TP-Link Archer AX20 review: Redefining value for money?

TP-Link’s line-up of Wi-Fi 6 routers includes some exciting models with good hardware that are very reasonably priced. If you want a good mid-range model, you should look at the new TP-Link Archer AX20 or TP-Link WiFi 6 Router AX1800, as you find it on Amazon. For a bit more money than Archer AX10, the Archer AX20 adds features and improvements that may pique your interest. Read this review and see whether TP-Link Archer AX20 is a good choice for you:

TP-Link Archer AX20: Who is it good for?

This wireless router is a suitable choice for:

• People who want a reasonably-priced Wi-Fi 6 router
• Three bedroom apartments or houses
• People who want to control their router from a mobile app
• Users who want to control their home network using the Alexa voice assistant
• People who want task automation services from their wireless router through IFTTT (If This, Then That)

Pros and cons

Here are the things we like about TP-Link Archer AX20:

• Good performance when using both Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 5
• Reasonably priced
• Solid hardware that can handle many network clients
• The firmware is easy to use and configure
• You can control it remotely with a mobile app
• Great multilingual support
• It has a USB port

There are a few downsides too:

• Performance could be better on the 2.4 GHz band
• We would have preferred a USB 3.0 port instead of USB 2.0

Verdict

If you have a slightly higher budget, TP-Link Archer AX20 (AX1800) is a good upgrade to Archer AX10. It is a bit faster than it’s cheaper brother, especially when using Wi-Fi 6, its hardware is a bit more powerful, and it can handle more network clients. To make things even better, it packs a USB 2.0 port, and a slightly larger feature-set. TP-Link Archer AX20 is a reasonably-priced choice that delivers excellent value for money, and we recommend it to all our readers.

Unboxing the TP-Link Archer AX20 (AX1800) with Wi-Fi 6

The TP-Link Archer AX20 wireless router comes in a cyan cardboard box, with a big picture of the device on the top. You also see this router’s top features and the fact that it works with the new Wi-Fi 6 standard. The packaging used for TP-Link Archer AX20 On the sides of the box, you find a good summary of this router’s hardware configuration, as well as more details about its features. When you open the box, you see the Quick Installation Guide, a troubleshooting guide (unfortunately, Wi-Fi 6 is picky about compatibility with some older devices), and details about the warranty and the license used for this router’s firmware. Unboxing the TP-Link Archer AX20 After you take out the leaflets mentioned earlier and unpack everything, you find the router itself, its power adapter, and a CAT 5e network cable. TP-Link Archer AX20 - What you find inside the box The unboxing is a quick experience, and you can immediately start setting up your router. Before you do that, read the quick installation and the troubleshooting guides. You will find them useful, especially if you are not familiar with Wi-Fi 6 equipment.

Hardware specifications and design

TP-Link Archer AX20 is slightly more expensive than TP-Link Archer AX10, and it has a four-core Broadcom BCM6755 (running at 1.5 GHz) system-on-a-chip (SoC) instead of a triple-core one, meaning that it should be able to handle more clients that are simultaneously connected to the network. It also comes with 256 MB of RAM and 16 MB of flash storage for the firmware. Archer AX20 is a thin router made of plastic materials, with a classic look, typical for most devices of its type. A nice touch is the X on the top, coming from its support for the 802.11ax standard, also known as Wi-Fi 6. The size of this router is identical to Archer AX10: 10.2 × 5.3 ×1.5 inches or 260.2 × 135.0 × 38.6 mm in width, depth, and height. The antennas on the TP-Link Archer AX20 It also looks the same as Archer AX10, and you couldn’t tell them apart unless you read the sticker on the bottom. It tells you the specific model you own and gives details about its default Wi-Fi configuration. There are also holes for mounting it on walls, which can be useful to some users. TP-Link Archer AX20 can be mounted on walls TP-Link Archer AX20 has four external antennas, that are non-detachable but can be rotated as you wish. It is a dual-band device with a total theoretical maximum bandwidth of 574 Mbps for the 2.4 GHz band (when using Wi-Fi 6) and 1201 Mbps for the 5 GHz band. It works with all the modern wireless standards, including Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n), Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), and Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), and it has support for WPA3 wireless encryption. Also, wireless transfers are made using 2×2 MU-MIMO. On the back of TP-Link Archer AX20, you find four 1 Gbps Ethernet ports, the WAN port (also at 1 Gbps), a USB 2.0 port, the Power button, the Power jack, the Reset jack, a button for turning the Wi-Fi on and off, and the WPS feature. The ports on the back of the TP-Link Archer AX20 If you would like to learn more about this wireless router, go to this page: TP-Link Archer AX20 Specifications.

Setting up and using the TP-Link Archer AX20 (AX1800) router

Setting up the TP-Link Archer AX20 Wi-Fi 6 router can be done both from a computer, using a web browser, or using TP-Link’s Tether app for Android and iOS. The browser-based wizard first asks you to set up the administrator password, select the time-zone for your location, and choose the type of internet connection you are using. For some types of internet connections, you may need to enter the necessary connection details. Then, you get to personalize the wireless settings. You can choose to configure each wireless band (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) separately or have them use the same name and password. TP-Link Archer AX20 - personalize wireless settings Then, the router tests whether your internet connection works and if it can use it. If all is good, it recommends that you upgrade the firmware to the latest version. You should do that to get access to new features, improved Wi-Fi performance, and stability. TP-Link Archer AX20 - upgrade firmware When done with the firmware upgrade, you see a summary of your settings, and you can log into the router and change its advanced settings. You can connect a TP-Link ID to your local admin account and remote control your router from anywhere on the internet, both from a web browser and using the mobile Tether app. Add a TP-Link ID to TP-Link Archer AX20 The user interface is simple to understand, and it starts with presenting only the basic settings related to the wireless network. TP-Link Archer AX20 - basic wireless settings For more features and configuration options, go to the Advanced section. There, you find all the settings and advanced features of this router. One feature that you may want to turn on is the firmware auto-update, so that TP-Link Archer AX20 handles everything automatically, and you get the best possible security and performance. TP-Link Archer AX20 - Advanced settings The advanced settings are not that complex, and many users should have no problems setting things up. However, there’s no help documentation available in the firmware, which may be a downside for some people. Luckily, the user interface is available in more than 20 languages, making everyone’s life easier. The Tether mobile app for Android and iOS works the same way for all TP-Link routers that support it. The app is easy to use, and it offers access to the basics you need, including some remote troubleshooting tools that might come in handy. The Tether app works with TP-Link Archer AX20 Unfortunately, older devices may not be able to “see” Wi-Fi 6 networks. This is the case with all routers with support for this standard. The key is to update the drivers for the network cards inside your computers. If that doesn’t work either, you can always set the router to use the Wi-Fi 5 standard instead of Wi-Fi 6. The wireless network offered by TP-Link Archer AX20 is fast if you are using Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 6 and relatively slow when using the Wi-Fi 4 standard on the 2.4 GHz band. To give you a perspective, here are the summaries of wireless transfers made on the same laptop, in the same place, in a room that was separated by one wall from the router. On the 2.4 GHz band, with Wi-Fi 4, the wireless transmission was very stable, but the average speed was underwhelming: just 98.4 Mbps. Competing routers managed to go above 130 Mbps in the same room. TP-Link Archer AX20 - transfer on Wi-Fi 4 When switching to Wi-Fi 5 on the 5 GHz band, the average speed was a lot better, and the transmission variability also increased. However, downloads were six times faster than on the 2.4 GHz band. TP-Link Archer AX20 - transfer on Wi-Fi 5 On the 5 GHz band with Wi-Fi 6, the average speed increased further, but so did the variability of the transmission. However, 672.6 Mbps is an average download speed that is going to make many users happy. TP-Link Archer AX20 - transfer on Wi-Fi 6 You get a good experience using the TP-Link Archer AX20 AX18000 router with the newer Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 6 standards. Network connections are fast, the router can handle many devices, and you can control it from anywhere on the internet, including your smartphone. The only downside is that the average speed when using the Wi-Fi 4 standard is a bit underwhelming. If you want to know more about the real-world performance offered by TP-Link Archer AX20, including comparisons with other wireless routers, go to the next page of this review.

Wireless network performance

First, let’s look at the apartment used in our testing and how it is set up. TP-Link Archer AX20 is placed in the living room. With most wireless routers, the signal strength is not great in places like the Kitchen and the Medium balcony. The apartment in which we tested TP-Link Archer AX20 Our testing was done using a fast 1 Gigabit Internet connection capable of uploads on the internet of up to 800 Mbps. We evaluated the Wi-Fi emitted by TP-Link Archer AX20 using the following standards: Wi-Fi 4 on the 2.4 GHz band, Wi-Fi 5, and Wi-Fi 6 on the 5 GHz band. To get a better idea of the performance offered by TP-Link Archer AX20 (AX1800), we compared it with ASUS RT-AX58U and its more affordable brother TP-Link Archer AX10. We analyzed the 2.4 GHz band first when using the Wi-Fi 4 standard, and we measured the signal strength with NetSpot. You can see its evolution in the graphic below. TP-Link Archer AX20 - Signal strength on the 2.4 GHz band Then, we wanted to see how fast the internet connection is when using the Wi-Fi 4 standard. We used SpeedTest on our laptop and made several measurements in each room. TP-Link Archer AX20 offered download speeds that were faster than those of an Archer AX10. TP-Link Archer AX20 - Downloads in SpeedTest with Wi-Fi 4 When measuring the upload speed, the story wasn’t as clear cut, but TP-Link Archer AX20 performed well in all rooms. TP-Link Archer AX20 - Uploads in SpeedTest with Wi-Fi 4 We used the PassMark Performance test to transfer data between two computers connected to the network on the 2.4 GHz band when using Wi-Fi 4. Again, TP-Link Archer AX20 offered faster downloads than Archer AX10. TP-Link Archer AX20 - Downloads when using Wi-Fi 4 There was no clear winner when measuring the upload speed, as each router’s performance varied greatly from room to room. TP-Link Archer AX20 - Uploads when using Wi-Fi 4 On the 2.4 GHz band, when using the Wi-Fi 4 standard, TP-Link Archer AX20 delivers faster downloads than its smaller brother - Archer AX10. We analyzed the 5GHz wireless band using the Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 6 standards for the next set of measurements. We looked at the evolution of the signal strength from room to room. As you can see below, the signal strength offered by TP-Link Archer AX20 was better than that provided by Archer AX10 in most rooms. TP-Link Archer AX20 - Signal strength on the 5 GHz band We used SpeedTest to measure the speed of the internet connection when connected to the 5 GHz band when using the Wi-Fi 5 standard. TP-Link Archer AX20 delivered excellent download speeds in most rooms. TP-Link Archer AX20 - Downloads in SpeedTest with Wi-Fi 5 The same was true when measuring the upload speed. TP-Link Archer AX20 - Uploads in SpeedTest with Wi-Fi 5 We then used the PassMark Performance test to transfer data between two computers connected to the network using Wi-Fi 5. In this test, TP-Link Archer AX20 performed well, without being the best router in our comparison. As you can see below, there was no clear winner. TP-Link Archer AX20 - Downloads when using Wi-Fi 5 The same happened with the upload speed too. However, in some rooms, TP-Link Archer AX20 was the slowest in our comparison. TP-Link Archer AX20 - Uploads when using Wi-Fi 5 When using the 5 GHz band and the Wi-Fi 5 standard, TP-Link Archer AX20 is a reliable router, which offers speeds that don’t disappoint. We remained on the 5 GHz wireless band, but we switched to using the Wi-Fi 6 standard and ran SpeedTest in all the rooms of our apartment. The downloads offered by TP-Link Archer AX20 outmatched Archer AX10 almost everywhere. TP-Link Archer AX20 - Downloads in SpeedTest with Wi-Fi 6 The same was true when measuring the upload speed, but not in as many rooms. TP-Link Archer AX20 - Uploads in SpeedTest with Wi-Fi 6 For the last round of comparisons, we used the PassMark Performance test to transfer data between two computers connected to the network using Wi-Fi 6. TP-Link Archer AX20 performed well in all rooms, but it wasn’t the speed champion in this comparison. TP-Link Archer AX20 - Downloads when using Wi-Fi 5 The same happened when measuring uploads too. TP-Link Archer AX20 - Uploads when using Wi-Fi 6 When using Wi-Fi 6, TP-Link Archer AX20 performs well, but it doesn’t beat its competitors. However, its price is very affordable, making up for the difference in speed.

Wired network performance

TP-Link Archer AX20 has four Ethernet ports that you can use to connect your computers and devices to the network. Our internet connection offers a maximum of 1 Gbps for the download speed and 800 Mbps for the upload. We first used SpeedTest to see if this router can reach the maximum potential of our connection. As you can see below, TP-Link Archer AX20 had no problems doing that. TP-Link Archer AX20 – SpeedTest on Ethernet connections One thing to note is that TP-Link Archer AX10 offered a lower upload speed because, at the time we reviewed it, our internet connection was capped at 500 Mbps for the upload. Then, we ran a network transfer between two computers using the PassMark Performance test. TP-Link Archer AX20 had no problems getting close to the 1 Gbps promised in its specifications. TP-Link Archer AX20 – Network transfers on Ethernet connections TP-Link Archer AX20 can reliably work with internet connections that are up to 1 Gbps and also provides Ethernet transfers at this speed.

USB performance

We connected a portable SSD to the USB 2.0 port of the TP-Link Archer AX20 and made some data transfers. TP-Link Archer AX10 doesn’t have a USB port, so it is not part of this comparison. Also, ASUS RT-AX58U has a USB 3.0 port, which is natively faster, so TP-Link Archer AX20 couldn’t deliver similar performance, even though it was faster than many other routers with USB 2.0 ports, due to its powerful hardware. TP-Link Archer AX20 – The speed of the USB port TP-Link Archer AX20 has a USB 2.0 port, which can be useful to some users. However, most Wi-Fi 6 routers these days come with faster USB 3.0 ports.

Extra features

The firmware on the TP-Link Archer AX20 has a couple of advanced features that some users are going to appreciate:

• VPN server – you can set the router to work as a VPN server using OpenVPN and PPTP.
• QoS – a basic Quality of Service feature that helps you control how the total bandwidth is split between devices.
• Parental Controls - a manual set of parental controls that you can use to set time limits for your children or block access to some sites.
• Wireless schedule - you can set when the wireless network is automatically turned off. For example, you may not want it broadcasted while you sleep.
• Guest Network – you can enable guest Wi-Fi networks with individual security and access settings, one on each band.
• DDNS – allows you to connect to the router from the internet, even if your internet provider assigns you a dynamic public IP address. TP-Link Archer AX20 can work with the following service providers: TP-Link, NO-IP, and DynDNS.
• IPv6 – support for IPv6 addresses that are going to replace IPv4. Our internet connection works with IPv6, and the router handled it well.
• Time Machine - if you have a Mac, you can use an external hard drive that’s connected to the router through its USB port, to backup your file using Time Machine.
• Integration with Amazon’s Alexa and IFTTT – with Tether mobile app’s help, you can integrate the router with Amazon Alexa and control it using voice commands. You can do the same with the If This Then That (IFTTT) service, which allows you to automate tasks that might otherwise be repetitive or unable to “talk to each other.”
• OneMesh - you can add a TP-Link range extender to create a mesh Wi-Fi network with your router for extended coverage and easy setup.

TP-Link OneMesh is available on the Archer AX20 The TP-Link Archer AX20 (AX1800) router with Wi-Fi 6 covers all the basics people need from a wireless router. Its OneMesh support may be handy when you need to extend the wireless coverage in your home.

What is your opinion about TP-Link Archer AX20?

Now you know what we like about the dual-band TP-Link Archer AX20 router with Wi-Fi 6. You also know its strengths and weaknesses. Before closing this review, tell us what you think. Are you interested in purchasing this router? If you already own it, what has been your experience with it? Comment below, and let’s discuss.