i am so unhappy about the fact that tp link is unable to fix such a small but significant issue . i have 6 units of m9Plus which i am forced to change due to poor channel allocation . thanks TP link will not come your side any more.

  @Kevin_Z 

You claim that the Deco system chooses a new channel automatically but this is utter rubbish.

It may choose one during the initial setup but it certainly does NOT change if the current channel becomes congested.

I have had my Deco 9 for a few years now and I can tell you, it had been on channel 48 (5g) since day one until I did what I mention below.

The explanation provided in a previous post about the Decos possibly not communicating with other Decos after a change of channel, and requiring a reset (if a manual change was available) is also rubbish and misinformation.

I say this because when you select the Network Optimisation function, if a channel is congested, the Deco app clearly displays in RED text, that the channel is congested!

Now if you choose to Optimise (yes, optimise is spelled with an S and not a Z), the Deco then chooses a better channel. All Decos (3 in my case) then reboot and operate on a new channel.

So this cannot be impossible nor as impractical as mentioned in your previous post.

If it can easily be changed via optimisation, then it can be done manually by the admin.

This option NEEDS to be made available to the end user. It is a VERY important feature that should have been incorporated from day one.

Please look at having this implemented ASAP.

Regards,

Dean

Chipower wrote

  @internetmuggle never.  that is the best answer i can give. Buy a different product that cares about their customers. I'm an IT professional and emailed and tried to talk to them about this issue. They say that you have to keep them automated cause their costumers are not smart enough to keep all the nodes on the same channel to keep the mesh working. In light of that we have to keep them automatic so that they will stay on the same channel. SMH. 

  @Chipower 

The funny thing is, users wouldn't have to manually keep all nodes on the same channels.  The functionality is already there to change the channels on each node at the same time.

If the app can change the channel on all connected nodes when using the Network Optimisation feature then why can't there be a simple drop down menu for 2.5g and 5g where a channel can be selected and it automatically changes them all just as it does through optimisation?

I just don't get tplinks reasoning here.

  @Subliminal 

I tossed my Deco 9's a few weeks ago and it was the best thing I did for my home network!

After HOURS online late at night with TP Link support I was simply told there is not enough CPU or RAM in these units to run the latest firmware and that no additional features/functionality would be added. The focus is on the latest product set.

Admittedly, I used parental controls, which was the primary reason for my purchase. I had to enable QOS to get any decent connectivity to my priority devices, still it was garbage. I was told ALL network traffic goes through the TP Link cloud to control AV, QOS & parental controls. 

They tried to revert the firmware version, but it could not be done due to security fixes. 

The answer(s) were to move the devices to AP mode, disabling ALL features, OR purchase the latest generation. My warranty had expired by the time support actually followed though, a YEAR of begging for help! They would no longer RMA/replace these units as the 2yr warranty had expired, primarily due to their lack of support/follow up. They offered NO discount on newer models, only suggesting I wait until my retailer has them on sale!

I faced the channel issue like everyone on here. I agree the channel only changed on boot up, once selected it stayed on the same channel, which for me was always the most congested. I had to enable wifi on my ISP router, manually set the channel to the least congested, reboot or optimize TP Link which would then pickup my ISP channels. Then disable the ISP wifi. It worked, but such a poor work around.

Not to promote but I did switch to the Google model. First the coverage of 2 pucks is far better than the Deco's. Second I see full 1Gbps transfers on wired devices again. My bandwidth tests from all devices has more than doubled and is inline with what the ISP delivers. Latency, has reduced to 2ms, compared to the deco 10ms latency times. Google does not allow you to change the wifi channel either, BUT I can confirm it automatically changes on it's own to the least congested or available channels. The parental controls are solid, much better than the Deco's blocking content as one would expect. The Google app sucks, but how do I complain when the solution works and delivers much better performance? 

TP Link's support is horrific! I swear there is onyl one person... I suspect engineering is limited in resources as well. 

Don't hold your breath for a solution here... There will not be one from TP Link. Again, focus is on new products, not fixing older ones unless there is a security issue and the hardware is not capable of performing.

  @TWPS 

Thanks for the informative response.

I actually love the M9 system. It works extremely well for me and I do not have any issues with them at all besides this channel issue. 

As mentioned,  ibhave had them for quite a few years and they are still going strong. I don't need to upgrade or change to a different system. 

I get great transfer speed from them and complete coverage of my house.

The channel issue is not a deal breaker for me however it is something that needs to be sorted  but as you have stated,  probably never will.

Personally I wouldn't touch the Google Mesh system. I have used them before and set up for friends and family and I found them to be utter junk prompting me to look for alternatives. This is where I came across the Deco system and have been using and recommending for years now.

Just a shame that TP link have gone down this path and left this system to rot.

  @TWPS 

One of the main issues I have with the Nest Wifi system is that the points do not have ethernet ports.

This is must for my setup as I use the mesh points to distribute the wifi to switches/hubs connected via ethernet.

In my current setup I have 3 Decos. 1 connected to the main router/modem.

The other 2 are scattered around the house. 1 in computer area and other at the entertainment unit.

From each of these 2 units  I have ethernet switches/hubs that then connect to multiple devices. 

The reason for this is so I don't have all devices connected individually via wifi causing even more channel load. Plus it is much more reliable having devices hard-wired to a switch and mesh especially when there is NAS sever connected to same switch as my sheild for data transfer/network streaming.

The only way I see this working with the Nest wifi is to purchase 3 Nest routers and that will become quite costly.

  @Subliminal 

I have the exact same configuration as you, wired devices in different rooms/floors with wired devices connected to each puck. 
 

I opted for the latest Google wifi system, I think it's the 2020 update. I did not go nest does not have ports, but the 2020 model does. 
 

Google wifi 2020 offers 2 ports per puck, just like the TPLink. It is also AC1200 like the TPLink. Wifi5, which I believe is newer tech over TPLink. The nest is AC2400 wifi 6 and is faster, but as you said does not have the wired ports.  
 

I don't have many wifi6 devices so I didn't care too much. Wifi5 and ac1200 deliver over 300Mbps to everyone of my wifi connected devices. With TPLink I was lucky if a wifi device got 150Mbps, most were 30-50Mbps. 
 

biggest upside as I mentioned latency is low and no data is being sent out to a third party company for review. 

  @TWPS 

Hmm. I may have to revisit the Google system and see how it goes. 

I'm still running fine with the Deco M9 as mentioned and I copy files at around 50MBps (approx 400Mbps) a second from laptop to NAS over wifi so it's not bad. Not sure why your was so slow. 

Was your system the M5 or M9?

  @Subliminal 

I ran the M9 plus, all nodes connected via Cat6. I did have parental controls, anti-virus & QoS enabled. 

Speedtests run from wired devices did not go over 400Mbps. The app speedtest for the internet connection did not exceed 500Mbps either. However, removing the devices and wiring devices direct produced near 1Gbps speeds, so it was definitely something with the M9's.

The only way I could get decent bandwidth, closer to the 1Gbps delivered by my ISP was to move these to AP mode. Which meant no more parental controls, no AV and no QoS capabilities, just dumb access points.

Performance became worse with the last firmware upgrade. I could not roll back to the previous FW due to security updates and TP Link preventing the roll back. TP Link support people could not roll back FW either when they remotely connecting and tried.

TP Link support reviewed logs and monitored my system. They found that the CPU load was high, and memory was nearly fully utilized. As we shut down services (QoS, parental, AV) CPU and memory cleared up. Moving to AP mode cleared the CPU and memory up further resulting in improved performance. 

They advised me that this is a known issue, as the latest firmware is taxing CPU & memory especially when parental controls and AV are enabled. Further, they confirmed that both of these features are run in the cloud, all traffic is sent to their servers and sniffed for viruses and checked against their master parental control lists. This increases latency and further taxes the hardware resources. 

Simply, they advised that the M9's are dated and recommended I move to the X60 as it is running a newer/faster CPU and has increased memory. 

Given it took TP Link nearly a year to trouble shoot and provide support, which had to be done in the middle of the night for me due to their TZ vs my TZ in North America I couldn't spend more money with them for such poor support. Along with the wifi channel issues, which as I understand are persistent in the X60 also. Plus, as I've mentioned before, I am not a fan of all of my data being sent to their servers for inspection to deliver features within my home. 

Latency for me was consistently 10ms, due to the data packets being sent out for inspection to have parental controls and AV applied. It truly effected my network devices communicating with each other. I had a 15-20 second delay connecting to devices such as security cameras, alarm systems, speakers, etc. TP Link verified this in the logs, and showed me that the packet was sent to their cloud for inspection which casued the delays I Was seeing.