TP-Link Touch P5 (AC1900) Touch Screen Wi-Fi Gigabit Router Review

In recent times, most mainstream router manufacturers have been focusing on releasing routers based on the latest AC chipsets within a relatively short period of each other. The release of the TP-Link AC1900 Touch Screen Wi-Fi Gigabit Router (Touch P5) is a welcomed departure from time to market pressures and pushing theoretical speed boundaries with TP-Link instead choosing to focus on innovating the end user experience.

Whilst touch screen routers are not new, as seen by the Securifi product range, this a first from a major player in the consumer router market.

Specifications

The Touch P5’s specs closely resemble that of the Archer C9 of the same chipset:

	Touch P5	Archer C2600	Archer C9
External Ports	4 x 10/100/1000Mbps LAN Ports, 1 x 10/100/1000Mbps WAN Port 1 x USB 3.0 Port + 1 x USB 2.0 Port	4 x 10/100/1000Mbps LAN Ports, 1 x 10/100/1000Mbps WAN Port 2 x USB 3.0 Ports	4 x 10/100/1000Mbps LAN Ports, 1 x 10/100/1000Mbps WAN Port 1 x USB 3.0 Port + 1 x USB 2.0 Port
Buttons	Power On/Off Button Reset Button	Wireless On/Off Button Power On/off Button LED On/off Button WPS Button Reset Button	WPS/Reset Button Wireless On/Off Button Power On/off Button
Touch Screen	Screen Type: Capacitive Screen Size: 4.3 inch Screen Resolution: 128 ppi	n/a	n/a
Wireless Standards	IEEE 802.11ac/n/a 5GHz IEEE 802.11b/g/n 2.4GHz + 256QAM	IEEE 802.11ac/n/a for 5GHz IEEE 802.11n/g/b for 2.4GHz	IEEE 802.11ac/n/a for 5GHz IEEE 802.11n/g/b for 2.4GHz
Wireless Speeds	Up to 1300Mbps @ 5GHz Up to 600Mbps @ 2.4GHz	Up to 1733Mbps @ 5GHz Up to 800Mbps @ 2.4GHz	Up to 1300Mbps @ 5GHz Up to 600Mbps @ 2.4GHz
Antenna	3 dual band detachable antennas	4 Detachable antennas	3 dual band detachable antennas
Reception Sensitivity	5GHz: 11a 6Mbps: -94dBm 11a 54Mbps: -75dBm 11ac HT20: -66dBm 11ac HT40: -62dBm 11ac HT80: -59dBm 2.4G: 11g 54Mbps: -76dBm 11n HT20: -73dBm 11n HT40: -71dBm	5GHz: 11a 6Mbps: -91dBm 11a 54Mbps: -73dBm 11ac HT20: -66dBm 11ac HT40: -67dBm 11ac HT80: -58dBm 2.4GHz 11g 54M: -76dBm 11n HT20: -73dBm 11n HT40: -71dBm	5GHz: 11a 6Mbps: -94dBm 11a 54Mbps: -76dBm 11ac HT20: -68dBm 11ac HT40: -64dBm 11ac HT80: -60dBm 2.4GHz 11g 54M: -77dBm 11n HT20: -73dBm 11n HT40: -71dBm
Wireless Security	64/128-bit WEP, WPA/WPA2, WPA-PSK/WPA-PSK2 encryptions	64/128-bit WEP, WPA/WPA2, WPA-PSK/WPA-PSK2 encryptions	64/128-bit WEP, WPA/WPA2, WPA-PSK/WPA-PSK2 encryption
Guest Network	1 x 2.4GHz guest network 1 x 5GHz guest network	1 x 2.4GHz guest network 1 x 5GHz guest network	1 x 2.4GHz guest network 1 x 5GHz guest network
DHCP	Server, Client, DHCP Client List,Address Reservation	Server, Client, DHCP Client List,Address Reservation	Server, Client, DHCP Client List,Address Reservation
QoS	WMM, Bandwidth Control	WMM, Bandwidth Control	WMM, Bandwidth Control
Port Forwarding	Virtual Server, Port Triggering, UPnP, DMZ	Virtual Server, Port Triggering, UPnP, DMZ	Virtual Server, Port Triggering, UPnP, DMZ
Dynamic DNS	DynDns, NO-IP	DynDns, NO-IP	DynDns, NO-IP
VPN Pass-Through	PPTP, L2TP, IPSec	PPTP, L2TP, IPSec	PPTP, L2TP, IPSec
USB Sharing	Support Samba(Storage)/FTP Server/Media Server/Print Server	Support Samba(Storage)/FTP Server/Media Server/Printer Server	Support Samba(Storage)/FTP Server/Media Server/Printer Server
Dimensions	284mm (L) x 157mm (W) x 52mm (H)	263.8mm (L) X 197.8mm (W) X 37.3mm (H)	221mm (L) x 86mm (W) x 168.5mm (H)

Touch Screen

The integrated low resolution screen on the Touch P5 brought back memories of early generation Android devices. That said, the 4.3” capacitive screen is capable of 128ppi which is more than enough for the intended task. Functional is more important than pixel density and TP-Link have this balance about right.

The inclusion of the touch screen enabled us to configure the router without the aid of a computer or tablet. The quick setup process was extremely easy to follow and I found the onscreen keyboard to be both familiar and quite responsive.

One annoyance experienced was that the screen does not rotate. This won’t be an issue for most but if you want to wall mount the Touch P5, it means that all of the ports are on top. When fully loaded, the cables can put sideways pressure on the router which can pop it off the mount hooks if they are not deep enough. Tidy cable management is also easier when the ports are facing down.

Performance

The standard tests were run to assess the performance of the router. Firstly, signal strength was measured from 4 different locations – same room, same floor opposite end of house, one floor above and outside. The Archer D9 (AC1900) was used as reference.

The second test performed was an ISO file copy using a Microsoft Surface Pro 2. The lower speed is due to the limitations of the wireless chip in the Surface Pro 2.

Wanting to test the 802.11ac performance, the next ISO test was done using an Intel NUC with an Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 PCIe half mini card. The NUC was separated from the router by 2 walls and a staircase to provide a more realistic use case.

The final test performed was using the NUC again to copy files mixed with 3 mobile devices (iPhone and 2 iPads) streaming HD video from YouTube and a desktop connected via LAN also streaming HD video.

As expected, the speed on the NUC dropped slightly to accommodate the other mobile devices sharing the same 5Ghz bandwidth. Note that the CPU load on the Touch P5 still remained quite low.

Conclusion

With the way technology has been moving, I’m surprised it’s actually taken this long for an integrated display enabled router to become more mainstream. This was extremely easy to install and configure without the need for a computer, tablet or any external device. Once configured you can continue to use the touch screen interface to manage most aspects of your wireless environment.

The inclusion of mount holes made a welcomed return and allows for greater flexibility around where to locate the device. However, the inability for the screen to rotate depending on how the unit is mounted may act as a deterrent for some.

The Touch P5 performed on par with its other AC1900 classed siblings and the supplied software (via web interface) continues to be feature packed and provides additional advanced features beyond the simple touch screen interface.

Overall, our experience with the Touch P5 was positive and definitely worthy of consideration if you are in the market for a new wireless router.