26.02.2025 
Wireless network performance
My test apartment is set up as shown in the diagram below. I’ve placed the TP-Link Archer BE230 in a central position to provide good coverage in an area as large as possible.
The apartment where I tested TP-Link Archer BE3600
I evaluated the quality of the wireless network managed by this router through measurements made in three different places:
- The router’s room - I record the maximum speeds when no walls absorb the wireless signal in the room where the router is placed.
- Room 1 - is separated by one wall from the router, so the wireless signal and the Wi-Fi speed I get should be lower here.
- Room 2 - is separated from the router by two walls that absorb the wireless signal. The wall between Room 1 and Room 2 is twice as thick as the one between The router’s room and Room 1. As a result, Room 2 can be a difficult challenge for many routers.
I made all my measurements on a laptop that can work with Wi-Fi 7 networks. At the time of testing, I used Windows 11 version 24H2 and the latest drivers and updates.
To better understand how TP-Link Archer BE230 performs, I compared it with the ASUS RT-BE58U (another dual-band Wi-Fi 7 router that I recently tested, with the same maximum bandwidth) and the Xiaomi Mi AIoT Router AX3600 (an older dual-band Wi-Fi 6 router with the same maximum bandwidth). Let’s see how it fared:
How the TP-Link Archer BE230 performs on the 2.4 GHz band
I first measured the signal strength using NetSpot when connected to the 2.4 GHz band on the Wi-Fi 7 standard (802.11be). The signal strength delivered by TP-Link Archer BE230 was excellent in all the rooms of my apartment. A good start! 🙂
The signal strength on the 2.4 GHz band
I moved on to SpeedTest and evaluated how fast internet transfers are on the 2.4 GHz wireless band. As you can see below, the Archer BE230 delivered reasonably fast downloads in the rooms farthest from the router. However, in the room where it was placed, it was the slowest router in my comparison. This is a strange result.
SpeedTest - the download speed on the 2.4 GHz band
Unfortunately, the uploads were a lot slower than the downloads.
SpeedTest - Upload speed on the 2.4 GHz band
I moved on to the PassMark Performance Test and transferred data between two computers connected to the network. One was the laptop I used for testing, connected over Wi-Fi on the 2.4 GHz band, and the other was a desktop computer connected to the router through an Ethernet cable. This time, TP-Link Archer BE230 was the fastest router in my comparison in the room where it was placed. In the other rooms, it was outmatched by the ASUS RT-BE58U.
PassMark Performance Test - Download speed on the 2.4 GHz band
The upload performance was a tad disappointing, especially in Room 2.
PassMark Performance Test - Upload speed on the 2.4 GHz band
The TP-Link Archer BE230 performs reasonably well on the 2.4 GHz wireless frequency band. While its download speed tends to be OK, uploads are slower. This aspect may disappoint some users.
How the TP-Link Archer BE230 performs on the 5 GHz band
I switched to the 5 GHz band and repeated the same measurements. This time, the signal strength delivered by the TP-Link Archer BE230 was again very good everywhere in my apartment.
The signal strength on the 5 GHz band
I also used SpeedTest to see what speed I could get over Wi-Fi when uploading and downloading data to and from the internet. My internet connection allows a maximum download speed of 1 Gbps (usually around 900 Mbps) and a maximum upload speed between 600 and 800 Mbps. I was happy with the download speed offered by TP-Link Archer BE230 everywhere in my apartment.
SpeedTest - Download speed on the 5 GHz band
Uploads were fast but not faster than those offered by the Xiaomi MI AIoT Router AX3600.
SpeedTest - Upload speed on the 5 GHz band
Switching to the PassMark Performance Test revealed that the TP-Link Archer BE23 can offer downloads at 1149.6 Mbps on the 5 GHz band. This is an excellent result, proving that the router can handle internet connections above 1 Gbps.
PassMark Performance Test - Download speed on the 5 GHz band
Uploads were fast, too, going just a bit above 1 Gbps.
PassMark Performance Test - Upload speed on the 5 GHz band
The performance offered by the TP-Link Archer BE230 router on the 5 GHz is pretty good. The router can reach speeds above 1 Gbps on this frequency band when using the Wi-Fi 7 standard, which is excellent for a router that costs less than 100 USD.
Wired network performance & USB port
I also wanted to verify how the TP-Link Archer BE230 performs when using Ethernet connections. Again, my internet connection offers a maximum download speed of 1 Gbps and an upload speed of 600 to 800 Mbps. When tested with SpeedTest, this router achieved a maximum download speed of 919.64 Mbps and an upload speed of 724.37 Mbps—solid results. I wish I had an even faster internet connection to better measure this router's potential.
SpeedTest on 1 Gbps Ethernet connections
For the last test, I wanted to measure the speed of the USB 3.0 port on the back of the TP-Link Archer BE230. I connected an SSD drive to it and transferred data to and from the SSD. The download speed I reached was 1325.69 Mbps, and the upload speed was 810.65 Mbps.
The speeds reached through the USB port
NOTE: The Xiaomi Mi AIoT Router AX3600 is not included in the chart above because it does not have a USB port.
The TP-Link Archer BE230 performs great when using Ethernet cables to connect devices to the network. Its 2.5 Gbps LAN port comes in handy to people using a Network-Attached Storage (NAS) solution to build a fast cloud storage service. The USB 3.0 port on the back of the router is also very fast and useful for those who want to attach storage to their router.
What is your opinion about the TP-Link Archer BE230?
This concludes my review of the first TP-Link Wi-Fi 7 router I tested. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful. I’m looking forward to reviewing many more Wi-Fi 7 networking products. If you have any questions about the TP-Link Archer BE3600, its features, or its performance, don’t hesitate to use the options below to leave a comment.
