Why You Can Trust CNET TP-Link Archer C5400X: Your friendly neighborhood spider router
See ya later, latency.
- Patrick's play The Cowboy is included in the Best American Short Plays 2011-12 anthology. He co-wrote and starred in the short film Baden Krunk that won the Best Wisconsin Short Film award at the Milwaukee Short Film Festival.
This router is serious about delivering the connection power you need for gaming and 4K video streaming.
At first glance, the Archer C5400X looks like an upside-down robot spider sent from the future to hunt you down. But in reality, it's a router that offers friendly amenities like three Wi-Fi bands (one 2.4GHz and two 5GHz) and eight Gigabit LAN ports. The one Gigabit WAN port, of course, plugs directly into your broadband modem.
The TP-Link Archer C5400X has different modes to prioritize speeds for gaming or video consumption and a device management mode called Smart Connect that identifies the the best Wi-Fi band for all connected devices. So while its main task is to make your Fortnite and Overwatch sessions sing, it should also handle 4K video streaming with aplomb, too. Support for Amazon Alexa and IFTTT means that home automation nerds should find plenty to like.
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A top view of the C5400X router.
Like most fully loaded routers, the C5400X doesn't come cheap: It's available now for $400. UK and Australia pricing and availability hasn't been confirmed, but that price converts to £310, AU$550.
The full specs, according to TP-Link:
- Tri-band AC5400 with 2.4GHz (1,000Mbps) + 5GHz (2,167Mbps) + 5 GHz (2,167Mbps)
- 1.8 GHz 64-bit quad-core CPU
- Three co-processors
- 1GB RAM
- Eight Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports
- One Gigabit Ethernet WAN port
- Two USB 3.0 ports
- 16GB eMMC (embedded Multi-Media Controller)
- Eight external antennas
-
Bluetooth
(for setup)
- Supports 802.11ac and backward compatible with 802.11a/b/g/n