Review: TP-LINK TL-WDR3600 router

by Tarinder Sandhu on 17 January 2013, 14:00 4.0

Final Thoughts And Rating

...there's really no need to look at faster, more expensive routers unless you regularly have multiple wireless clients downloading at high speeds.

Our look at the £60 TP-LINK TL-WDR3600 router shows that you don't have to spend a fortune in order to attain a decent mix of features and speed.

Offering excellent LAN performance over the Gigabit ports and solid 2.4GHz- and 5GHz-band numbers at reasonable distances, there's really no need to look at faster, more expensive routers unless you regularly have multiple wireless clients downloading at high speeds.

We'd recommend TP-LINK overhaul the tired-looking web interface and perhaps look at including USB 3.0 ports and some form of QoS, though we can understand their omission at this price point. All in all, a solid router at an attractive price point and a worthy upgrade over the generic hubs that ship with most cable contracts.

The Good

Super-easy setup
Fast performance on wired and 5GHz Wi-Fi band

The Bad

USB ports should be SuperSpeed
Web interface is basic

HEXUS Rating

TP-LINK TL-WDR3600

HEXUS Awards

TP-LINK TL-WDR3600

HEXUS Where2Buy

The TP-LINK TL-WDR3600 is available to purchase from Ebuyer.

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I'm quite impressed with TP-Link's kit lately, it often outperforms some of the big names for less money.

BTW, did you test wired throughput from WAN-LAN, not just between switched ports?

watercooled
I'm quite impressed with TP-Link's kit lately, it often outperforms some of the big names for less money.

Same here, just replaced my slow Netgear ProSafe access point with a <£40 TP-Link which is outperforming the Netgear by quite a margin, both in terms of stability and throughput.

The “tired” web interface I consider clean, handy explanations on the right panel and fast. It's a router control interface, why does it need to look shiny?

Agreed, I quite like the TP-Link interface, I'm really not keen on bloated/highly graphical ones.

I have an Asus router with the newer interface. I prefer the interface on this TP-Link.

Looks like Tomato firmware, nice and sleek. I don't want flashy graphics on my router, I just want all the features to be easily accessible and for it to be stable. Less is more!

Yay, will be buying this to replace my Home Hub 3, fed up with rubbish wifi and impossible FTP access.