGB to the Archer GE800. The light is vibrant and they can be customized easily on the TP-Link Tether app. Thankfully, the light can be disabled if you prefer a more discreet and subtle look. Unfortunately, all the physical LED status indicator and removed so you’ll need to rely on the app for this.
TP-Link Archer GE800 Router Feature
- Unprecedented 19 Gbps Tri-Band WiFi 7: Delivering 11520 Mbps on the 6 GHz band, 5760 Mbps on 5 GHz, and 1376 Mbps on 2.4 GHz. Make certain your network is primed for intense gaming.
- Two 10G Ports for Future-Proof Connectivity: 2 × 10 Gbps WAN/LAN ports, and 4 × 2.5 Gbps LAN ports support massive bandwidth for wired gaming devices and ultra-fast connections, accommodating all gaming needs.
- Quad Acceleration for Games: Accelerate game applications, game devices, mobile games, and game servers. Stabilize connections, minimize jitter, lag and ping while boosting speed.
Dedicated Game Panel: An intuitive game panel provides real-time insights into the battle environment, network status, router performance, rgb settings, accelerated games and gears, enabling players to strategize effectively. - Game-Style Design: High-performance launch pad appearance, seamless multicolor lighting, and optimized antenna layout make certain quality connections and a vibrant atmosphere.
- TP-Link HomeShield: HomeShield provides robust antivirus protection for a secure gaming experience. It defends all your devices and personal data against online threats, making sure peace of mind while gaming.
- EasyMesh Compatibility— Works with EasyMesh routers and range extenders to form seamless whole home Mesh WiFi. This connectivity ensures consistent coverage, allowing gamers to collaborate efficiently and dominate team battles.
TP-Link Archer GE800 Performance Test
As a router blogger, we will review the TP-Link Archer GE800 today. The Wi-Fi Performance of the Archer GE800 is amazing. While it’s a really fast router, I appreciate the stability more than the performance on a gaming router. This is where the Archer GE800 really excels as the Wi-Fi network is always fast and reliable. Some other Wi-Fi 7 routers that I’ve tested are plagued with annoying connectivity bugs and it’s not happening here.
Performance of the 6GHz Wi-Fi 7 network is ridiculously fast which let me to obtain over 2500Mbps on my laptop with the Intel BE200 Wi-Fi 7 wireless adapter over a distance of 5 Meters. That’s even faster than a 2.5 G Ethernet connection and this is all happening over a wireless connection! For gamers, this mean games will download or update quicker over a wireless connection.
For me, the most ideal part of having such a fast Wi-Fi connection is mainly for files access over the network. I can now access files stored in my local NAS server at a really fast speed over wireless connection without having to connect the network cable. Of cource, those with a 2Gbps or 10Gbps will can take advantage of this performance upgrade on the Wi-Fi 7 network.
But, the signal strength of the 6GHz network is weaker than the 5GHz network. The 6Ghz network supplies a much faster performance at an unfortunate cost of weaker signal penetration over walls. Hence, the 5GHz network remain as a really important aspect to consider on a wireless router.
The TP-Link Archer GE800 support the new Wi-Fi 7 multi-link operation (MLO) feature right out of the box. This means the Wi-Fi devices is simultaneously connected to all 3 bands and can seamlessly combine or switch network without any interruption. This is a huge improvement over smart connect band steering in the past where it can only be connected to a single network at once.
On the bright side, the performance of the 5GHz network on the Archer GE800 is outstanding even when tested with my older Wi-Fi 6 device. There’s a slight improvement in range with faster Wi-Fi speed compared to the flagship Wi-Fi 6 router from TP-Link. This is to say the Archer GE800 will enhance older devices with excellent backwards compatibility to older Wi-Fi 6 or even Wi-Fi 5 devices.
The TP-Link Archer GE800 gaming router offered a powerful next-generation Wi-Fi 7 hardware and best-in-class software. For a gaming router, stability and performance is the most crucial aspect and the Archer GE800 delivers. The performance is fantastic with the powerful Qualcomm Quad-Core CPU combined with the high performance Wi-Fi 7 radio.