I literally received this 30mins ago and it is absolutely amazing. I wish I had known about this product before, as I wouldn’t have wasted time and money looking for WiFi extenders. I am using this device in my garden house (using an unlimited data sim by ID mobile) and it connected straight away on 5G. Very pleased with it!

This item is very good, as advertised and delivery was very good, works well.

*** Your 1st job, when you have put your sim card in, connected the aerials supplied, and powered it up, is to wait a minute or so for it to go through its auto config sequence. If like me you are using it purely over the 4g wireless, log onto the router and Enable 4G LTE and tick the box provided (for some strange reason its default is 3g and should be 4g as because 3g will soon be redundant). You only need to do this once, or after a factory reset. If you intend using it via a cable, then you may need to select VOIP (voice over internet protocol), if using a phone over a landline, VOIP is there if you want it, but for me, the whole point of this router was to get away from fibre/cables. There is a pin number on the bottom of the router to log on with, and you can change this to something else if you want to.*** But, don’t worry, if you do want to experiment and try different settings you can do so, and can also create a backup file, so if the worst comes to the worst just either restore your settings from the backup file, or do a factory reset via the rear button, but don’t forget to tick the 4G LTE box again (LTE=Long Term Evolution), and have fun. Be warned that not all phones will work with it. My cordless B.T. Studio 4600 works fine, my cheapo Binatone corded spare phone also works fine, but a B.T. decor (which works in a B.T. socket) does not work. Some phones need a little ‘reverse wiring’ adaptor. So, if you can, try several phones, and remember to power off first though before you connect and go ‘live’ so you don’t spike the equipment with any pulses. I recommend a surge protected socket adapter to plug the power supply into (fridges/freezers can cause spikes when the thermostat switches them on off between cooling cycles).

In a nutshell, I was absolutely fed up with my home phone/broadband provider putting up their prices mid contract, so I have now cancelled. I will be using 4g for both phone and broadband. With the two ‘rabbits ears’ aerials provided, I get around 7-19MB, for two signal bars. I am now researching external aerials. I use an Asda Mobile sim card (they work off vodaphone), they do many bundles, and I currently use their 7 bundle which gives 5Gb of data and unlimited UK phone and texts, but will upgrade to 10 a month for 12Gb and unlimited texts/data – saving me over 250 when I dump the ISP cable provider, they want around 33 a month. Remember, full fibre means endless roadworks and diggermen digging up the road and those pesky traffic lights everywhere, which is another good reason to go 4g instead (or if your really rich, there is 5g but its not cheap).

I love the feature of being able to log onto the router with my netbook and send and receive text messages using a decent sized keyboard. If the routers internal answerphone is enabled, it can record 100mins max of voice, and also download them at a mouse click to your hdd as a .wav file (I discovered this by accident). I never bother with streaming or gaming, just the occasional YouTube vids and the embedded newspaper ones, emails, read newspapers, general interest websites, and that’s it really. It should be fine for most things. Its much cheaper to run than what my current ISP charges. Performance will vary according to signal/location and proximity to the phone relay mast.

The power supply is 12volts via a mains adaptor, and I run this through a surge protector socket (wickes sell these, and well worth it). The Wifi has 3 power levels, low/medium and high power, and you just log on and set these as desired. I just use low, as I am not in a large building, and it makes the transmitter last longer too and uses less electricity in the long term.

You can also schedule automated on/off times and do all manner of things via a smart phone too if you want to, but I can’t get on with them, so I just use a pc or netbook. You will see 4g routers in the shops i.e. Argos, but non of them appear to do telephony, just data only, and this type/model seems almost impossible to obtain in the high street. One retailer does list them on their business section, but their service is so awful, which is why I went to Amazon.

My first time purchase arrived on time at my work place, and they delivered exactly when they said they would. Be aware that in around 2 years time, there are plans to switch off ‘landlines’ and for me, this was the final straw. You will then need a VOIP capable phone from then on that will plug into a router to have a home landline. There is just no point at all, one can get either a GSM 2G or 4g deskphone (don’t bother with 3g unless its at a reduced bargain price , as 3g is getting turned off from now onwards in phases, so 2G for phone and text, and 4G for HD speech and wifi internet hot-spot) – but I went for the router because it does so much more, and I am discovering new features all the time). This product is almost unique, there are just a handful that do both data and telephony. Be careful with a GSM dialler or ‘gateway’ you can indeed plug a standard corded or cordless phone into them and you will get 2g or 4g phone but no more, they do not do data, although some people may like them. If you have full fibre and want just a phone, a GSM dialer or gateway may be for you, and will be powered on all the time, so no need to worry about batteries (but check your cordless phone as you would with a landline). In case of a power cut, use a mobile phone for the duration.

I am very pleased with this product and given it good star ratings, although I did not give the TP Link tech support any rating simply because I have not had to use them yet. The product comes with two quick setup manuals, one for the router (overall) and one with some commands for the telephony side, voicemail/answerphone. With most answerphones that I have used, you sooner or later need to delete older messages to free up space. With this box of tricks, you can save these to your pc or netbook or tablet hdd first before you delete them. It saves these as a .wav file which you can then play or email or do what one likes with it. I have only scratched the surface of what this router is capable of, I do not use LAN or WAN but it will also work as a conventional cable fed router, and of course 2.4Ghz wifi, and can be used as backup if your fibre or cable link fails (but I have no idea how to do this, I just know its very capable). The only improvement that I could ever think of is if TP-Link produced a deluxe dual simm card model, but that is a very very minor comment, and here is why. When you put a sim into most mobile phones, its usually fiddly and involves a loading gate or strap. Not with this beasty, with the router powered off, insert your ‘nano’ simm into the slot provided on the rear, and its like placing a micro sized debit card into a cash machine, its that easy. So if you want to change provider (and its unlocked to almost anything from PAYG or Pay Monthly or Contract whatever suits you best) 1st power off the router, then push the card in gently and it will pop out (but be carefull to catch it though as they are very small) and then all one does is insert the new simm, and power up the router and wait the minute or so do do its auto config routine, and that’s it. You may optionally wish to do a speed test on your new providers 4g network and there are many online broadband speed checkers, although some will use a fair chunk of data, whereas others do not.

This machine is very very capable and I am extremely pleased with it, so much so that I have ditched my cable provider who was ripping me off. Very few people seem to have heard of these routers, and even when I talked to various mobile providers to see what deals they did, they had not heard of them, just the data only ones. Make sure you locate it in a cool dry place (not a bedroom, as these will have condensation, and you don’t want to sleep too close to any radio emitting devices). Likewise, structures like water tanks can block radio signals, so you may want to try a few locations before settling on the best one which will vary at each site.

My next ‘upgrade’ will be if I can improve my signal. Just to mention that if I take the router outside, it still gives 2 bars, so I may possibly benefit from maybe the 10Dbi ‘magmount’ aerials and just place these on cheap steel flat baking trays as they will make a nice ground plane (with a magmount, you must use a ground plane, and a filing cabinet or similar will work ok. Keep well away from gas boilers etc or anything flammable for reasons of safety. The same goes for microwave ovens, they have been known to interfere with wifi.

Thanks for reading – I can’t understand why more 4g routers will not also take a phone via a rear RJ11 port, and can only think that its the cable companies that don’t want you to have them. But now you can via Amazon 🙂

Once you get the product, all you need to do is insert the mobile SIM in the slot, turn it on and connect to the WiFi name/password shown on the sticker.

That’s it really.

There are ways to fiddle using apps, web interface etc. but those are optional and you don’t have to do it if you don’t like to do.

The speed depends on your mobile SIM’s signal and capacity. It shows lights with 3 bars. For best speed you need all 3 bars lit. With 2 bars lit you should still get acceptable internet. But if it shows 1 bar only, you better use a SIM from different network.

Be aware that this is a 4G device, so even if your SIM supports 5G, at most it can offer 4G speed.

This is a great option if you need internet at a location temporarily without going thru broadband contract (make sure your SIM doesn’t have lengthy contract as you should be able to change SIM if necessary).

How it is different from turning on mobile hotspot in your phone? Well, if you work 8-10 hours a day, the mobile will lose battery very quickly and it may get very hot. This device is mains powered so no such issue.

You can’t get fiber quality broadband from this, but it works fine on watching online movies, YouTube, Teams/Zoom calls etc. If you play online games like XBOX which downloads data on the fly, then this device won’t suit you. You also can’t do advanced stuff like static IP, DNS forwarding etc.

If you have a Network Attached Storage (NAS) drive, it works if you connect the NAS drive with this router via cable. Devices connected to same WiFi should be able to see the NAS drive.

I purchased the MR200 to replace very expensive but absolute junk Huawei CPE Pro router which didnt ever seem to give a consistent service.

The Archer was easy to setup and unlike the Huawei actually has a half decent admin interface allowing me to access all the required settings. On the description when I bought it, the picture showed a nano sim slot, yet on the device page on the TP link website it showed a micro slot and said an adapter was supplied. As it was, the amazon page was correct, the device takes a nano sim and my EE one fitted straight in and worked perfectly.

I live onboard a narrowboat so rather than constantly using my inverter to power the device I just cut the plug off and connected the router to my 12volt system which it requires (the plug is just a transformer). I realise this will probably void the warranty but am not worried, the router runs perfect on my stable 12volt supply.

The quality of the router is good and the WIFI is strong and consistent. I used both Ethernet and Wifi and have found no issues at all with it. Build quality is as you would expect from a device of this price range, all plastic but it feels ok and looks stylish. I wall mounted mine so it sits out of the way.

Overall, no issues and I would definitely recommend this product. There are quicker ones available but for my needs its probably more than enough.

Works well in our static caravan, the signal does drop occasionally. But it’s probably the best we can get without getting an external aerial.

Bought this for a touring caravan as was using a phone to hotspot from but didn’t find that option working too well. Had looked at battery portable MiFi options but wasnt to worried about portability and thought a larger mains product would provide better performance. I cannot comment on if this is true but having installed a GiffGaff phone card into the slot and switched the unit on it worked out of the box. We did not have any signal on phones but managed to get 2 bars 3G on the TP Link enough to run Amazon Prime movies on a TV through a Firestick with only occasionaly outages. Having 2.4 and 5 GHz channels really helped and a useful addition on this model. Overall a well made piece of kit which can be used in a Caravan/Motorhome and is IMO better than using a phone hotspot.

We are moving house a couple of times this year, so I thought I’d get used to not having a landline-based broadband (due to contract lengths etc). But we do have significant internet needs. So I gave this a go, and having tried a couple of different networks/SIMs to see what works best in my area, I can say that we are doing rather well with approx 40mbps download and 7mbps upload. There was never a problem with the router working with the different SIMs (I tried Three, Voxi and giffgaff): it just worked. The only minor downside for me is that it sends out two wifi networks: one at 2.4ghz and another at 5ghz. I would prefer one network name and for the router to manage whether each individual connection should be at 2.4 or 5ghz, but I guess you pay more for those routers. No regrets – it works great. The benefit of having it work off a SIM is being able to place the router where you want, as it only needs a power socket. So we have tucked ours up in a corner of the bedroom, where it is out of the way, and where it gets good signal.

I never write reviews on Amazon but I have a lot to say about this garbage.
Firstly it’s low quality and flimsy. I was disappointed by just how low quality and fragile it seemed to be.
The installation was horrendous despite it saying it was plug and play. Entering all of my own network settings and security settings was a massive pain and I had to contact o2 for them specifically.
Also if you turn it off at the plug first and not the router it loses everything so you have to enter it all again so sorry if your power goes out.
And finally I have only been using it for 3 months and it’s dead. Disconnecting constantly and getting more frequent.
I would give it a 0 star but for some reason Amazon is more interested in asking for a thickness rating rather than anything useful.
I don’t even want it replaced. I just want it fired into the sun.

I bought this to replace a fixed line broadband that was appallingly slow and unreliable. Out of the box the Archer worked well. Despite being in a poor 4G signal area it picked up 50% signal and gave me download speeds of around 8Mbps. I knew I could get a better signal with an external antenna and bought this as the spec says the external antennae are removable. However, they are not.
I had a long conversation with TP-Link tech support who were puzzled as they said they were removable, but they arrived attached and are no longer removable. I notice that their other routers are also now non-removable.
I’m still trying to confirm with TP-Link in China, but for the moment sadly have to return this item and find an alternative.
Great device if you don’t need the external connection. Easy to use mobile phone and browser interface. Good performance.

Bit of a pain to set up – sort it out before you go anywhere odd.

Bought this for a cabin in the highlands where there is poor landline “normal” internet. I got an O2 sim and plugged it in. It didn’t work, it turns out that the O2 APN wasn’t downloaded correctly which should happen when the SIM is inserted.

Dependent upon whom your SIM provider is, good “that carrier” and APN and you will get the settings. Once you have these follow these instructions:
Edit, my review got binned off as I am not allowed to post external links. Sooo:
Go to TPlink, seach for MR200, go to the faq, the one you are looking for is:
Number 1663 or “How to create a connection profile with TP-Link Wireless Dual Band 4G LTE Router”

The other thing I am finding is that the router OS is pretty slow. When changing pages or tabs in the menus it takes a while for them to load. I have searched for it but nothing is particularly evident as a problem.

Apart from that the router is not up and running and next time I go to the cabin I look forward to testing it a bit more seriously.