TP-LINK ARCHER AX6000
Best for: Hyper-connected families
The eight high-gain antennas spiking up from the
Archer’s chassis pump out a blast of Wi-Fi strong
enough to flood a McMansion. And TP-Link’s
router supports the just-released Wi-Fi 6 wire-
less standard, which can serve bandwidth to
more devices without clogging the tubes—
increasingly important in our stream-happy
world. Security is built in, with TP-Link and Trend
Micro’s HomeCare service preinstalled (free for
three years, price thereafter TBD). It provides
protection against malicious websites and phish-
ing emails, as well as a neat system that quar-
antines any device on your network that may be
compromised. Families will applaud the paren-
tal controls, which group together each person’s
devices for easier management. So if you want
to block Jimmy’s YouTube access after 10 pm,
with one tap you can institute that limit on his
tablet, PC, and Roku. Sorry, Jimmy.
$199
EERO PRO
Best for: Networking newbies
The Eero Pro is a solid router on its own,
but its superpower is in serving as a base
station to bring mesh networking into
your home. Start by connecting it to your
modem, then plug signal-boosting Beacons
($149, not included) into AC outlets around
the house. This multipoint approach dis-
tributes the Wi-Fi more efficiently, blanket-
ing your entire home in data packets—and
the plug-and-play setup requires almost
zero networking know-how. A subscription
to Eero Secure+ ($99 a year) locks the net-
work down: It filters all the traffic, blocking
ads both malicious and benign, identify-
ing and warning against sketchy websites,
and guarding the kids against harmful con-
tent. I appreciate the ability to open Eero’s
smartphone app to see which devices
on my network have endured the most
attempted attacks—a telltale sign some-
one has installed bad software or has been
hanging around unsavory destinations.
$319
HEAD TO
HEAD
Balanced Beams
These multitalented routers ensure that your home Wi-Fi isn’t
just stable and fast but also secure. —Michael Calore
034
GADGET LAB → SECURITY
