TP-Link Archer C9 Wireless Router

As noted in a previous post I’ve started checking the security status and general well being of my home office gear and upgrading where needed.

I recently decided to replace my home office router. It was a Netgear WGR614v10. It still did the job but I was having trouble getting older devices to grab and hold a WiFi connection, had some strange hiccups on the laptops that could have been router related, and, most importantly, it was not clear that firmware to address the latest threats was being pushed out regularly. It also did not support newer high speed WiFi standards, had no provision for a guest network, and no way to share out a printer.

So I went looking for a replacement. I wanted to address the issues identified above but still stay in the home office price range. I found a few sources that recommended the TP-Link Archer C9. I found it for US$110 on Amazon so that seemed a safe choice.

Set up was straightforward although, as some of the reviews pointed out, you need to wait for a lot of reboots if you’re doing anything but the most basic setup.

So far so good. It didn’t help much with getting my original iPad Mini to hold a WiFi connection but everything else seems to have been checked off.

I upgraded it to the latest firmware (October 2016). The process of downloading the firmware from their website and then installing it was straightforward but it would be nice if you could just hit a “check for updates” button in the web console and not have to download it manually from a separate browser window.

Again, the takeaway is to pay attention to what you’re running – especially the stuff that “just runs” and so never gets looked at. It’s usually fairly cheap and painless to move something better and more current and avoid the risk of something failing or falling victim to a security breach (which always happens at the least convenient moment).