There’s nothing more frustrating than paying for a premium internet plan but having your ISP’s router fail to broadcast the signal properly throughout your house. You’re stuck in your bedroom with a weak connection which makes Netflix buffer endlessly or causing your video calls to freeze at the worst moments. A quality WiFi 6 router solves this problem by amplifying and distributing your internet connection effectively to every corner of your home, and right now it costs almost nothing: The TP-Link Archer AX55 Pro has dropped to a record low of $69 during Prime Big Deal Days, down from its typical $119 price. This deal is exclusive to Prime members.
Velocity Your Aging Router
The AX3000 branding signifies that this router is capable of putting out combined speeds of up to 3000 Mbps across both bands. As a user, you’re getting up to 2402 Mbps on the 5GHz band and 574 Mbps on the 2.4GHz band using the 160 MHz channel width. These speeds are relevant because they dictate how many devices at a time are allowed to stream and browse without everybody’s connection slowing down.
The 5GHz band is for bandwidth-intensive activities such as streaming 4K or 8K video or online gaming, while the 2.4GHz band is for devices requiring longer range but lesser speed, such as smart home devices or older generations of laptops.
WiFi 6 also implements OFDMA tech, which breaks a single data stream across many devices rather than them lining up for a turn. Couple that with MU-MIMO that provides individual data streams for several devices at a time, you’re allowed kids gaming on the top floor, a person streaming a movie on the sofa, yet another doing a work video call without anybody feeling the lag.
The flagship hardware aspect is the availability of two 2.5 Gbps ports along with three regular 1 Gbps LAN ports. A single 2.5 Gbps port is a WAN/LAN port connecting directly to your modem, while a second specific 2.5 Gbps LAN port allows you to hardwire a gaming PC, NAS box or work PC for ultimate speed. Most routers at this level remain at 1 Gbps ports which enters a bottleneck if your internet plan goes beyond gigabit rates. These multi-gigabit ports make your setup future-proof when the internet service providers keep introducing 2 Gbps plans and above plans. The USB 3.0 port on the rear allows connecting external storage for a plug-and-play network-attached storage accessible across all devices on your network.
There are also four high-performance exterior antennas that make use of beamforming technology, which converges WiFi beams on connected devices rather than broadcasting them outward uniformly. This allows for concentrating signal strength on areas that require them while it provides coverage all around your home. This combination provides rock-solid connectivity even for rooms that previously had spotty coverage with your ISP-issued router.
In-built client functionality for the VPN means devices on a home network remotely connect to VPN servers without the need for installation of VPN programs on specific devices. The VPN is installed once on the router level, and automatically connecting devices all share the benefit of the secured connection. This makes home security easy for homes with many devices and users.
Setup is also compatible with any broadband service provider such as Comcast, Spectrum, AT&T, Verizon, and even Starlink but you will have to plug your own modem between the router and their service line for most ISPs. At $69 for Prime Big Deal Days, you’re paying less than two months of standard internet service to permanently cure your coverage problems.