In the before times, there was dial up… the internet that screamed as if in pain as it tried to connect. Once connected we would wait minutes for single images to load… hoping they wouldn’t fail and leave us with only a portion of an image and an otherwise blank filled screen. But now… we have 4K video streaming and just about anything else we could want… but only if we have the right hardware. This is where the tp-link BE6500 steps in providing Wi-Fi 7 technology to help you maximise the usable speed of your internet connection.

Per their website:

Plenty of service providers offer great download speeds these days (in Australia we still seem to have a big limitation on uploads for some reason) and whilst getting those speeds delivered to your home is relatively easy… ensuring your computer is accessing as much of that bandwidth as possible is another question. Most people’s modems and/or routers are probably up to date and at least running on Wi-Fi 6, but now the big thing is Wi-Fi 7 essentially providing access to the 6 GHz band. Most modems will provide 2.4 GHz which is generally a bit slower but has better penetration and 5GHz which tends to provide much higher speeds but can be less reliable over greater distances or when obstacles are in the way of the signal. 6 GHz provides the highest data transfer potentially up to 2880 Mbps. The tp-link BE6500 provides access to the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands and can use them simultaneously which greatly reduces congestion issues and improves reliability.

But what does all this mean in a practical sense? Well, in the box you have the adapter and a USB 3 cradle plus a quick installation guide. Installation is supposed to be simple as the diver is supposed to be built in. I say supposed to only because I ended up manually downloading the driver… but to be fair I had previously used another tp-link USB wifi adapter and may not have gone through the correct steps to swap to the new driver. I will say that the quick setup mentions installing the driver from the CD… well the box doesn’t come with a CD so I’m guessing that’s a throwback to an old quick start guide. If you already have access to the internet and you are simply upgrading… I’d recommend grabbing the driver first just to be sure (it’s super easy to install so it’s worth grabbing it just in case).

Previous average speed

New average speed

Once plugged in and with the driver active I saw a boost of about 50 or more Mbps on average… it’s also very worth noting that I could push that even further if I used the extension cradle (my router is in a room basically diagonally in the opposite corner of the house). By simply placing the USB adapter, via the extension cradle (and a USB extension cable to be fair), closer to where the router is (in a relative sense)… I gained about 40 to 50 Mbps. So that option to shift where you place the adapter can make a big difference. But even if I placed it more or less at my PC case… it was still providing a good solid speed.

Final Thoughts:

It’s easy to forget Wi-Fi dongles when considering issues with internet speed and connectivity, the focus tends to be on the modem and or the router. My children were on a WiFi dongle that was maxing out at about 80 Mbps or so while I was on about 200 Mbps and only about 2 meters away from them. The tp-link BE6500 (Archer TBE400UH is its other name) ensures that your Wi-Fi USB adapter is not the weak link in the system. For around $130 it’s a great addition to your setup especially if you haven’t upgraded your adapter in a while… you might well find you get much better connectivity than you realised. Distance to your router makes a difference and having the ability to use the USB 3 cradle really gives you flexibility finding the sweet spot. Definitely worth a look if you haven’t upgraded your USB adapter in some time or you are setting up a new system!