Name: TP-Link Archer GE650 BE11000 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 Gaming Router
Brand: TP-Link
Price: 299.99 USD

EDITORS' NOTE

The US Commerce, Defense, and Justice Departments are investigating TP-Link routers with an eye to a possible ban on sales in the US, according to a report. For now, we retain our recommendation for the Archer GE650, but we will reassess its status pending further developments.

Gaming routers are typically more expensive than general-purpose Wi-Fi routers and mesh systems, but in return, you get premium performance and features. With the TP-Link Archer GE650 BE11000 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 Gaming Router, you get outstanding Wi-Fi 7 performance and a robust feature set without having to spend a bundle. The GE650 offers several gamer-centric features, including optimized acceleration settings, a dedicated game control panel, and an edgy design. It also offers six multi-gig networking ports. At $279.99, it’s an excellent value and worthy of our Editors’ Choice award for midrange gaming routers.

The GE650 doesn’t look like a typical router. Instead, it has an upside-down V shape that, according to TP-Link, is inspired by a volcano. The gunmetal-gray router stands 7.9 inches tall and is 5.3 inches wide and 9.2 inches deep.

LED backlighting starts at the base and continues halfway up the front of the enclosure in the form of two thin strips. When the router is up and running properly, the lighting will follow whatever lighting scheme you’ve selected in the mobile app (more on this later). Otherwise, a blinking red LED indicates no internet connection, blinking orange tells you that Wi-Fi is turned off, blinking yellow means no Wi-Fi and no internet connection, and blinking blue lets you know a firmware update is in progress.

The TP-Link Archer GE650 BE11000 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 Gaming Router

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

All of the router's ports and buttons are located on the back panel. They include a 5GbE WAN port, a 5GbE Gaming LAN port that gives bandwidth priority to connected gaming devices, three 2.5GbE LAN ports, a USB 3.0 port, and a power port. You'll also find buttons for turning the router on and off, enabling or disabling the LED lights, enabling or disabling Wi-Fi, and resetting the router.

The rear ports of the TP-Link Archer GE650 BE11000 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 Gaming Router

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

The router features a 1.5GHz quad-core CPU, 2GB of RAM, and 256MB of flash memory, along with four internal antennas. The tri-band BE11000 Wi-Fi can hit transmission speeds of up to 688Mbps on the 2.4GHz band, up to 4,323Mbps on the 5GHz band, and up to 5,764Mbps on the 6GHz band, for a total bandwidth of approximately 11,000Mbps (hence the BE11000 rating).

The GE650 also supports the latest Wi-Fi 7 technologies, including 320MHz channel bandwidth, 4K QAM, direct-to-client beamforming, MU-MIMO data streaming, Multi-Link Operation (MLO), and orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) transmissions. As with the Archer GE800 BE19000, the GE650 is EasyMesh compatible and can be deployed as a main router or node in a mesh network along with other TP-Link EasyMesh devices.

You can manage the GE650 from a desktop or laptop PC using a web console, or with your phone using the TP-Link Tether mobile app. The Tether app opens to a Gaming screen that contains a picture of the router, its status, and a panel that shows the current upload and download speeds. Below the speed panel is a Game Center panel. Tap it to enable game-enhancing options, including Game Boost (reduces latency while gaming), WTFast (game server acceleration), and Port Forwarding. Here you can also see which device is connected to the gaming LAN port.

When you scroll down to the bottom of the screen, you'll see tabs that allow you to check network status, traffic usage, and weekly network scan and parental control reports. Other tabs let you enable and configure the RGB lighting effects described above, view connected client information, and view network gaming statistics.

A series of screenshots from the TP-Link Archer GE650 companion app

(Credit: TP-Link)

The GE650 comes with TP-Link’s HomeShield parental controls and network security software, both of which can be accessed by tapping the Security or Parental Control icons at the bottom of the screen. The included network security tools will scan the network for potential malware and isolate client devices that may be infected using the free HomeShield software.

To add Web Protection (which blocks access to malicious sites), Intrusion Prevention (defends against outside attacks), and IoT Protection (shields your connected smart home devices from hackers), you’ll have to subscribe to a $4.99 monthly ($35.99 yearly) HomeShield Security+ plan. Or, you can opt for the $5.99 monthly ($69.99 yearly) Total Security package, which adds antivirus protection, a VPN service, password management, and PC cleaning tools.

Included parental controls offer age-based website filters, content filtering, and bedtime scheduling, all of which you can configure by tapping the Family button at the bottom of the screen. For added features, including SafeSearch content filtering and Time Limits that let you set a daily cap of online time, you’ll have to pay another $2.99 per month or $17.99 per year.

To access Wi-Fi, LAN, Network Optimization, and QoS settings, tap the More icon at the bottom of the screen. Here, you can create separate guest and IoT networks, configure a mesh network using compatible EasyMesh devices, run diagnostics, and configure VPN Server and VPN Client settings.

You can install the GE650 using the web console or the Tether app, both of which provide an easy setup procedure. I unplugged my modem, connected it to the router’s 5G Internet port, and powered up both devices. When the router’s LED began blinking red, I opened the Tether app, tapped Add Device, and tapped Standard Routers. I scanned the QR code on the bottom of the router and waited a few seconds for the app to find the router. I tapped Set Up This Device, created a management password, and then created a network name and password for the 2.4GHz/5GHz bands, as well as one for the 6GHz band. After a minute, the new network was created, and the installation was complete.

The GE650 proved to be an excellent performer in our testing. Its score of 246Mbps on the 2.4GHz close proximity test was significantly higher than the TP-Link GE800 (195Mbps), the Asus RT-BE96U (150Mbps), and the Asus GT-BE98 Pro (148Mbps). At a distance of 30 feet, the GE650’s score of 86Mbps matched the GE800 and was faster than the RT-BE96U (83Mbps) and the GT-BE98 Pro (74Mbps).

On the 5GHz close proximity test, the GE650 scored 2,131Mbps, better than the GE800 (1,989Mbps), the RT-BE96U (1,548Mbps), and the GT-BE98 Pro (1,828Mbps). On the 5GHz 30-foot test, its score of 788Mbps beat the GE800 (736Mbps) but couldn’t keep pace with the RT-BE96U (906Mbps) or the GT-BE98 Pro (911Mbps).

The GE650’s score of 2,334Mbps on the 6GHz close proximity test was fast but still trailed the GE800 (2,337Mbps), the RT-BE96U (2,451Mbps), and the GT-BE98 Pro (3,075Mbps). At a distance of 30 feet, the GE650 managed 316Mbps, which beat the RT-BE96U (311Mbps) but not the GE800 (338Mbps). The GT-BE98 Pro beat them all with a score of 442Mbps.

To test wireless signal strength, we use Ekahau’s Sidekick 2 Wi-Fi diagnostic device and Survey mobile app to generate heat maps that show the router's 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz signal strength throughout our test home (Note: Ekahau is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag's parent company. For more, read about our ethics policy in the Editorial Mission Statement.) The white circle on the map represents the location of the router, and the colors represent signal strength. Dark greens represent the strongest signal, yellows represent a weaker signal, and grays represent a very weak or nonexistent signal.

A Wi-Fi coverage heat map for the TP-Link Archer GE650 BE11000 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 Gaming Router

2.4GHz coverage map (Credit: Ekahau)

5GHz coverage map (Credit: Ekahau)

6GHz coverage map (Credit: Ekahau)

As shown on the maps, the router did a great job of delivering strong 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi to all corners of the house. However, 6GHz signals deteriorated quickly as I moved away from the router. This is expected, and likely due to the same power limitations that we’ve seen with every 6GHz router we’ve tested.

To test file transfer performance, we measure read and write speeds by moving a 1.5GB folder containing photos, video, music, and office document files back and forth between a USB 3.0 drive connected to the router and our desktop PC (also connected to the router).

The GE650’s file transfer speeds were comparable with those of other multi-band Wi-Fi 7 gaming routers we’ve tested. It scored 85MBps on both tests, while the GE800 scored 87MBps (write) and 84MBps (read), the RT-BE96U scored 82MBps (write) and 83MBps (read), and the GT-BE98 Pro scored 89MBps on both tests.

Final Thoughts

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)