TP-LINK TL-WR1043ND Pro Reviews

As Tim pointed out, the TL-WR1043ND doesn’t really excel when it comes to wireless performance – especially uplink. Frankly, for a three-antenna router, I had expected somewhat better performance, since the third antenna in a dual-stream router is supposed to enhance receive gain. I was also disappointed that for a top-of-line router, I couldn’t confirm that I was getting a Gigabit connection via either the LED indicators or through the web UI. From a security standpoint, I would have preferred that the setup utility had forced a password change for the administrator’s account and preferably, enforced the use of wireless security. An unsecured router with an unsecured wireless connection reminds me of routers from bygone days. But those security issues are relatively minor problems that are easily addressed by savvy users during initial setup. Finally, for most people, I think that sharing USB storage on a local network via FTP only is a feature that won’t be used. If SMB/CIFS had been supported, I would have found the device much more useful. Still, I agree with Tim. For a $55 single-band N router with Gigabit ports, up and downlink bandwidth control and WDS support, it isn’t too bad. And you can always throw DD-WRT onto it if that's your thing.

We were extremely impressed by the TP-Link TL-WR1043ND. It performed well, it has most things we'd need from a wireless router, and it's excellent value for money too. Aside from the lack of dual-band wireless, the only other criticism we have is its boring appearance, as it only comes in a standard white shell, with a few green LEDs indicating network activity. These aren't major issues though, and we think this router deserves an award for its performance and value for money.

The TP-Link TL-WR1043ND – one heck of a mouthful – isn't actually a dual-band router; it's just a lowly single-band. Surely that means it has no chance against the dual-band devices in this test. Well, no. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Although the TP-Link doesn't benefit from the 5GHz transmission band, it has a crude way of making up for this, using three antennas to ramp the standard 2.4GHz signal to its maximum. And it works, with the fastest recorded transmission speed of the 1GB test file over wireless.