It’s 2021 and the pandemic is still here. This means we’re still working from home until things get better. Having a reliable and fast WiFi connection is crucial for work productivity. Thus, that brings us to the new TP-Link Archer AX73, a high-performance AX5400 wireless router now available in Malaysia.
The Archer AX73 is a high-performance WiFi 6 router. It can support total WiFi link speed up to 5400Mbps with dual-band configuration. In fact, the router supported the 160Mhz mode which means the 5Ghz WiFi network can get really fast if you have a 160Mhz supported WiFi adapter.
What’s so good about the Archer AX73 is the price. It is available for sale at just RM399 in Malaysia with a 3 years one-to-one exchange hardware warranty and after sales support from TP-Link Malaysia.
Table of Contents
The first thing that you’ll notice from the Archer AX73 is the 6 antennas. These antennas are real and not just for show. We’ve taken apart router and identified that 4 antennas are used for the 5Ghz network and 2 antennas are used for the 2.4Ghz network.
The reason why there are 6 antennas is because the Archer AX73 uses an individual antenna for each transmit channel rather than combining both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz into a single antenna. Rather than using a dual-band antenna, each antennas on the router are optimized for their desired frequency, resulting in better performance without compromises.Â
The Archer AX73 also runs really cool and stable in our test. It’s because TP-Link used a much larger heatsink and added more ventilation. This is why the Archer AX73 is so big and heavy! In fact, it barely heats up even on prolonged stress test and certainly much cooler than the infamous Archer AX50.
Hardware and Specs
| Wireless 2.4Ghz | Wi-Fi 6 up to 574Mbps (40Mhz 2X2) |
| Wireless 5Ghz | Wi-Fi 6 up to 4804Mbps (160Mhz 4X4) |
| WiFi Features | OFDMA, MU-MIMO, Beamforming, WPA3, OneMesh |
| CPU | Broadcom BCM6750 1.5Ghz Triple-Core |
| Ethernet Ports | 1x Gigabit WAN port + 4x Gigabit LAN port |
| USB | 1x USB 3.0 port |
The Archer AX73 is powered by a fast Broadcom 1.5Ghz Triple-Core CPU and comes with 512MB RAM. TP-Link says this router can actually support up to 200 devices connected simultaneously. While I don’t have 200 devices to test, the router do work realiably in my home with close to 50 devices connected to it.
Connectivity wise, the router comes with 4 Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports and a single Gigabit Ethernet WAN port. It also comes with a USB 3.0 port which can be used for file sharing and printer sharing to devices connected to the wireless router. The LED status indicator on the router can be disabled if needed.
Unboxing Archer AX73
The box of Archer AX73 for Malaysia market comes labeled with support for TM Unifi, Maxis Fibre and TIME Fibre.
Each antenna on router and accessories are individually wrapped. The cardboard box also provide sufficient protection during shipping. It comes with a CAT5E Gigabit Ethernet LAN cable and a 12V power adapter.
It is possible to wall-mount the wireless router with 2 mounting holes behind the product. The default WiFi name and password is also labeled on the back of the router. Similar to the top, the entire bottom of the product is full of ventilation holes for enhanced cooling performance.
Quick Teardown
I also did a simple teardown for the Archer AX73. Since I am not a hardware enginee, I won’t comment much about this. WiFi related components are shielded and there’s a decent sized heatsink to cool down the router. This explains why this router barely heats up.
Wi-Fi Performance
With the beefy specifications, let’s see if that actually transfer into actual performance in our benchmark test. I will be using a laptop with the Intel AX200 wireless adapter and an iPhone to test the 5Ghz Wi-Fi 6 performance of TP-Link Archer AX73. I will be skipping the 2.4Ghz result as it is probably irrelevant these days given how congested is the 2.4Ghz channel.
At short distance to the router, my iPhone can achieve over 800Mbps on the 5Ghz Wi-Fi network. This is not surprising considering most Wi-Fi 6 routers, even the budget models like Archer AX10 can deliver such performance. What we really want to know is the long range signal coverage and performance.Â
The 5Ghz signal on the Archer AX73 is really strong! The 5Ghz coverage and performance is faster and stronger than every single AX3000 wireless router that we’ve tested on this site. The performance is also stable and consistently replicable througout our review.
Security wise, it can support the latest WPA3 security right out of the box. However, I do not recommend using WPA3 as older WiFi devices may face compatibility issues. Considering a router last many years, you can consider enabling it few more years in the future as older devices are phased out from your home.
Firmware and Features
TP-Link maintain their philosophy of not overly bloating the firmware with features and I think it works here. Reliability is the keyword here as I find the Archer AX73 firmware is very well optimized. During my test, I do not face any issues with the router. The firmware always responded fast consistently.
The web interface is simple to operate and certainly very easy to setup the router. It can support TM Unifi, Maxis Fibre and all ISPs in Malaysia. For most users, it will involve connecting the router to the modem and use the setup wizard on the interface. The VLAN profile must be selected for TM Unifi or Maxis Fibre users in Malaysia.
TP-Link Tether app offers a quick overview of your home network condition such as connected devices and network speed. The app is well designed and really responsive in our test. It is securely linked to TP-Link cloud and authenticated with your personal TP-Link account. TP-Link HomeShield security feature is only accessible on the app as well.
TP-Link HomeShield Security
TP-Link HomeShield is their new commercial grade firewall replacing the previous HomeCare feature. It can protect your devices from accessing a malicious website containing a virus or malware with an advanced antivirus firewall. This feature is now powered by Avira Antivirus database.
It also added protection for smart home and IoT devices. Considering these devices rarely receive firmware updates, having extra protection is certainly helpful. TP-Link claims it can protect an insecure device from being used as a loophole to launch attacks on your home network. We have no way of verifying these claims.
HomeShield Parental Control
TP-Link new HomeShield parental control is also much smarter than before. It can perform content filtering by category and usage time limitation. The categories are more comprehensive covering more websites than before. Based on our testing on some known sites, it is certainly more effective than HomeCare and other similar systems that we have tested on other brands.
What’s so great about the new parental control is the ability to display usage charts and web history. It will show the top browsed website and attempts to access a blocked website by each user. If a page is blocked by the parental control feature, the user can request for access in which the admin can approve it via the TP-Link Tether app.
However, the upgraded HomeShield feature is not fully free. The Free tier only comes with the basic firewall without the advanced malicious content filtering feature. It also does not provide the comprehensive reporting of the parental control feature. More details available on TP-Link website here.
TP-Link HomeShield feature is a really robust parental control. While TP-Link provide a 30 days free trial of the Pro tier, it will cost RM24.90 per month after the trial has ended. I am fine with a subscription based business model but I find the price is too much.
OneMesh Capability
For those staying in a bigger home, it’s possible to link the Archer AX73 with a OneMesh extender. The OneMesh extender will then work together with the Archer AX73 resulting in a stronger WiFi coverage with true mesh WiFi features like seamless roaming and band steering unlike a traditional WiFi extender.Â
For the Archer AX73, I will only recommend linking it with a WiFi 6 OneMesh extender such as the RE505X and RE605X. Unfortunately, TP-Link does not allow router to router OneMesh currently. You also cannot link the Archer AX73 to a Deco Mesh WiFi system directly as they are based on a different technology.
Closing Thoughts
At RM399, the Archer AX73 offers really good performance even when comparing to some other routers that cost twice as much. It offers really good 5Ghz WiFi coverage and very fast WiFi speed on the 5Ghz channel with 160Mhz. Coupled with a fast 1.5Ghz Triple-Core CPU, it is a really good product from TP-Link.
TP-Link software is also smarter than before with a robust class-leading parental control feature. TP-Link is committed to provide more security to smart home and IoT devices with the new HomeSuite security suite. WPA3 security is also supported right out of the box.
TP-Link Archer AX73
9.2
Tubi Rating
pros
- Premium performance at affordable price
- Robust HomeShield parental control solution
- Stable and reliable software
- Good security
CONS
- Advanced HomeShield features require a subscription
- Limited OneMesh supportÂ
Is it true that i won’t be able to get 160mhz is if i use Smart Connect?
No, that is not true. 160Mhz is enabled by default on TP-Link routers even when smart connect is enabled. However, bear in mind if you stay at a high-interference location, the router may automatically drop to 80Mhz mode for better performance.
I would like to extend my biggest thank you to you Blacktubi for your review! Because of your comprehensive review at a perfect timing, I manage to buy this on lazada birthday sale and got 100 bucks off! At rm300, this router is overkill for my 300d/50u unifi connection. 5ghz signal is strong af, connections are fast and stable, and no more shitty signal drops like I’m experiencing from unifi dlink dir842 or unable to each full speed like my old Asus RT-AC1200G+. Legit I feel loading any pages is snappier and I think its just due to the better… Read more »
The Archer AX73 is definitely a really great router for the price. Definitely much better than what the competitors offer. TP-Link firmware has come a long way and they are really good and responsive as well.
did you face Unifi TV not working after one day? I tested by setting VLAN manual and setting port 4 to IPTV. Unifi TV will work one day then after that it will have no signal. Happen twice in a row. Now I set it back to default unifi tv and swap iptv to LAN 1 and will test. Hopefully won’t happen anymore.
Try to use IGMP V3 in the settings menu. It does improve stability for some HyppTV models.
Will this be an upgrade over Ac55uhp? For range wise, as I’m worried that small antenna won’t be able to reach some spot of the house (3 Storey).
Having a 500mbps , 100mbps upload.
I find the Archer AX73 is much stronger than the RT-AC55UHP. Contrary to porpular believes, long antennas are just gimmick.
would you recommend this over xiaomi ax3600
Of course, it performs better than Xiaomi AX3600 by a significant margin.
Hi sifus here, can I know for LAN cable, is there a difference with using cat8 or cat 7 or cat 6 cable from the TM fibre port to our router/modem?
Or there is only difference when we use cat 8 from router to devices with LAN?
Actually even CAT5E is perfectly good enough to support up to Gigabit speeds but LAN cables do deteriorate and the quality of cable varies depending on manufacturers. Purchase from a reputable brand like VENTION or UGreen is a safe bet.
Oh I see. Ok. Thank you very much for the reply and suggestion 🙂
Hi, I’m currently on 300mbps maxis fibre and i’m not getting the speed on both 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz. Technicians have came to fix and eventually the speed drops back to around 40mbps. I’m looking to changing the router and will Ax73 fix this issue and will the setup be easy as i’m kinda noob in this.
The setup for Maxis Fibre is more complicated but it should improve your performance signficantly.
hi, what do you recommend for a 3 story house? AX73 with ? where should i place it ?
thanks.
You will definitely need a mesh WiFi system for sure. Any router will not provide sufficient reliable WiFI coverage.
Anyone have opinion compare this with the Dlink DIR-3060? Seems they fall at same price range now.
The Archer AX73 comes with WiFI 6 and it should perform better than the D-Link DIR-3060 which is just Wireless AC up to AC3000.
Thanks for the prompt reply, how bout compare to D-Link DIR-X5460? Both are using very identical hardware.
I wouldn’t be able to commend since I have not tested that model.
I don’t think TP-Link allows router to router mesh at the moment. Router to router mesh is only available on ASUS AiMesh.
Would I be able to connect my RE305 V3 to join AX73 to form the Onemesh network ? Im currently subscribe to unifi 300mbps living in a double storey house and using the free router from TM.
I am eyeing on the AX 73, AX 20 or the Asus RT-AX55.
Which router would you recommend me to get ?
The Archer AX73 is definitely the fastest among the trio you mentioned.
Would I benefit from this if I only have a low speed subscription (30 mbps) but with a property size of >2500 sqft? I only have 1 wifi 6 device (PC using TX50E AX3000 adapter).
I am thinking AX73 will help in achieving good coverage on the less congested 5ghz.
The stock router from unifi is unreliable with drop outs under heavy usage. But unifi is offering free Deco M4 on plan upgrade (eg to 100 mbps). Will this be a more cost effective solution for me & is the AX73 overkill for my situation?
Thank you for your help!
I think the Archer AX73 will be a very good choice for you. It offers much better coverage than the free TM router. Feel free to share the results once you purchased it.
But with 30 mbps, between mesh (Deco M4) vs AX73, would you still go with AX73 or mesh?
Looking at your property size, the Archer AX73 2.4Ghz should be able to cover your properly if the router is placed at the middle of the house. Since your speed is just 30Mbps, 2.4Ghz is sufficient. I will suggest using a single router when they are enough to do the job.
Thank you so much for your help!
Please review on Maxis Wifi6 Huawei Router currently on offering. Thks.
I do not use Maxis Fiber.