Router application accessibility.

Currently rocking the TP deco here and app is 100 percent accessible. However I've got it running as a mesh system which is what you may or may not want. Do not quote me on this but I do believe you can just buy a single router and not have to worry about mesh if ya don't want. The cool thing about mesh though if you have multiple routers, you connect one into your modem set it up and you just have to plug the other routers into the wall and they'll automatically see your main router and connect. No setup is required. Setup was accessible last I tried but I've heard it's gotten tons better since.

I have 4 xe 75 pro and the deco app from tp link, if not actually native, at least feels 100% native. I literally can't remember one unlabled ui element on it.
Plus the router itself I am very satisfied with it.
I have 1 2.5gb wlan and 2 1.5gb ethernet ports for each router.
Absolutely love it.
Plus for advanced users there are real features and the actual network features aren't even locked down or anything. Just some ads for their vpn / security thing, it's as easy to ignore them by just, well, ignoring them. They are not intrusive at all.

Like others have said terrific! However, I do believe that the brand has been banned for sale in the USA! But smooth sailing rest of the world!

When were they banned from selling in the US? I got mine a couple years ago and still going strong here. Or was this recent, and if so? Why.

No clue where someone heard that. see below link.
https://a.co/d/0ftg1Eh8

Stop selling any foreign made router.
Just as a side note, the latest security breach before this thing was all on us made routers, cisco I think.
But this US for US and the rest of the world right now so...

I concur with others here. I have their Tether app for my single Tp-Link router, and as far as I'm concerned it is 100% accessible.

So I realize I'm going a bit off topic but, has anyone seen the unlabeled buttons when you reboot the routers and it brings up a screen to select which ones you wanna reboot? For me, the unlabeled buttons are on that device selection screen. I'm hoping it's just me Lol. Not a big show stopper cause I reboot all of them at once anyways if I need to.

I always reboot only the main one, I don't see any other option?

Wait, if you have multiple routers then you should see all of them. I'm running three two that are linked to main. But then again I think you're rocking a different model and setup so not sure if that has anything to do with it.

I know some web interfaces aren't as accessible as they could be, but FWIW I have generally found the apps to be worse. If you broaden your choices to include routers that can run OpenWRT and derivatives, for instance, or MikroTik, you'll have an easier time of it.

Easier time configuring, I mean. Whether you will find the interfaces to be actually intuitive or user-friendly is, of course, another matter entirely. I can't pretend to know your level of networking expertise, but these options slide toward advanced. Well, actually, extremely nerdy. :)

How accessible is OpenWrt? I'm currently using a TPLink Archer AXE75 and after contacting the company, I got them to make the web interface about 95% accessible. However, I keep hearing good things about OpenWrt, so perhaps that's what I'll replace my current setup with when the Archer goes EOL.

If you can, it's an excellent way to squeeze a shitload of functionality out of your router. Very geek-friendly, script anything, ssh in to add whatever you need. It's a big part of why I'd seriously consider Asus gaming routers, if you have the space for them and don't mind the silly light shows.

It's not the only option though. MikroTik RouterOS, Draytek DrayOS, etc also tend toward "boring" on the interface side because they emphasise functionality. Even Netgear Nighthawk's web interfaces work well enough, if you don't care for the consumer-facing bits in the app and just stick to the web.

Of course, I'll never forget the joy that was AirPort Utility, until Apple castrated it with the v6 rewrite. That was always going to be the first victim of Steve Jobs' newfound love for simplification …

I have tp link which I know is based and stripped down of openwrt and is not reflashable. :) I didn't know asus routers were.

Asus uses a themed and customised version of OpenWRT, and their's a community fork of it called Merlin. Because Asus are rather good at courting this sort of power user/gamer crowd, it often happens that features from Merlin get integrated into the official firmware. On the face of it, then, Asus is a great way to get a manufacturer-supported router with lots of potential and consumer-facing features. It is def not enterprise equipment, however. If you want that, you will generally get each component separately (router, switches, WAPs) and you're in a very different world where apps, if they exist at all, are either just alternative front-ends (MikroTik) or intended for convenience in the field (Ubiquiti). Since this site is full of people of different skill levels, I definitely don't assume most will want to go down this path, but if you think you're interested then like I say there are options.

Thanks for the info about Asus. I'll keep this in mind the next time I need to upgrade my Wi-Fi hardware. I'm mainly interested in OpenWRT because I want to extend longevity long past the manufacturer's support window, and it also appears it's always going to be 100% accessible from a management standpoint due to using SSH. I don't really want or need enterprise hardware with tons of features I probably won't use.

OpenWRT can (and, at some point, probably will) expose you to the reality of Linux underneath your router firmware, because the project can only promise real support for hardware they have the relevant SoC drivers and firmware for. And, unfortunately, sometimes this means you bleed when the support isn't feature-complete compared to stock, for instance sometimes you lose support for NAT acceleration, or dual-band Wi-Fi. So while I encourage you to make the best of your hardware, do double-check the Wiki and forums to make sure you're getting good support so your experience can be good and fun. The more you can do in Lucy, the better; you should only be dropping to the command line in exceptional cases.

But yeah, definitely do it if you can.

How accessible is the LuCI web interface? I want to make sure I get stuff that has a decent interface just in case I need to go in and change settings, update firmware, etc.

When I last tried it, it was a very traditional feel, nothing an experienced webber should find challenging, maybe one or two places where the refresh rate was a bit too quick by default but easily worked around. However this was a year or so back, so although I doubt much has changed, you might like to find and try a demo server or VM. Given the target audience, though, I'm fairly sure you won't run into serious trouble using the web interface, honestly.

You can use them in access point mode, even with the app, so that may be what the original poster is looking for. As far as not available in the U.S. that won't happen until 2029, and a lot can change between now and then. I've set mien to reboot every week, and really haven't thought about them much since.