TP-Link C2600, a good buy?

Hello. Looking for a new router as my R7800 crapped out. After scrolling on Facebook marketplace, found a listing, TP-Link C2600 for $25. I think this is a pretty good deal, before I buy it just wanted to know if it’s a good device to use with minimal issues? Thanks in advance.

there were some issues with random reboots in early 19.07, I haven't seen any reports regarding it for 21.02, but who knows. there are also work arounds available for 19.07.

My C2600s, which I use as APs, had an uptime of 365+ days, but I'm still using 19.07.

I am quite happy with mine. I haven't seen unwanted reboots since t 22.03.0-rc-something. It has a quite powerfull cpu, plenty af flash - and a really god wifi coverage - at least compared to the older, cheap routers I have used (tplink 3600,4300, Zyxel NBG6616)

It's similar to your r7800 in many regards, but half a generation older (ipq8064+qca9980 @1.4 GHz vs ipq8065+qca9984 @1.7 GHz). TP-Link has made the serial console difficult to use, that's why I'd usually skip their products and flash is smaller, but for the right price it might still do a good job (personally, 25 USD plus shipping would be a bit at the medium to upper end I'd pay though).

Thanks guys for the responses.

Just a heads up,
During my past experiences with firmware installation using TFTP,
The total time was around 9 minutes.
I mentioned the time period, since I jumped the gun a few times (thinking that firmware installation was complete) and obviously configurations changes made would not be saved and it would also reboot on me, since the firmware had not installed completely. :flushed:

I always had bad wifi range with the C2600 (as compared with the R7800). That is why I ended up using it as an internet gateway (with wifi disabled) connected over a network cable to the R7800 with the later providing internet access (the set up was needed due to wifi coverage issues in my old house).

Never had that issue (remember, I'm still on 19.07), but then again "bad wifi range" is kind of ... vague.

It has been a couple of years or so since I set up the R7800 and turned off wifi on the C2600. So I do not remember the exact numbers of the "bad wifi range" issue. I just remember that it was much worse than the range of the R7800.

The ipq8065+qca9984 based r7800, nbg6817, RAC2V1K are worth their markup over their ipq8064+qca9980 based predecessors, but those still aren't bad - if the price reflects that.

--
Disclaimer: Assessment based on the comparison between nbg6817 and g10. And I do favour devices whose vendor didn't artificially neuter serial console access (as in, not-TP-Link).

Update: got my hands on another R7800 for $50 off of Craigslist. I went with this instead of the C2600.

This topic was automatically closed 10 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.