TP-Link Archer GE400 Review

I generally say Wi-Fi 7 does an excellent job of handling interference. I’ve seen a noticeable improvement in speed when I benchmark Wi-Fi 6E and older devices—especially when I use DFS channels on the 5 GHz band. But this router is determined to paint me as a dirty rotten liar, as you’ll see when I get to the 2.4 GHz tests.

For starters, the connection speed always depends on the server-client relationship—how they communicate with each other and deal with the environment. There can be some radio incompatibility between them that will thwart your speeds—I’ve seen it plenty of times in testing.

In this case, my Wi-Fi 7 client registered the fastest speeds on the 5 GHz band since I started testing Wi-Fi 7. Either aliens were involved, interference was crazy low, or my Wi-Fi 7 client really loved the GE400 with wide, heart-shaped eyes. In fact, it clocked 300Mbps more throughput than the other routers at my marker across the street. Umm, say what?

But here’s the ugly flip side. My Wi-Fi 7 client recorded the slowest 2.4 GHz speeds compared to the other standalone Wi-Fi 7 routers I tested. Naturally, I changed channels quite a few times to see if I could squeeze out more throughput, but nope. Nadda. A measly 355Mbps was the best I could muster at close range, versus 476Mbps with the cheaper Archer BE230 model.

Meanwhile, my Wi-Fi 6E client performed normally in testing, showing benchmarks that mostly match all the other Wi-Fi 7 router tests I’ve performed to date. It’s a good example of my compatibility theory—two similar devices, but one performs better than the other.

There are quite a few good things going on with the Archer GE400. You have the built-in VPN tools, EasyMesh support for expanding your Wi-Fi network, support for up to seven different Wi-Fi networks, and a handful of basic parental controls.

On the gaming front, the RGB strip is pretty cool—gamers like that bling, after all—allowing you to choose different effects. The Game Port Forwarding tool contains the port forwarding settings (profiles) of 100 games you can apply to optimize your connection to remote game servers, like Call of Duty 4 and Fortnite. However, everything else in the Game Center is just rebranded settings you’ve seen before, like quality of service, device prioritization, and diagnostic tools.

What the Archer GE400 could do better

• Subscription-free features
• More USB tools

Yes, the Archer GE400 offers some free security and parental control features, but I shouldn’t have to pay for subscriptions to get features offered at no extra cost elsewhere. Either make all features free, or don’t offer them at all. Stop milking the consumer. Take a look at the subscriptions section for more information.

Meanwhile, there doesn’t appear to be a built-in media server, although you can watch videos from a USB storage device. There’s no printer sharing or Apple Time Machine support, either. All you get is basic storage sharing. Snore.

Design-wise, the Archer GE400 isn’t vastly different from the cheaper Archer BE230. Both have the same ports and number of bands. However, the GE400 adds two extra antennas and two additional spatial streams on the 5 GHz band. In other words, it can handle a few extra simultaneous transmissions than the Archer BE230, increasing its max throughput by 2,900Mbps for $133more.

And since this router doesn’t offer the 6 GHz band and the associated 320 MHz-wide channels, the only real benefit here is the way Wi-Fi 7 routers handle interference. Wi-Fi 6E and older devices clearly benefit from the new spec based on my testing, although you do need a Wi-Fi 7 device if you want to see higher speeds on the 2.4 GHz band.

There’s also no 10Gbps Ethernet port, which seems to be reserved for routers with higher throughputs, like the NETGEAR Nighthawk RS700S and the ASUS RT-BE96U.

After years of complaining about the amount of time required to set up a TP-Link router, the Archer GE400 was surprisingly quick. Gone were the requirements to set the MAC address and IPTV settings during setup, which you can address later if needed. I’m not sure if TP-Link assumes gamers don’t bother with these settings and didn’t include them in the GE400 setup, or if TP-Link removed these steps permanently across the board—I guess we’ll find out in my next TP-Link router review.

Regardless, all that was needed from me was to set the router login password. The only thing I had to do afterwards was set the network names and passwords for each radio. Note that Smart Connect was disabled by default, which usually isn’t the case with most of the standalone routers I’ve tested. That’s a good thing, because the last thing you need is your gaming rig or console using the slow-as-snails 2.4 GHz band during a multiplayer firefight.

I prefer dark interfaces, and TP-Link offers just that with its web UI and Tether app for the Archer GE400. White text on black and dark gray backgrounds is less vibrant, making these interfaces easier to use. Plus, I’ve griped about the white/light blue web UI used on TP-Link routers for years, with no option for a dark mode, so the Archer GE400 was a nice change.

To be honest, I prefer the Tether app over the web UI. It uses the screen space more intelligently, presenting nearly everything you need to know at a glance on the home screen versus all the blank, wasted space seen on the web UI’s network map.

Unfortunately, you still need both to manage this router, but the app does provide more enthusiast controls than what I’ve seen in the past, like channel settings. The basic parental controls are the same on both, but for things like app restrictions and time limits, you need the Tether app and an Advanced Parental Controls subscription.