Archer A20 vs Archer AX50

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Archer A20 vs Archer AX50

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Archer A20 vs Archer AX50
Archer A20 vs Archer AX50
2020-08-28 20:51:12 - last edited 2020-08-29 01:27:07

Hi all,

 

I recently got the A20 because of the Wirecutter's recommendation as top router pick, but what I missed was a small blurb at the top saying their new most recent pick was the AX50, and they just hadn't updated their full guide yet. It's tough to say why they changed their mind because the new guide isn't published, other than the obvious upgrade to WIFI 6. 

 

I also noticed that the AX50 is cheaper than the A20, which struck me as odd. I couldn't find a good side-by-side comparison of features, but my guess would be it has to do with features like tri-band and more. It made me consider keeping the A20, in case there were important features for my use case that don't exist in the AX50.

 

In my household, the two most important use cases for WIFI are PS4 online gaming (which only supports the 2.4ghz band) and Zoom video calls from our Macbook Pros. We're primarily an Apple household for our daily drivers when it comes to mobile and computer. I don't think any of our devices other than my iPhone 11 Pro even support WIFI 6 yet, but that will probably change over time. Our internet service is theoretical 900 down and 40 up, so I do want to maximize my usage of it. I also live in a fairly congested condo. 

 

All that said, I could really use some guidance on if I should keep the A20 or switch to the AX50, given my priorities. I'd also really love to know why the AX50 is cheaper, even though it's a newer router.

 

Vexir

 

P.S. The AX6000 is just out of my price range. Unless there's a realllly strong argument for it.

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Re:Archer A20 vs Archer AX50
2020-08-29 00:05:14

@Vexir 

 

I've got the A20 V1 (V3's are now on sale, forgot what the difference is though)? I'm happy with it coming from a Netgear R8000 (also a Tri-band).

 

From this TP-Link page, https://www.tp-link.com/us/compare/?typeId=9&productIds=34810%2C41319 you'll need to go through the data.

 

To me, the main difference is that the AX50 is WiFi6, future proof more than the A20. However, it doesn't seem to be on the list for WPA3?

 

The A20 is a Tri-band. Allows AC devices to be on the higher 5Ghz band while slower N device are on the lower band not impacting performance. Also has Link Aggregation if you need that.

 

By the way, I asked for the differences on the V1 and V3, never got a real answer, but I suspect it could be some internal chipset changes that require different firmware, see https://community.tp-link.com/us/home/forum/topic/206270.

 

Don't know which A20 version you have, but the V1's are not easy to get. Some might have boosted the price, and V3's might not be available everywhere either?

 

One thing to take into consideration is the number of devices you can connect to a router. I think the answer as I recall is 32 per SSID. Have a lot of devices that need to be connected at one time, a tri-band is better. However, I'd think in real-life, connecting that many and have them active at the same time, a Residential Router wouldn't work well.

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