TP-Link TD-W8960N - any good?

I have a Xilo pro16 connection (LLU C&W) and would like to replace an aging speedtouch 585v6 /WRT54G combo.

I'm just over 1km from my exchange and the ST585 holds solid sync with good speeds but it's wireless was poor and so I pickup a s/hand dual antenna WRTt54G to hang off it as a WAP. I need to reduce power socket use and cable clutter, plus the power adaptors of both devices are pretty hot by the end of the day and must be energy inefficient.

The TP-Link TD-W8960N has a broadcom chip (6358?) and dual antenna so might fit the bill. I'd appreciate feedback if anyone is using one.

Or perhaps you can recommend alternatives.

PS I know the Billion 7800N is rated by many, but it has functions I'd never use.

Edited by deleted (Wed 17-Aug-11 16:05:34)

Was given one for christmas and replaced a Draytek 2800 with this router. Never looked back. Just works and works.

Well, that's one happy customer. Care to elaborate Ian? Of course there are many variables in the mix, but I'm interested in speed, throughput, holding sync, wireless coverage, signal strength and whether the thing runs hot or not.

I got a st585v7 from Ebay for £5 at the end of last year as my ST585v6 was playing up, in use I realised why it was so cheap. It's good only as an emergency backup. It runs very hot unless stood on end, has a flaky wireless and speed & throughput don't match the earlier models. Maybe Thompson still produce some good routers, but this is not one of them.

I got the TP-Link TD-W8960N for christmas. Had it running in 10mins from operning the box. It gave me around 1M more download speed (5Kish to 6K). Wireless ran all the way through the house (same as old router). It runs warm, but not hot. I am very happy with this router..

Ordered a w8960n today, so will see how it goes. Hopefully, I'll be another happy customer once I've fathomed the router configuration.

It will not take you too long to setup. Good luck

i've just got one of these from broadbandbuyer (good price, quick delivery).
easy set-up and good wireless.
however, my connection speed has dropped from 3.7Mb to 2.8Mb, although the downstream/upstream figures are the same as the SAR600EW it has replaced.
and my wireless Kindle won't connect to it.
trying to get help from TP-link web support and also support-uk by email but have not had any response from either yet so I suspect that i'll be returning it within my 7 day window.

john

hmm. my line speeds actually went up when I used it. Could you share what it is connecting at. I have not tried a kindle with mine as I do not have one, but used various laptops, iphone and other nokia phones with it.

Also what is the firmware on it. Mine came with a version later then the web site ! go figure..

I bought one of these of Amazon; on the recommendation of a colleague who thinks it's great.

However, I've found it to be less than ideal.

Wired speed is good however wireless is very variable; sometimes I get full DSL line speed and pings are good, but after it's been on for a while, wireless speed drops down to <0.5Mbps, and ping times to a site that are usually sub 30ms are >1.5s

Whilst this is happening, wired speeds are still good.

Now it could be that I just got a dud, but it's put me off, and mine will be going back.

Now just need to find another decent price 6358 based router.

got the kindle to work by adding its mac address to router using Wireless | MAC Filter | Allow ...

Line Rate - Upstream (Kbps): 995
Line Rate - Downstream (Kbps): 3731
which are pretty much identical to what I had on my SAR600EW

you asked about the firmware ...
i upgraded it to the latest version from TP-Link:
Firmware Version: 1.4.0 Build 110620 Rel.52053n
Hardware Version: TD-W8960N v3 0x00000002

the last 2 anonymous entries are mine ... forgot i'd need to login to the board.
(it's late)
someone from tp-link is currently on the case ... we'll see how good that is ...

update:
no input from tp-link, except for one of their uk support people advising to change the wireless channel to improve the connection speed ...

kindle problem solved by adding its MAC address to allowed connections on the router.

today i'm now getting
Line Rate - Upstream (Kbps): 984
Line Rate - Downstream (Kbps): 4951

and various speed tests now show:

4238 kbps (530kB/s) 829 kbps (104kB/s)
(http://www.mybroadbandspeed.co.uk/)

10/1/2011 10:49 AM GMT 31.185.144.33 4.22 Mb/s 0.83 Mb/s 37 ms Coventry ~ 50 mi
(http://www.speedtest.net/results.php)

01/10/11 11:47:17
Speed Down 4064.56 Kbps ( 4 Mbps )
Speed Up 817.36 Kbps ( 0.8 Mbps )
Port 8095
Server speedtest2.thinkbroadband.com
(http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest)

which is the sort of improvement i'd hoped for originally.

huzzah!

hope it keeps chugging away for you