When comparing TP-LINK Archer C7 (V2) vs NETGEAR Nighthawk AC2300 (R7000P), the Slant community recommends NETGEAR Nighthawk AC2300 (R7000P) for most people. In the question“What are the best wireless routers?” NETGEAR Nighthawk AC2300 (R7000P) is ranked 1st while TP-LINK Archer C7 (V2) is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose NETGEAR Nighthawk AC2300 (R7000P) is:
The R7000P truly shines under busy network conditions. The load-balancing band steering automatically shifts the devices around to give work to both radios. What this means is that users will have a pleasant experience even when the network is busy.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Best performance for the price for both large and small houses
The TP-Link Archer V2 offers great value for the money for most people who are looking to buy a wireless router. It is faster and covers the same area faster than routers that cost twice or three times as much, While it's not the best performant router under all circumstances, the jump in price to get the best router for a certain scenario would not be proportional to the added performance.
At short range (around 11 ft) it provides 200Mbps-160Mbps depending on the line of vision, thickness of walls, etc. While on long range (around 43 ft) it provides 175Mbps-72Mbps depending on the line of vision, thickness of walls, materials the walls are made, etc.
Pro Great for appartments with lots of WiFi interference from neightbours
The Archer C7 allows you to access both 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi bands, which has the benefit of improving performance but also makes it easier to escape any interference from any neighbours' WiFi.
Pro Provides a good assortment of basic features
It has four Gigabit ethernet ports, supports USB file sharing and media streaming through two USB 2.0 ports, has parental controls for an increased degree of control, and has support for guest networks.
Pro Good degree of control over the guest network
The Archer C7 allows you to use one guest network per WiFi band. You can choose when these guest networks are activated and you can also configure the maximum amount of bandwidth that guests can use.
Pro Great performance even for busy networks
The R7000P truly shines under busy network conditions. The load-balancing band steering automatically shifts the devices around to give work to both radios. What this means is that users will have a pleasant experience even when the network is busy.
Pro You can specify the amount of bandwidth you wish to dedicate to gaming or video
Nighthawk offers two different types of traffic prioritization tools. Traffic that is sent out by the user can be prioritized for gaming, while incoming traffic can be prioritized for improved video streaming.
Pro Several custom firmwares readily available
To make greater use of the powerful component hardware, owners can easily flash any of the popular third-party firmwares like TomatoUSB, DD-WRT, AsusWRT and more using the existing upgrade page in the stock web-based control panel.
Pro Excellent USB performance
The Nighthawk achieves file transfer rates of 231.2 Mbps over USB 3.0 and 224 Mbps over USB 2.0. This means that you can connect an external hard disk drive to this router and share a 2 GB file over a Wi-Fi network in just over a minute.
Pro Easy to configure
Uses a full-featured Web interface for configuration that's easy to use for both beginners and advanced users alike.
Cons
Con Is missing some more advanced features found in other routers
It does not have some advanced features such as Quality of Service controls, iTunes server, jumbo frames or VPN server.
Con Parental controls might be somewhat confusing
For those who are less tech-savvy, setting up parental controls may be tricky, since they use the MAC addresses of the network's computers (both those use by adults and children).
Con Might be a bit problematic to use in crowded dorms or apartment buildings
The R7000P does not have a third band, which is something that's usually available for routers around this price range. This is not a big problem if the router is being used in a suburban home, but it can be a bit problematic if used in a crowded apartment complex or dorm where there are a lot of neighboring networks interfering.
Con You can't block non-HTTP sites
Even though you can block websites by domain name or keyword, you can only do so for websites that don't use HTTPS.