The streamlined black enclosure of the AX21 resembles that of TP-Link’s Archer AXE75, but instead of a textured top and six antennas, it features a grillwork top and four non-removable, adjustable antennas. Two holes on the underside of the router allow it to be mounted on a wall or placed on a desktop.
It measures 1.5 by 10.2 by 5.3 inches (HWD) and has six tiny LED indicators for power, radio band activity, internet connectivity, WPS, and USB activity on the front panel. Four 1Gbps LAN ports, one 1Gbps WAN port, WPS and reset controls, a USB 2.0 port, the power button, and an AC adapter jack are located on the rear of the device. Link aggregation is not supported, and you won’t find multi-gigabit LAN/WAN or high-speed USB interfaces, but given the router‘s low price, this is not surprising.
Specifications
- Wireless Specification 802.11ax
- Total Rated Throughput AX1800
- Number of Wired LAN Ports (Excluding WAN Port) 4
- Number of USB ports 1
- Number of Antennas 4
- Number of Bands 2
- Wireless Networking Security WPA2, WPA3
Where to get TP-Link AX1800 WiFi 6 Router (Archer AX21)?
The Archer AX21 is a dual-band AX1800 router with (theoretical) maximal data transfer rates of 574Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 1,201Mbps on the 5GHz band. It is propelled by a 1.5GHz quad-core CPU and supports the vast majority of the most recent Wi-Fi 6 technologies, such as Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) transmissions, WPA3 encryption, MU-MIMO data streaming, and direct-to-client signal beamforming.
However, the AX21 does not support 160MHz channel transmissions, unlike the ZTE AX3000 Pro. It does support OneMesh technology, which allows you to construct a mesh network using the AX21 and other routers and extenders that are compatible.
This is one of the few TP-Link routers that lacks parental controls and anti-malware protection via HomeShield. Instead, you have access to basic parental controls that enable you to set daily and weekly time limits as well as block and allow lists for websites. You can access advanced settings such as NAT Forwarding, IPv6, and DHCP Server configurations via the web console.