The Wi-Fi 7 spec isn’t quite finished yet, but you know a pesky little thing like TP-Link won’t allow it. certificate pending stop and why should it be? Not Netgear and Asus. So the company is launching its first Wi-Fi 7 router – a networking system called the Deco BE85and a powerful single access point router that looks like a set piece from an old sci-fi show, TP-Link Archer BE800.
Wi-Fi 7 means you can expect a laptop or phone with a good Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7 network card to exceed gigabit throughput. wirelessespecially if you have a connection with your ISP that can do this, like those offered in some places like Google Fiber, AT&T, or Comcast.
TP-Link sent us some test data, testing the mesh Deco BE85 system using a OnePlus 11 5G phone as a Wi-Fi 7 client with a home setup, and if true, the numbers look impressive, with the phone getting over 3000Mbps a few feet from the main router. shows that it has reached its throughput, only falling slightly below 300Mbps at the farthest point. It’s incredibly fast and something I’ve never been near Most Wi-Fi 6E routers have speeds over 1000 Mbps at close range. I’d love to see how it fares in real-world testing.
Although the specification is not officially finalized, these should be some impressive routers. Just looking at their hardware specs, both get 10Gbps and 2.5Gbps ports, single USB 3.0 ports and an SFP+ WAN/LAN port.
Both of TP-Link’s new routers are technically capable of speeds of up to 19Gbps, which is in line with what Qualcomm claims about the new Wi-Fi 7 chipsets that reside inside them. Of course, this is spread across all bands and individual data connections, so you shouldn’t expect to see anywhere near this throughput. Both routers will support free and pro versions TP-Link HomeShieldthe company’s network security suite.
Taking a closer look, the Deco BE85 uses eight antennas per mesh node, and TP-Link says three packs should cover about 9,600 square feet. Of course, in the real world, with walls, furniture, and sentient fleshbags walking around, this might not line up perfectly. The company also says it will use artificial intelligence to manage roaming, pushing your devices to the best hubs as you move around your home. The best networking systems already do this without AI and usually do a decent job, so we’ll see how TP-Link improves things there.
Each node has two 2.5Gbps ports and two 10Gbps ports, each of which can serve as a WAN or LAN, meaning they’ll automatically configure themselves depending on whether they’re connected to your modem or the rest of your network.
The Deco BE85 will also support wired backhaul, meaning you can run an ethernet cable between devices so that each mesh node gets full bandwidth to share with devices all over your home, rather than what it can pick up wirelessly. at least, that’s how it traditionally works. With multi-link aggregation for wireless backhaul, it is expected to be faster than gigabit. So, if your house is already equipped with old cables and you don’t want to run new ethernet drops, it is better to go wireless with enough Deco BE85 nodes.
As for the big TP-Link Archer BE800 (aka “beboo”), the company’s new single access point looks like a rejected Xbox design with its pseudo-x-shaped outer shell and black front grill. It gets a dot-matrix LED display, and TP-Link says it has over 3,000 graphics that show the weather, time and, for some reason, emojis. I don’t know who wants their router to show them emotion, but it looks like you all finally get it. TP-Link says it will also be able to set up a separate network for your smart home devices.
Basically, its wireless capabilities seem to be the same as the BE85 kit: it has the same number of bands, antennas and potential bandwidth, and while TP-Link doesn’t share the range, I’d bet somewhere around 2500-3000. square feet. The company also mentioned the ability to create a different mesh for your smart home devices, although it’s unclear if this applies to the BE85 mesh system as well.
Despite its appearance, TP-Link doesn’t call this a gaming router—that distinction is reserved for the Archer. GE800, announced but not yet released.
The TP-Link BE85 It’s available now at Best Buy in a three-pack configuration, and it’s not cheap at $1,500. The same goes for $600 TP-Link BE800, also at Best Buy. Both will be available for pre-order on Amazon.
Should you run out and buy one of these routers today? For most people, of course not. The specification won’t be finalized until later this year at the earliest, and as that time approaches, other companies will begin announcing routers that support the new standard. Both of these are expensive devices, and for at least the next year or two, you won’t see many products that can take advantage of all that Wi-Fi 7 brings to the table. Again, if you just like to have something fancy new, they will be backwards compatible with everything you already own, so they won’t work.