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TP-Link Archer AX55, dual-band Wi-Fi 6 router with a USB 3.0 socket review

A router that publishes the two band rates and never prints the badge they add up to, and the only one of these seven with a USB socket.

The bottom line The most straightforward radio specification of these seven — two rates, no badge — with the wired side counted almost completely. For a flat with several cables and something to plug into USB, it leaves little to guess at.

On the listing

A warning that no modem is built in and that the unit does not support DSL; 2402 Mbit/s at 5 GHz and 574 Mbit/s at 2.4 GHz; OFDMA and MU-MIMO with a claim of four times the capacity; 75 per cent less loading time for gaming and video calls; four external high-performance antennas with beamforming, recommended for flats of two or three rooms, with multi-storey homes steered towards the maker mesh line; the maker security suite; longer battery life on connected devices through scheduled wake times; four Gigabit LAN sockets; one USB 3.0 socket; and Alexa voice control.

Two rates, no badge

Most of this shelf prints a badge and hides the parts. This listing prints the parts and skips the badge. 2402 and 574 are the theoretical peaks the standard sets for each radio; added they would make 2976, and rounded they would make the badge this router is sold under elsewhere. Neither figure describes a link — but the parts at least say which radio a client will land on.

The wired side

Four Gigabit sockets and one USB 3.0, both stated in the title. What is not stated is the socket the modem cable goes into: it is not counted among the four and it is not rated.

The claim that floats

75 per cent less loading time, measured against nothing named. It sits next to figures that can be checked, which is what makes it stand out.

Before ordering

Note the first bullet before anything else. There is no modem inside, so a DSL line needs a separate box in front of this one, and the listing says so plainly rather than leaving it to the unboxing.

Availability

Priced from 65 € to 69 € across the German, French, Italian and Spanish Amazon stores the day this page was checked.

It is stocked on the American and British Amazon stores as well, in that country’s own currency. The range above leaves those out: it counts euro stores and no others.

Every figure in this section is what Keepa held on the day this page was last updated. Stock and prices move without warning.

Prices quoted in this text were read on 10 September 2026. The live price is at the top of the page.

Where it holds up, and where it stops

Strengths

  • Publishes the band rates and no badge, which is the arithmetic without the rounding
  • The only router here with a USB socket, and its generation is named: USB 3.0
  • Warns in its own first bullet that there is no modem inside, which is the mistake this shelf generates most often

Compromises

  • A latency claim of 75 per cent less loading time is given without saying what it is measured against
  • The socket for the incoming line is not counted or rated, although four LAN sockets are
  • The coverage guidance is a room count rather than an area, and the listing steers multi-storey homes to a different product line

Specifications

Wi-Fi generationWi-Fi 6 — stated in the title and in the second bullet
IEEE designationNot published on the listing — eight bullets cover the absence of a modem, the band rates, capacity, latency, coverage, security, device battery life and voice control, and no 802.11 letter pair appears
Stated class figureNot published on the listing as a badge — the parts are printed instead, 2402 Mbit/s at 5 GHz and 574 Mbit/s at 2.4 GHz, and no AX figure summing them is given anywhere on the page
Band countTwo, each with a rate — 5 GHz at 2402 Mbit/s and 2.4 GHz at 574 Mbit/s, stated in both the title and a bullet
Stream countNot published on the listing — OFDMA and MU-MIMO are named with a claim of four times the capacity, and no stream figure is given for either radio
WAN port speedNot published on the listing — the title counts four Gigabit LAN sockets and does not describe the socket the incoming line uses
LAN port speedGigabit — stated in the title for all four LAN sockets
Port countFour Gigabit LAN sockets and one USB 3.0 socket — stated in the title; a socket for the incoming line is not counted among them
USB portsOne, USB 3.0 — stated in the title, the only USB socket named among the seven routers here
Antenna arrangementFour external high-performance antennas with beamforming — stated; no gain figure is given, and coverage is described as suiting a flat of two or three rooms
Amazon referenceB09BMXXW6N (same reference on 6 Amazon marketplaces)
EAN4897098682678

The questions that come up before an order

Why would a listing publish band rates and no class figure?

Because the two rates are the data and the badge is the summary. Adding 2402 and 574 gives 2976, which is what this router would be badged as if it carried a badge. Publishing the parts and skipping the sum is the more informative choice, and it is rare on this shelf.

What is the USB socket for?

Typically a drive shared across the network or a printer made available to every device. The listing names the socket and its generation and does not describe what the router does with it, so the supported uses are worth confirming before buying for that reason.