TP-Link Archer AC2600 VR2600

Set and forget modem and wireless router with awesome reach! A few flaws in software, but great – I bought one early January from Wireless 1 for (with 5% off P5OZZIE applied) for under $175. The VR2800 had been recommended to me on Whirlpool forums, as I don't have aircon, live in Brisbane and need a modem for FTTN, plus a good router for a network of around 20 clients, and good wireless reach. I took a punt on this (and a SPA122 for VoIP),… Read more

instead of the VR2800, due to budget restraints.

It does all of the above. It runs quite cool and I'm happy, did turn on a fan underneath it during near 40 degree weather. It is quite heavy and has ventilation holes under and on top so I'm not worried about it overheating. It arrived with latest firmware 170425 preinstalled.

Have successfully Skyped, talked on my SPA122 ATA and IP phone (SPA922), and played Wii-U through it. Not one wireless dropout (can't say that for TG-789 it replaced – don't think it could handle more than 10 clients), nor internet drop out in two weeks yet.

Maximum Line Rate is around 4Mbps slower than TG-789 if you add both together, the download is faster by 4Mbps though:

• TG-789 – 41.69 / 69.3

• VR2600 – 33.58 / 73.2

At first. I wrote to TP-Link Australia as my Synology NAS was unable to connect to the internet to get updates. They responded on the next day (Sunday!) with a relevant answer and had actually read my email! (I only wish Internode's offshore call centre would do the same!, but I digress). Tony Gong suggested I look into Synology help and support and send him screenshots. I did and found out I hadn't connected the internet IPv6 and the NAS was trying to use that to get updates. Whoops! All good now. :-) I gave some feedback, as below though.

I'm surprised that it doesn't have some security features you'd expect of a router originally $369 RRP. Strange how turning on "access control" enables the firewall according to the system log. There is also an enable 'SPI firewall' setting also under Network / Internet / Advanced / modify current settings that when enabled doesn't seem to do anything (SPI firewall is not listed in the specs but is for VR2800). You cannot add any firewall rules, nor any QoS ones (it has ATM QoS on by default apparently). No DoS, Syn flooding, ping of death and service filtering protection (all are on the VR2800 apparently).

In my trying to get the NAS work, I verified that DMZ does work and port forwarding works too (under NAT forwarding / Virtual Servers). (I was able to access open ports from the internet)

Don't like how the status lights are rather too small to see, especially cos I have it on the top shelf above my PC (I'm over 40!). (Tony replied that many people don't won't bright lights at bedtime!)

No Client Names in the address reservation section so it's difficult to keep track of which device is which (they are only specified by IP and MAC address), but it does show client names under Client List on the same page. (They may fix that in future.)

Wireless range and strength is impressive! I've been using Wireless N 2.4G on my PC (a TL-WN822N client) and not needed to turn on the Budii Lite in the spare room as an extra wireless access point (unless using my Moto G5 phone with bad wireless reception at the same location). I'm around 3 rooms away and two cupboards and a long hallway and around a corner and can stream Netflix consistently, getting 3/5 bars and 58 – 72 – 86 Mbps (on 2.4 Ghz). Impressive.

Just did a quick wireless comparison with the Budii Lite in the spare room using Samsung Galaxy Tab A tablet using wifi Analyzer's AP list. Noted down the signal strength in roughly equal distances and through same amount of walls (NOTE: their locations are completely different and wall materials and interference varies. Budii Lite Wireless AC is on non-interfering channel 132 (80Mhz wide) and VR2600 is on channel 157 (80Mhz wide). Both wireless N channels have many neighbours interfering channels are are set to channels 5 and 10 at the moment. VR2600 has beamforming, the Budii Lite does not.

(dBm higher is better (-40 to -60 is green)

Through 1 wall and approx 1m away :

Archer VR2600

•2.4 G: -38

•5G AC: -37

Budii Lite

•2.4 G N: -43 to – 39

•5G AC: -57 to -54

Through 2 walls and approx 4m away

Archer VR2600

•2.4 G: -50

•5G AC: -55

Budii Lite

•2.4 G N: -62 – 65

•5G AC: -68 to -72

Huge improvement compared to the Budii Lite, especially in second case (5G at a distance through two walls) where Budii was just ok compared to good over both bands. Amazing how the VR2600 can transmit 5G so far!

I have the 5G external antennas plugged in and enabled on the Budii Lite. Probably comparing apples and oranges since the Archer has 4 external antennas, versus 2 antennas on the Budii Lite, and beamforming. A big improvement though! The Vr2600's wireless nearly covers the whole 3br long house, even when it's located in the front living room.

Having now used it for four months, i can only remember two drop outs where a restart fixed it. Could have just been our FTTN modem. It's been a set and forget treat. I've also installed a Chromcast 2 dongle in our bedroom which is far in the back of the house, where other routers couldn't reach, and it streams fine.

Happy with the value and expect many years of use from it. We don't have any MU-MIMO devices yet, but it's good to be, hopefully, future ready. Recommend it.

Dont bother buying this – This router was always heating up and dropping out pings and packet losses It was a waste of money and i will never by from tplink agian The support was grate when i had touble using ppoe on it but other then that it wasnt working and it was easily hackable  Show details

Amazing Router – Bought this router a few months ago and has been working great. Its dual mode and one of the latest routers with all the different options and configurations available in the latest devices. You have options to use your own 5G/LTE usb modems, supports both RJ45 and RJ11 and 2.5/5Ghz guest network and supports upto 8/10 devices with no issues.  Show details

Absutely Rubbish – As a Chinese, I thought I'd like to support the product from my own country. Well its a mistake, got it fom MSY for 230AUD and put it on my NBN fttp, and realize this is a dsl version. Wireless: not very stable connections especially we had more than 20 devices connected to it simultaneously, 5ghz drop out of connection a lot. Literally every… Read more

3 hours.

Wired: not much to fault. But this is one hell of expensive model/router for wired connection.

A badly flawed product based on good hardware – Based on the router-only Archer C2600, the VR2600 is TP-Link's premium combined modem-router product. Or so it was probably intended. At the time of purchasing, I was initially encouraged to discover that TP-Link had written specific firmware for Australia. That, I thought, would iron out some of the annoyances in other recent releases such… Read more

as the VR600, which is sold with UK restrictions on its wifi channels. The VR2600 operates strongly on all 5 Ghz channels.

There, sadly, the good news ends.

Connecting over an NBN FTTN connection, it will establish sync but simply won't deliver any internet service. TP-Link support advised a 'fix', which involved programming set maximum speeds into the bandwidth controls. That kludgy work-around did enable an internet connection, but the problems weren't over.

Once connected, the VR2600 seemingly ignored all uPnP, ALG and port forwarding settings. If that is gobbledegook to you, the simple version is this: If you do anything other than straight web browsing or email - such as telephony, Skype, or serving any data of any kind outside your home network - it won't work. Attempts using a Siemens Gigaset VOIP phone - which is famous for navigating around nearly any network problem - repeatedly failed.

Taking up the matter (again) with TP-Link support, it turned out that the reason the modem seemed to be ignoring the network settings was because it WAS. The VR2600 comes with 'fast NAT' - or hardware-accelerated NAT - locked on. There's no user switch to turn it off, as there is in other high end routers that support this feature.

Fast NAT only works with the plainest, simplest network settings. It can make internet routing faster, but it's only measurable on connections faster than about 300 mbps. In an Australian consumer market where the fastest internet available is only 100 mbps, the setting is not just unnecessary - it gets in the way of the internet usage most households now engage in. That includes VOIP, which is the phone technology nearly all Australian internet providers supply with their NBN products.

The irony is that the network settings in the VR2600 are all there to be changed or tweaked as needed - including the very basics like uPnP. Yet none of them - literally none of them - work. Fast NAT overrides them all.

TP-Link sent me an older firmware build with Fast NAT disabled. Unfortunately it wouldn't load on my VR2600, because the new firmware objects to being replaced with older versions. I've begged them to release a new build with Fast NAT turned off, but TP-Link's engineers are either unwilling or too thinly stretched to do it. So, after 3+ months of banging my head on a brick wall, I'm returning it. But not before posting this review.

I can assure anyone who reads this: I wanted to love the VR2600. On a hardware level it is possibly the best modem-router combination available for an FTTN or FTTB NBN connection in early 2017. Its wifi is superb. Its Broadcom modem chipset connects beautifully. Physically it's particularly well made, with clearly superior heat-sinking compared to its toasty smaller brother, the VR600.

If you're reading this after mid 2017 and considering a purchase, check TP-Link's website to see if the problems above have been fixed. Unless and until they are - stay away. You don't want this kind of pain. The malfunctions in the firmware are so basic and serious that any manufacturer who valued its reputation would have fixed them urgently. Not TP-Link, it seems.

In its current state the VR2600 doesn't deserve the 1 star I gave it, but that's the minimum.