Home Networks - Upgrade

Wired routers should have lower cost (due to no additional WiFi components) and better Ethernet performance over cheap wireless routers.  Economy WiFi routers often use 4-pin (10/100 Mbps full or half-duplex) instead of 8-pin (1000 Mbps full-duplex) Ethernet RJ45 ports.  10/100 Ethernet only uses 4 of the 8 wires so there should be no adverse effects on connection speed.  Full-duplex means that data can transmit in both directions simultaneously while half-duplex means that data can only transmit in one direction at a time, effectively halving its bandwidth.  See Ethernet over twisted pair.  A 10/100 router/switch can downgrade from full-duplex to half-duplex depending upon the negotiation configuration of the devices at each end of the Ethernet cable (eg, auto/auto on one end and 100/full-duplex on the other).

The TL-WR841N shows 10/100Mbps Ethernet ports in its specifications and they are in fact 4-pin ports rather than 8-pin ports.  TP-Link confirmed that pins 1, 2, 3, and 6 are used to internet transfer and this has no effect on Ethernet performance.  If I needed a better performing WiFi router, I would instead look at one with the latest WiFi spec (AC) and Gigabit (ie, 1000 Mbps) Ethernet ports like the Archer C9.

My DAP-1650 works fine in the house and I'm going to repurpose the  TL-WR841N as an outside WAP.  Having checked around, it looks like there are very few wired (ie, with no WiFi) routers for the consumer market.

Moving the router cable to a different port seems to have gotten my other devices to now have faster internet connection speeds.  Having two 8-port switches servicing my Ethernet panel is a bit messy and this seems like a good opportunity to replace both a single 16-port Gigabit switch, especially since I've upgraded from the TL-WR841N to the TL-R600VPN Gigabit router.

I'm not sure how far the TL-WR841N will transmit so I might have to upgrade to a better WAP outside.