TP-LINK Talon AD7200 2020 Detailed Review & its Benefit.
TP-LINK Talon AD7200: Whether you’re at home or in the office, the importance of a reliable high-speed Internet connection is critical to both your productivity and enjoyment. If you’re like most, you demand the most out of your network and the need for a fast, secure, top of the line router cannot be overlooked.
A Word About the TP-Link Talon
The Talon AD7200 ($699.95 at Amazon) is the first router to utilize 802.11ad technology, which uses the mostly unused (and uncluttered) 60GHz radio band to achieve theoretical throughput speeds of up to 4,600Mbps.
That’s significantly faster than the top speed of an 802.11ac AC5400 router, which can deliver up to 2,166Mbps on the 5GHz band.
There are a few caveats, however. First off, all clients must have Wi-Fi circuitry that supports 802.11ad networking, and there are very few of these devices available as of this writing.
The other issue has to do with range; the 802.11ad signal cannot penetrate walls, which means it has a very limited range and is only useful for same-room communications.
That said, this technology is ideal for streaming 4K video and quickly moving massive amounts of data between clients that are in close proximity to one another.
So, What’s 802.11ad?
In a nutshell, it’s a new Wi-Fi standard that operates on the 60GHz frequency band, has incredibly high ceiling speed — up to 7Gbps, compared with the 1.3 Gbps most users experience today — but extremely short-range (about 30 feet at most) and can’t penetrate walls, meaning, devices will only work if they’re within the line of sight of the router.
The new standard is meant to supplement the existing 802.11ac, which is slower but has a much longer range. So conceptually, all 802.11ad routers will have access to the superfast 60GHz band, but also work as a normal 802.11ac router, which is the standard most routers on the market use today
Design and Features
The Talon AD7200 is huge. The all-black router measures 1.7 by 9 by 9 inches (HWD) and has eight external antennas surrounding its perimeter that fold down into the top when not in use.
The front edge of the router has nine LED indicators for Power, 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 60GHz band activity, Ethernet and Internet connectivity, WPS activity, and connectivity for each of the USB 3.0 ports.
Next to the indicators are buttons for WPS, Wi-Fi (Enable/Disable), and LEDs (On/Off). The rear panel contains four Gigabit Ethernet ports, a WAN port, two USB 3.0 ports, and Power and Reset buttons.
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Processor
Often seen as the “heart” of the router, the processor is an incredibly important component that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Utilizing a powerful 1.4 GHz dual-core processor, the TP-LINK Talon is ready right out of the box for high-demand activities that require the most out of your connection.
Whether you’re an online gamer, someone who streams HD content, or you find yourself consistently downloading large files, the 1.4 GHz dual-core CPU assures that there’s plenty of power to go around.
Complex, multi-client connections typically contain some of the most high-demanding tasks, especially when multiple clients are trying to access your network at the same time.
Installation and Performance
Installing the Talon AD7200 is simple. Once it was plugged in and connected to my desktop using the included Ethernet cable, you entered tplinkwifi.net in my browser’s address bar and used the above-mentioned Quick Setup option to quickly configure my Internet and wireless settings.
To test the router’s 60GHz performance, you can use an Acer TravelMate P446 laptop equipped with a Qualcomm Atheros Sparrow 11ad Wi-Fi adapter.
The Talon A7200 delivered an unprecedented speed of 945Mbps on our 60GHz close-proximity (same-room) test. To put that in perspective, that’s almost 10 times faster than the Asus RT-AC88U Dual-Band Router‘s($290.05 at Amazon) throughput of 97.9Mbps on the 2.4GHz close-proximity test and almost double its score of 537Mbps at the 5GHz close-proximity test.
Not surprisingly, the Talon AD7200 could not provide a 60GHz signal on a 30-foot throughput test.
Pros
- Wi-Fi AD is impressively fast
- Packed with features
- Decent performance in WiFi AC and WiFi N
Cons
- AD can’t penetrate walls and has a very short range
- No Wi-Fi AD clients right now
- No seamless band switching (Smart Connect)
Conclusion
With the Talon AD7200 Multi-Band Wi-Fi Router, TP-Link ushers in a new era of Wi-Fi networking that utilizes the latest 802.11ad wireless standard.
You’ll need compatible 802.11ad devices to take advantage of this high-speed protocol.
In addition to providing blazing 60GHz throughput speeds, the Talon AD7200 delivered the fastest MU-MIMO throughput we’ve seen.
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