@Clive_A 

Not sure what you mean by "my" local support team. Shouldn't TP-Link be working to update their fleet of websites? I guess I'm confused why I need to ask TP-Link to update the website when TP-Link's controller is telling me there's a new version. I don't even think I know what the email address is for my "local" team, as I'm in the US.  

"The cloud-push firmware will be released prior to the release on the website. The release of firmware on the website requires another approval system."

And I guess this is my problem with the entire system; why is firmware being pushed via the controller if it's not "approved" on my local team's website? This makes it very confusing for end-users as they don't know what's actually released or not. And if there's a problem with the update via the controller, I have no way to manually download the firmware and update my devices locally. So as a matter of good practice, I don't update via the controller until it's added to my local website, but then (as I mentioned in the original post) I have pending firmware updates for months with no indication if they are actually released or not. In particular, the TL-SG2428P firmware showed up a couple months ago on in my controller, then disappeared a week later. It only now showed up again last week. And version 3.0.11 for the TL-SG2008 was seemingly never approved on the website, yet I've been running it all year.

This makes me very wary of ever updating, when there is no clear communication of what/when/where firmwares are updated and/or approved.

  @Clive_A 

And after posting this, I went back and checked my controller this morning. The update for my TL-SG2428P has now disappeared (indicating the V1.1.10 is up to date), and yet the US support website has since finally been approved and now lists the V1.1.14 firmware available. So the controller is either no longer correct, or the update has been pulled (again) from the cloud network but is approved for posting on the support website:

And to top it off, if I go to the "Firmware" tab, it lists version v1.1.14 as latest from the "Cloud Firmware Pool".  The whole system is wildly out of sync:

  @supermarkert 

seems strange, mine are the new versions.

but you can download what you need here

https://static.tp-link.com/upload/firmware/2025/202501/20250102/TL-SG2008(UN)_v3_3.0.12%20Build%2020241205.zip
https://static.tp-link.com/upload/firmware/2024/202412/20241225/TL-SG2428P(UN)_v1_1.1.14%20Build%2020241205.zip

  @MR.S

If I use the "Firmware" tab from the Global view, I see the same as you. But if I go to my Site and look at Devices, the latest V1.1.14 is no longer visible (per my previous post).

[EDIT: It would seem that if I manually upload a firmware file using the "Firmware" tab, the controller no longer indicates there's a newer version available via the cloud or locally. Not sure this is intended behavior or not, but it's just another nuance that makes the whole system hard to follow. I may report this as a separate bug...]

And while I appreciate your links, I guess the ultimate point of the post is that there are numerous "sources" and they are often/usually all out of sync and there is no clear direction of what is released and/or approved. Per the TP-Link reply from @Clive_A above, they use different approval processes. Updates typically show up first in the controller, which is basically where I'm imediately notified. Which would normally be great! 

Except the website is late (or never) updated, and sometimes the updates even disappear from the controller. And I haven't even mentioned that the Release Notes that show up in the controller state to "For full release note, please refer to TP-Link official website", which is very often not true (for all the reasons I mentioned above).

  @supermarkert 

There have always been many sources, I have always used the /en site, there is mostly updated firmware. But there should have been only one place, it must be a nightmare for tp-link and updating all local sites. But that is also problably why the local tp-link sites are not updated.