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Review TP-LINK TL-WR841ND

TP-Link TL-WR841ND Wi-Fi Router Review (Based on Personal Use)

The Chinese company TP-Link is a worldwide supplier of SOHO class networking equipment. The list of products manufactured by the company is quite extensive and includes Wi-Fi routers, routers, switches, modems, wireless equipment, IP cameras, Powerline adapters, print servers, media converters and network adapters.

The hero of today's review, the TP-Link TL-WR841ND Wi-Fi router is a member of the family of inexpensive combined wired / wireless routers of the IEEE 802.11n standard. It is intended for home use or networking in small and medium-sized offices. This device was purchased to create a mixed wired and wireless network in an apartment between two stationary computers and one or two laptops. Computers are connected via a wired interface, and Wi-Fi technology is used for laptops.

I'll start my review with the packaging and packaging of the device.

The appearance of the packaging is typical for TP-Link devices.

It is made in white-green colors. The box itself contains:

- the actual Wi-Fi router;

- two all-round flexible antennas;

- Power Supply;

- patch cord;

- CD with user manual and program for quick configuration of the router;

- quick setup guide in several languages, including Russian.

- warranty card;

- several advertising brochures.

The appearance of the device has a somewhat futuristic design. And with the antennas installed, it looks a bit like a flying saucer.

On the top panel of the device there are LED indicators showing the status of the router. The placement, size, color and brightness of the LEDs are very well chosen. The indicators are clearly visible both when the device is placed on the wall and when it is placed on a table, even in bright daylight. At night, the indicators do not dazzle and do not interfere with sleep, which is important for those who plan to use the router at home 24/7.

On the back panel there are two connectors for connecting antennas, a block of RJ-45 network jacks, a power button, a button for quickly adding a wireless device to the network, and a reset button to factory settings, which is recessed into the case to protect against accidental clicks. In the RJ-45 network jack box, the four jacks are highlighted in yellow. These are LAN ports that are for connecting devices on the internal network. The WAN port is highlighted in blue into which the Ethernet cable of the provider or ADSL modem is connected.

Connecting to a computer and accessing the WEB-interface does not cause any difficulties - everything is absolutely standard for devices of this class. The page is made in traditional white and green colors and is divided into three parts.

On the left side there is a menu for accessing a particular group of settings. In the central part of the page there are configurable parameters. And on the left is a short help for the configurable parameters in English.

Basic settings such as setting up WAN connection, LAN and wireless network are standard. So the connection to the external network can be carried out by specifying a static or dynamic IP address, as well as through the PPPoE, PPTP, L2TP protocols. For the local network, you can configure DHCP with the ability to reserve addresses. It is possible to create a bridge between the WAN interface and the LAN port to transmit all incoming traffic to the specified port (for example, to transmit IPTV traffic). In this case, traffic processing is not performed, thus the device processor is not loaded. The security settings are also similar to those of similar devices. I would like to note that the router provides the ability to create your own rules for accessing the Internet.It is also worth noting the ability to control the speed of access to the external network by IP address and port.

I would also like to note that TP-Link TL-WR841ND supports WDS technology. This technology allows multiple devices to establish a wireless data bridge between each other. This function is often useful for offices located on different floors of buildings.

As for speed characteristics, here TP-Link TL-WR841ND showed very good results.

I tested the baud rate between two computers connected to LAN ports and between a computer and a laptop that was connected to Wi-Fi. I did not carry out special testing of the speed of downloading files from a computer and a laptop from the Internet, but I watched the download speeds when using a torrent program.

To measure the transfer rate between two computers, I copied a 1.2 GB file. the test was repeated three times and the average copy time was 1 minute 56 seconds. Accordingly, the average speed was 10.5 Mb / s. This is not a bad result considering that the maximum bandwidth of the LAN interface is 100 Mbps or 12.5 Mb / s.

Copying a file from a computer to a laptop and vice versa showed a similar speed. I want to note that during testing, the radio signal strength on the router was set to the minimum value, while at a distance of 14 meters in a straight line through two reinforced concrete walls, the laptop showed the signal level well and perfectly.

When downloading files via torrent, the maximum speed reached 11.5 Mb / s, that is, almost the maximum value of the channel bandwidth of 100 Mbps. In addition, I would like to note that the work of the torrent did not affect the speed of access to the sites in any way.

Unfortunately, I was not able to accurately measure the temperature of the router chips. However, during idle time, the heating of the case is practically not felt; during the load, the upper part of the case heats up to 45-47 degrees.

In terms of reliability, TP-Link TL-WR841ND showed not perfect, but quite good results. For three months with a little more than a month of operation, the device rebooted twice.

Summing up the results.

TP-Link TL-WR841ND is an inexpensive but very well equipped Wi-Fi router. It will allow you to quickly, without thoughtful study of the manual, create a simple network at home or, after working with the settings, deploy a secure, managed network in a small and even medium-sized office.

Advantages:

- good functionality;

- simplicity of settings;

- thoughtfulness of the menu of the WEB-interface;

- speed characteristics;

- stability of work;

- support of the manufacturer.

Disadvantages:

Considering the cost - they are not.

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