TP-Link at CES 2025: Dominating the US Wi-Fi 7 Market

So far, TP-Link has been one of the biggest, if not the biggest, adopters of Wi-Fi 7, with more hardware options than any other networking vendor. Judging from what’s coming from TP-Link at CES 2025, that’s likely to continue to be a fact.

It’s worth noting, though, that TP-Link has gotten to this position by offering many variants of basically the same hardware, give or take a little. And that surely continues at the show—things can get confusing in TP-Link’s Wi-Fi world.

TP-Link at CES 2025: Wi-Fi 7 for the outdoor and travelers

At the show, the two new noticeable and distinctive Wi-Fi 7 broadcasters TP-Link unveiled weren’t significant in their prowess or hardware tiers. Rather, they are to fill in what, so far, has been a bit of a vacuum in the Wi-Fi 7 space.

Indeed, they are the Deco BE65-Outdoor mesh unit and the TL-WR36002BE Travel Router. The two extend Wi-Fi 7 coverage to outside the home.

TP-Link TL-WR36002BE: A mighty little BE3600 Wi-Fi 7 travel router

The TL-WR36002BE, so far the first Wi-Fi 7 router of its type announced, is a major upgrade to the TL-WR1502X.

Sharing a similar look, the new travel router now comes with a 2.5Gbps port in addition to a Gigabit port. It also has two collapsible antennas for better Wi-Fi coverage. In terms of Wi-Fi, it features the dual-band Wi-Fi 7 specs of the Archer BE230, which is more than enough for getting connected on the go.

Still, on the firmware front, per TP-Link, the TL-WR36002BE shares the same feature set as its older Wi-Fi 6 cousin.

Specifically, it comes with a built-in VPN for those needing to connect to the office for remote work and support multiple roles, including a standard router (with traditional broadband or USB tethering as an Internet source), access points, range extender, or a media bridge.

On the downside, it, too, doesn’t have a built-in SIM slot—you’ll need a USB modem or a phone before you can use it with a cellular connection.

Deco BE65-Outdoor: Second time is the charm?

The Deco BE65-Outdoor is not TP-Link’s first outdoor Deco. A year ago, the company announced the Deco BE25-Outdoor at CES 2024, which hasn’t been available since. It’s going to be interesting to see which will actually hit the shelves first.

In any case, while the Deco BE25-Outdoor, as the name suggests, is the outdoor IP65-rated, PoE-enabled version of the Deco BE25, the Deco BE65-Outdoor is the rugged weather-proof version of the Deco BE65, in terms of Wi-Fi specs.

Both the Deco BE25-Outdoor and this new Deco BE65-Outdoor share the same physical pole-mount design and come with two 2.5Gbps ports (one of which is a PoE port). The Deco BE65-Outdoor is slated to have better Wi-Fi specs, though likely similar in real-world performance.

Both can be considered rivals of the Amazon eero Outdoor 7, though they can’t compare to Ubiquiti’s E7 lineup.

You can add the Deco BE65-Outdoor (and the Deco BE25-Outdoor if it ever becomes a reality) to any existing Wi-Fi 7 Deco hardware, and it’ll become part of the system. You can also use it as a standalone add-on unit of any existing network via the access point mode. All you need is a PoE switch or an injector.

New Wi-Fi 7 extenders and more Archers and Deco variants for niche retail outlets

Other than those two above, TP-Link also showcased over a dozen new or not-so-new Wi-Fi 7 standalone routers or mesh Deco mesh hardware. Most of them are variants of existing devices made for niche retail outlets in the US.

Additionally, there are three new extenders featuring Wi-Fi 7, EasyMesh, and a network port. You can use any Wi-Fi 7 Archer router with these extenders to form an EasyMesh system via wireless or wired backhauling.

The table below summarizes these new hardware units and their estimated availability. Judging from past experiences, though, there’s no guarantee that all of them will actually be available this year.

Pricing and availability 

Other than the units marked as available now, those slated to be available in 2025, per TP-Link, will be rolled out slowly over the year. Currently, there are no concrete release dates for them, and TP-Link says their pricing will be made available later.

Judging from existing hardware, however, it’s safe to say they won’t be expensive. In fact, some of them might set a new record for the most affordable Wi-Fi 7 hardware, currently held by the Archer BE3600.

Which of the new hardware mentioned above do you find most interesting? Would you like to see its performance in real-world usage? Leave your pick in the comment section, and I’ll try to make it happen when it becomes available. In the meantime, there are plenty of TP-Link Wi-Fi 7 hardware you can bring home today.