Greetings,

First of all, I'm a senior network administrator with over 26 years of experience.  I was looking to get a new consumer router for my parents, so I got an Archer A7, as the price range and features seemed good.

I got the unit and installed it, updating the firmware to the latest.  All seemed fine until I tried to use the Wi-Fi.  The performance was horrible (right next to the unit).  100Mbps or less is very common, if it even connects.  So, I disabled Smart Connect.  No improvement.  Both 2.4 and 5.0 are terrible.  I tried setting QoS priorities.  No improvement.  So, I borrowed my girlfriend's Archer A5 (AC1200).  It is a rock star, performing at 200Mbps or so on the same device.

Do I have a lemon?  Are there other settings that I should look at?  It's a well reviewed unit, so I'm expecting that it should be performing much better.

Unfortunately, I'm outside the return window, but I bought the unit new and it is only about 2 months old.  So, I'm really hoping to get this unit working correctly or get it addressed under warranty, if necessary.

I appreciate any assistance.

Thank you,

Jeremy