Design
The AX10 looks a lot like the AX50 at first glance, especially from the front and the sides. One can’t really tell the two apart until you notice the AX50’s little Intel logo on top. However, the two routers are very different from one another in all other aspects. The TP-Link AX10 (Ax1500) is a stylish and attractive-looking modern device weighing 1.65 pounds. Its dimensions are 10.2 x 5 x 1.3 inches, making it a lightweight and compact product overall. The router has 4 antennas located on the rear panel of the device and on the backside of the Archer AX10, there are 1 Gigabit Ethernet WAN port, and 4 Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports. The downside is that the device does not come with a USB port, which is quite a disadvantage for a modern router. It’s a glossy device that is undoubtedly good to look at but does end up attracting many fingerprints.
Features
The AX10 is a dual-band router with Wi-Fi 6 technology and comes with AX1500 support that provides a maximum throughput of 1550 Mbps. What we love about the Archer AX10 is its MU-MIMO technology support along with OFDMA. The price point this comes at is definitely an advantage for a regular user. Considering the high-speed performance of the router, the few features (or the lack of them) don’t feel much of a disadvantage. AX1500 has no USB port as we’ve told you above, and it doesn’t support a 160 MHz channel either. This wall-mountable router offers a rather simple parental control feature and doesn’t include Antivirus either, which is becoming more and more necessary in this age of cyber threats. However, TP-Link’s AX10 is powered by the latest, cutting-edge technology and stands out in terms of performance among other AX-standard routers that are way more expensive than this one. So, overall, this makes the router an ideal choice for those who are looking for an affordable product with high-speed wireless performance and range coverage.
Performance
We always feel that a device’s performance is what counts most and this is where the Archer Ax10 scores fantastically. In effect, the fact the router can’t do 160 MHz doesn’t really matter much because its ceiling of 1.2 Gbps Wi-Fi 6 bandwidth is pretty much as fast as its LAN ports, anyway. We were pretty satisfied with the performance as our 2×2 Wi-Fi 6 clients got a stable speed of some 730 Mbps and achieved speeds more than 630 Mbps when used at short and long distances, respectively. With our Wi-Fi 5 clients, the AX10 did quite well with our 4×4 client averaging around 650 Mbps easily. Moreover, at a distance of 40 feet (12 m) away, our 3×3 client could register a speed of almost 580 Mbps.
Now, when we tested the router on the 2.4 GHz radio frequency band at a close range of 5 feet, we achieved a maximum speed of 297 Mbps, which is pretty close to the theoretical speed of 300 Mbp. At a distance of 15 feet and 30 feet, the speeds we calculated were 211 Mbps and 184 Mbps, respectively, which is quite good and well above average if you ask us. Lastly, we tested the router on our 5 GHz radio frequency band and were able to measure speeds of around 1124 Mbps at a short distance, which is pretty amazing for a Wi-Fi router with Ax1500 standard capabilities. At 15 feet and 30 feet, we measured speeds of 872 Mbps and 651 Mbps respectively, so the speed of the router at different distances was definitely much better when we used the 5 GHz radio frequency band.
Verdict
All in all, the TP-Link Archer AX10 is a highly affordable router. It is one of the most budget-friendly ones on the market, bringing the cost of Wi-Fi 6 to lower than that of many Wi-Fi 5 routers currently available. It may not be the cheapest, but it’s definitely one of the most reliable ones we’ve used so far. It’s an excellent buy for those looking for a regular, frill-free Wi-Fi device for a typical home with routine internet usage.
