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DirtEffect
2y

Seriously WTF TP-Link?
Bought an Archer T4E Wifi adapter card for my PC. This has got to be the worst piece of shit hardware ever sold.
I mean are you kidding me? This card has two TWO!! antennas sticking out of its back and won't maintain a connection to an access point that I have NO PROBLEM AT ALL connecting to with my fucking phone? And don't even try to connect to the 5G network with this embarrassment of a WIFI card.
Looking at the support forums and loads of people complain about the exact same thing without any reply from this shit company.
Seriously screw you TP-LINK I will never buy any hardware from you again.

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archer

tp-link

hardware
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Comments
  • 3
    2y
    I have never, NEVER, in decades had a TP-link wifi card work.

    Not even once.
  • 2
    2y
    Most of the time the chipsets are ok.

    Just replace the antennas and everything's fine.

    TP Link is low budget, buying a new pair of antennas not expensive and fixes usually a lot of problems.

    (Independent of TP - Link devices, many antennas of different vendors are utter garbage)
  • 0
    2y
    @IntrusionCM good point in principle, but I don't think the antennas are the main problem here, although the card has to be in actual line of sight to the access point in order to do literally anything useful. The T4E seems to be notorious for loosing connection for no reason whatsoever, likely has to do with not handling channel-switching by the access point that well.

    I bought a new wifi card (Ziyituod, never heard of) with an Intel chip on it today and it worked out of the box.
  • 2
    2y
    @DirtEffect Intel makes good Wi-Fi chips.
  • 0
    2y
    @Root
    intel makes crap wifi chips, that are region locked in the hardware, so you can't open a 5.0gz AP even if the card supports it, and is legal to do so in your region.

    tplink makes cheap crap adaptors - make sure to identify the exact hardware version, when buying and read reviews/check drivers support about the chips before buying.

    Atheros makes very good wifi adaptors, but expensive.
  • 0
    2y
    @magicMirror Atheros? Thanks for the tip! I'll try to remember it next time I look for a WIFI card.
  • 1
    2y
    @magicMirror AFAIK, the firmware determines the country it is in as to comply with various different local laws. Works in client mode when checking for an existing AP, but not as AP itself. The safe global standard is "no 5GHz".
  • 1
    2y
    I have a tp link router, I sent it to repair two times, it still cant maintain wifi for all devices for more than a day. I have to restart it if i want Wifi.
  • 2
    2y
    If you want wifi adapter, get Alfa. They even got a "kali linux compatible" and "openwrt" sections in their product portfolio. Usually comes with Realtek or Atheros chipsets.

    I made the mistake of getting Archer AP/router too. The provided speeds were 20x lower than what we got once we replaced it. + wifi issues, client drops, etc.. (same as @Levminer )
  • 0
    2y
    @Fast-Nop Yup.
    But - If I can buy 5ghz routers in my country, and the card supports 5ghz client mode (that means the card emits 5ghz radio) - Then why The Fuck intel locks down the 5ghz AP mode in hardware???
  • 0
    2y
    @magicMirror It's not locked. In client mode, the card determines the country via scan of the AP. It has various legal tables of various countries in the firmware - otherwise, you'd run into trouble when travelling.

    However, if it is AP itself, it can't scan, so it falls back to the one setting that it knows is legal everywhere - and that's 2.4GHz only.
  • 0
    2y
    @Fast-Nop While I do understand the logic.... then how do router manufacturers sell 5ghz AP? they can't scan thier location, and anyone can buy a router online and ship it anywhere they want.

    Intel locks the 5ghz AP, and you cannot enable it, even if legal. While other chip manufacturers do allow 5ghz AP mode.
  • 0
    2y
    @magicMirror Because routers have software / configs for the country they are sold in. If you buy a router from elsewhere and use it in violation of the local frequency norms, you'll get yourself in trouble - and a costly one at that.

    Even if 5GHz are legal, that doesn't mean the bands and power levels can be the same everywhere. In some countries, you even need to detect whether priority users are active, such as 5GHz radar from flight controls, military, or weather, and handle that correctly.

    It's understandable that Intel doesn't want to open that can of worms and potentially get sued.
  • 0
    2y
    @magicMirror Here's a nice table that shows that 5GHz isn't exactly the same everywhere: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... (click on 5GHz, the direct anchor link doesn't work on devRant)
  • 0
    2y
    @Fast-Nop
    I fail to see how this is relevant. The end user get sued for 5ghz emitters - yes, sure. Intel? how exactly do they get sued?
    I suspect Intel does this to sell the same crap wifi chip everywhere instead of selling two version. So fuck the consumers.
  • 0
    2y
    @magicMirror Because consumers typically don't move their routers, but they do travel with laptops. Obviously, they would try to blame Intel because Intel sold them a legal product. On top of that, it doesn't even make sense to produce not two, but many different variants (see the table I linked) of the same wifi card.
  • 0
    2y
    @Fast-Nop
    And even less people use their laptop wifi as an AP. Whats your point?
    Some manufacturers allow you to set the region from code, so you can enable the AP if it is legal. Intel disables that option - hardware is locked.
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