TP-LINK TL-R860 Advanced 8-Port Cable/DSL Router, 1 WAN Port, 8 LAN Ports

I searched high and low for a router without wireless capabilities that was affordable. All the models I found were expensive enterprise units with more ports than I could ever hope to need. Then I came across this product, and my problems were solved.After years of running Wi-Fi routers in our home, I finally came to realize that Wi-Fi routers do a whole lot of things, but they do none of them very well. Even the most expensive high-end Wi-Fi routers are just a compromise in functionality and performance. So instead, our home office network now uses dedicated Wi-Fi access points hooked up to a dedicated switch which accesses the internet through this dedicated wired router. Each of these components does its job much better than the all-in-one Wi-Fi routers we used to waste our money on: our network is faster, our Wi-Fi range is much wider, and the cost was only marginally higher than the top-of-the-line Netgear consumer-grade Wi-Fi router we bought before.The TP Llink router does everything we need it to, never gets warm, and is more than fast enough. I was initially skeptical of the 100base-t Ethernet ports, but then I realized that the only traffic going through those ports was going to be internet traffic, and unless your internet connection is far greater than 100mbps, this router won't ever be a bottleneck. Even the Comcast 105mbps package doesn't really ever reach 105mbps... although their new 305mbps internet option would outclass this router.This router has all the features you'd expect from an enterprise class wired router, including bandwidth limiting for ranges of IPs, a firewall, a DDNS client, and much more. And at this price, it's an absolute bargain.Don't let the name fool you, there's nothing toilet-papery about this router. It's been an absolute joy to have in our office these last few months.

Solid Build but Dated PerformanceThis TP-Link TL-R860 wired router feels sturdy right out of the box. Setup was straightforward—just plug in the WAN cable and connect devices to the LAN ports. The eight LAN ports are handy for someone who wants to hardwire multiple desktops, printers, or other office gear. In that sense, it’s a reliable piece of networking hardware for environments where stability and wired connections matter more than speed.That said, it’s a very basic router by today’s standards. There’s no wireless option at all, which limits its usefulness for most households that expect Wi-Fi everywhere. Speed-wise, it maxes out at 100 Mbps, which was fine in the DSL era but feels restrictive if you’re on modern broadband plans. Features like QoS, firewall controls, and port forwarding are there, but the interface feels dated and not as intuitive compared to newer models.Another note: because it’s an older design, firmware updates may be limited, which could be a concern for security-minded users.Bottom line: This router is solid for small, wired-only setups where stability and multiple LAN ports are more important than speed or modern features. For most home users, though, it’s likely to feel outdated and limiting.

Easy to set up, cheap, and works well enough. Nothing fancy about it.3 stars as I've had to reboot the unit once already to clear up a data slowness issue. Basically i was limited to only about 1.5Mbps throughput. After the reboot i was back to my full 10Mbps again.Edit 1 (about 3 weeks after initial purchase):This is pure trash, seriously. It does limit your WAN bandwidth drastically. I don't have solid #'s as my internet connection is fairly low bandwidth anyhow (8Mbps) but I'd suspect the top to be near 10Mbps. Also, I had to reset this thing nightly as it would get...clogged up. By that I mean that on pages with lots of peripheral links and images like Ebay and Amazon it would cause parts of the page to timeout making me refresh a page a few times while so my local browser cache could slowly collect most the page. 2-3 reloads required, instantly fixed by rebooting the router.So, if you're up for all that, go ahead. TP-Link normally makes a good product, but at this price point I suppose everything is doomed to be crap. I got the TL-940 instead for ~40ish dollar and loaded Open-WRT onto it, no issues at all. On that unit I'm not using wireless and am instead using a PicoStation from Ubiquiti (which I F*%&@#$ love) as my homes access point. Sure, those 2 combined cost 6x as much as this unit...but they're not trash.

Call me old school, but I think wired networks are the way to go, for speed, security and reliability. I have been using a Dynex 4 port wired router which was working fine, but I now need more ports. I have two computers, and 3 Roku wired set top boxes and plan to add the Ooma Telo VOIP in the near future. Finding this unit at such a low price surprised me. But after reading mostly good reviews, I thought it was worth a try. Glad that I did. It was simply plug and play. Up in running in just a few minutes. The good news it that when running only my main computer my speed increased from 54 mbps to 61 mbps. While streaming one Roku box speed on the computer dropped to 47 mbps. I will never be running more that two devices at a time on my network, so I am very happy with this router. A couple of small things, I wish the unit was not white and black. I would have preferred all black. Like most new electronics the LED lights are too bright. I found a good way to solve that a few years back. I use a layer or two of static smoked tint window film you can buy at Home Depot or Lowes. Perfect fix.