Review Verdict: As one of the most expensive WiFi routers in the Philippines, the TP-Link Archer BE900 is the endgame router you’ll need if you’re after WiFi 7 connectivity. It offers a notable speed boost compared to other WiFi 7 routers, and its array of extra features makes the Archer BE900 a very unique router in the Philippines. 

Pros

• Display screen is more useful than expected
• Unique design that’s aesthetically pleasing
• Massive improvement in internet speeds especially with multiple devices connected

Cons

• Slow boot up time
• Expensive

We have already tried a WiFi 7 router from TP-Link a few months ago, and it proved to be an upgrade from WiFi 6 routers. However, TP-Link thinks there’s still more room to improve your connection at home and maximizing WiFi 7 tech at the same time. That’s where the Archer BE900 comes into play.

TP-Link’s top-end WiFi 7 has more antennas, a quad-band WiFi system, a whole lot more ports, and fancy features to convince you that you might need another router upgrade. We hooked up the Archer BE900 to our internet setup at the Studio to see if TP-Link’s flagship WiFi 7 router is worth it:

TP-Link Archer BE900 Review Philippines: Design

Unlike routers that you’re familiar with, the Archer BE900 does not look like a router at all. It looks more like a compact CPU tower with its design, with the bottom part of the front panel having a touchscreen display and programmable LED lights similar to ASUS’s AniMe Matrix.

You’re probably puzzled why you need a touchscreen display on a router, and it does have a few practical uses: aside from displaying the time, it can display a 4-day weather forecast, your connection performance, and statistics on your CPU and memory usage.

It’s a weird feature to have on a router, but it makes sense especially when you discover how expensive the Archer BE900 is. Think of the touchscreen display as your digital dashboard for the Archer BE900, allowing you to tweak settings on the fly without needing to open the Tether app on your phone.

Aside from the touchscreen panel, you also get programmable LED lights to give the Archer BE900 added personality. You can program this through TP-Link’s Tether app, and you can choose from a variety of graphics and animations down to custom text. It’s another unusual feature of the Archer BE900, but it’s among the many features that makes it stand out. Considering the premium looks of the Archer BE900, the programmable LED lights add a bit of fun to a gadget that others would consider as boring.

As TP-Link’s flagship router, you get a lot of ports on the Archer BE900. The stacked lineup includes four 2.5Gbps LAN ports, two 10Gbps LAN ports, one 1Gbps LAN port, 10Gbps SFP+ port, a USB-A 3.0 port, a USB-A 2.0 port, power jack, and a physical on/off button. The broad set of LAN ports gives you added flexibility in selecting which of your devices would benefit from a wired connection–some examples include NAS storage, printers, gaming consoles, and some smart TVs.

TP-Link Archer BE900 Review Philippines: Setup and Features

Unlike with the Archer BE230, you’ll need to configure the Archer BE900 through TP-Link’s Tether app before you can use it. Some of the things you’ll need to set up include its internal clock and WiFi settings. Once you’re done with that (it took us around 5 minutes), the Archer BE900 is good to go.

As for the interface, it’s similar to what we experienced on the BE230 save for the addition of Screen Display, where you can customize the Archer BE900’s LED screen and Touchscreen display according to your preferences. The LED screen’s customization options are similar to ASUS’ AniMe Matrix displays, while customizing the touchscreen include the time, weather tracking, CPU/Memory monitor, and internet performance.

With all the bells and whistles the Archer BE900 has, one of the things we’d probably complain about is its slow boot-up time. Compared to the smaller Archer BE230, you’ll need to wait around 3 minutes before it boots up completely. That’s very slow, as most routers we’ve used in the past would only require a boot up time of around a minute.

TP-Link Archer BE900 Review Philippines: Performance

All of its bells and whistles aside, the main reason you’d get a beefed up router like the Archer BE900 is it will significantly improve your current WiFi connection at home.

Comparing it with the Archer BE230 using our Converge fiber connection, we were getting speeds as high as 811Mbps for download speeds and 816Mbps for upload speeds. Even with multiple devices connected and streaming at the same time, the Archer BE900 was pushing download speeds of 645Mbps and upload speeds of 808Mbps. In both instances, we were using the 5Ghz band of the Archer BE900–there’s also a 6Ghz option, but none of our devices were able to detect it.

Compared to the Archer BE230, both download and upload speeds on TP-Link’s entry-level WiFi 7 router took a dip when multiple devices are connected. With minimal load on the router, the download speeds we got on the Archer BE230 is lower compared to the Archer BE900.

Aside from a significant speed difference in scenarios when multiple devices are connected, the Archer BE900 has a lower upload and download ping as well–which shows its strategically-placed antennas and its quad-band WiFi system can sustain lightning fast speeds across multiple devices at the same time.

TP-Link Archer BE900 Review Philippines: Wrap-up and Conclusions

As one of the most expensive routers in the Philippines with a price tag above Php 40k, the Archer BE900 proves that this futuristic WiFi 7 router from TP-Link is a worthy upgrade for maximizing the speeds of your internet connection–especially if you have multiple devices demanding a huge bandwidth all at the same time.

TP-Link Archer BE900 Review Philippines: Price

The Archer BE900 is priced at Php 41,990 and is available at the TP-Link Store in SM North EDSA, partner stores, and online stores on Shopee and Lazada.