TP-LINK brought a wide array of new products to CES to announce. What they didn’t bring, however, was prices; you won’t see any in this story.
Wireless
Leading off TP-LINK’s CES announcements is its new top-of-line TL-WDR7500 802.11ac AC1750 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router. It has the standard set of features found on most other "AC1750" routers including Gigabit Ethernet WAN (1) and LAN (4) ports and dual USB ports.
Unlike other top-end draft 11ac routers, the USB ports are 2.0, not 3.0. Those ports, however, can share printers and storage devices and have a UPnP AV/DLNA media server behind them. Estimated product availability is Q2 of this year.
TP-LINK TL-WDR7500 AC1750 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router
TP-LINK likes its pint-sized routers and has come up with another one. The TL-WR810N 300Mbps Wireless N Mini Pocket Router has a power supply, N300 802.11bgn 2.4 GHz radio, two 10/100 Ethernet ports and USB 2.0 port packed into its approximately 3" X 3" X 1" body. It supports Access Point, Wireless Router, Client and WISP Router Repeater modes.
The USB port can charge smartphones or tablet PCs, or share USB storage plugged into it. Estimated product availability is Q2.
TP-LINK TL-WR810N 300Mbps Wireless N Mini Pocket Router (Euro version shown)
How small can a router get? Well, check out the TL-WR706N Halo. It one-ups (downs?) the TL-WR810N above by packing a power supply, N150 2.4 GHz router and 10/100 Ethernet port into a 2" X 1" cylinder.
It also supports Access Point, Wireless Router, Client and WISP Router Repeater modes, but doesn’t have a USB port, so won’t do storage or printer sharing. It does, however, have a tiny switch to change between router and AP modes, plus parental controls and bandwidth control. Look for it next quarter.
TP-LINK Halo TL-WR706N
For the other end of your wireless connection, there’s the TL-WDN5200 AC600 Wireless Dual Band USB Adapter. It’s a single stream adapter, which means it supports maximum link rates of 433 Mbps in the 5 GHz band and 150 Mbps in 2.4GHz band. Estimated product availability is Q2.
TP-LINK TL-WDN5200 AC600 Wireless Dual Band USB Adapter
For a higher bandwidth connection that’s not so portable, we have the TL-WA3164EA N600 Universal Wireless Dual Band Entertainment Adapter. While this adapter has four Gigabit Ethernet ports, note that it is not support draft 11ac rates (hence, the "N600" designation). Chalk up another one for Q2 shipment.
TP-LINK TL-WA3164EA N600 Universal Wireless Dual Band Entertainment Adapter
The last wireless product announcement is the TL-WA850RE Wall Socket Mounted Range Extender. This guy comes in a curvy design that plugs directly into an AC wall socket. It works with any network, since it doesn’t require WDS support on the network it is extending.
It’s a 2.4 GHz only design, supporting a 300 Mbps maximum link rate for 802.11n networks. Like most of TP-LINK’s announced products, this one doesn’t ship until Q2.
TP-LINK TL-WA850RE Wall Socket Mounted Range Extender (Euro version shown)
Powerline
This past year has seen a shift to smaller and smaller powerline adapters. So the TL-PA2010KIT AV200 and TL-PA4010KIT AV500 Nano Powerline Starter Kits are treading on familiar ground.
The adapters measure approximately 3" X 2" X 1" (smaller than the photo below), are HomePlug AV compliant and link at maximum rates of 200 Mbps and 500 Mbps, respectively. In a bold move, these products are actually shipping this month!
TP-LINK TL-PA4010KIT AV500 Nano Powerline Adapter
These next products use powerline instead of Ethernet to help you improve wireless network coverage by adding pint-sized access points. The TL-WPA2220 300 Mbps AV200 and TL-WPA4220 300 Mbps AV500 Wireless N Powerline Extenders will improve only your 2.4 GHz band coverage, however. They also have a 10/100 Ethernet port so you can use them as standard powerline adapters. Availability? Yep, Q2,
TP-LINK TL-WPA4220 AV500 Wireless N Powerline Extender (Euro version shown)
3G
The TL-MR5350 Pebble is a portable 3G router supporting WCDMA HSPA+ download speeds up to 21 Mbps and max. upload of 5.7 Mbps. TP-LINK specs the 2000mAh battery at 7-10 hours of run time.
Device connection is via an integrated 2.4 GHz AP supporting link rates up to only 72 Mbps. There’s a built-in micro SD slot for file storage and sharing, too. A micro USB port is also on board for charging the internal battery, as is an OLED display. TP-LINK says this one will start shipping this (Q1) quarter.
