To date, WiFi 7 routers have been costing hundreds of dollars, with high-end models going for as much as US$800 for standard routers, with mesh systems easily breaking the US$1000 barrier. TP-Link's new Archer BE3600—also known as the Archer BE230 in some markets—is the polar opposite to those expensive routers, as it's being sold for a mere US$99. We've even found it for less than that in some countries, although we've also seen the BE230 model for twice as much, so the pricing varies quite a lot depending on where you live. You might be wondering how much router you get for your money, since there has to be some trade-offs, right?

Well, you wouldn't be wrong, but there are fewer trade-offs than we expected. As the model name implies, the combined WiFi speed is 3600 Mbps in theory, with the 5 GHz radio delivering up to 2882 Mbps and the 2.4 GHz radio delivering up to 688 Mbps. Both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radios are 2x2, but at least the 5 GHz radio supports up to 240 MHz channel width, although 160 MHz is far more common on the device side. However, there's no 6 GHz radio to be found at this price, which isn't entirely unexpected at this price point. However, new features like Multi-Link Operation (MLO) are supported. You also get a pair of 2.5 Gbps Ethernet ports, something only routers at around twice the price of the Archer BE3600 has featured so far. There's even a USB 3.0 for those that want to connect up a storage device to their router as a makeshift network drive. According to a teardown done by the FCC, the Archer BE3600 is based on a Broadcom SoC with integrated WiFi and a Realtek switch for the Gigabit ports.