@Kevin_Z

 

Thanks for the information provided. Though, I really question the statement "For the signal source option, the powerline backhaul may be added in next firmware.". How hard can it be to add a third option your hardware already knows (should know) of, requiring a new firmware version to be built?

 

I also question the powerline backhaul in general. I have 3 P7's; one on each floor. The main Deco is downstairs in the fuse box. When placing the third one on the second floor, it seems to always require a wireless signal before operating instead of using the powergrid (you know, that "supported" feature). When moving it around and it does receive a wireless signal, the green LED on the adapter suddenly turns green?! So much for spending a steep amount of money for something that appears to be a great solution without having to pull UTP throughout the house (on paper), but doesn't deliver on its marketed features.

 

Since the new firmware having the source signal indicator, I've been playing around a little bit. When rebooting the Deco on the first floor, essentially and apparently the 'bridge' for the second floor unit, the app reports that the second floor Deco's source signal comes from the Deco downstairs, obviously with a very weak signal. So much for the powerline backhaul that is every-so-happy showing a green LED. Second thing is, the Deco on the second floor doesn't seem to reconnect to the Deco on the first floor (bug?), cutting away some 30 mbit for its connected clients.

 

With this, I --was-- wanting to buy an expansion pack and add a P7 to the gardenshed - that would be wonderful. But you guessed it...... it doesn't work as it doesn't seem to utilize the powerline backhaul.

 

So in terms of expandability/reach, this is a huge letdown. But also in terms of speed I was expecting a way better experience. We have a 200/200 mbit fibre connection. On the main Deco, I utilize 100% of the available bandwidth. On the first and second floor, I only get up to 90-100 mbit. Surely, this is still very workable, but not expected.

 

 

that's the same issue i've https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/topic/170700 we waited so long for this new firmware and now we have to wait (probably) more and more for the main feature i'm interested in... damn! :D

@Kevin_Z 

 

"Please ensure that the Led is green to make the powerline backhaul work; and even though there is only wireless signal source showing up, it still works."

All 3 adapters show a green LED. Is there a way to test the powerline backhaul? Specifically in terms of speed. That it won't fully get up to your advertised 600 mbit, I can live with. But only getting ~16% of it, seems a bit extreme.

 

"For the Deco on the second floor won't reconnect to the Deco on the first floor when it booted up, it seems that the signal strength does not trigger the threshold value, you can relocate the Deco on the second floor and move it further away from the main one."

The signal shows 1/3 bar. When connected to the first floor, it shows 2/3 bars. If I would relocate it too far, it won't get a wireless signal, showing a red LED (again, so much for powerline backhaul) and primarily be a rather nicely designed, but power consuming brick.

 

"When you add an extra P7 to the gardenshed, what is the led status of the power adapter? Is it green, yellow or red?"

I believe it was red. What does yellow represent? Not sure if I feel the urge of trying again, since I don't get the warm feeling (confirmation, really) that the powerline backhaul is working as intended/advertised.

 

"For the speed issue, you can check the wired speed you can get from the slave Deco units and try to setup QoS as standard and remove all the high priority items."

While it is physically undoable to insert a UTP cable to an iPhone, I decided to use my laptop. The connection shows 1 gbps. I get the same result, around 80-90 mbit (out to the internet). Yes, I understand that utilising an internet based speedtest has many, many factors that come into play. However, if I hook up my laptop to the wired network or use the wifi signal from the Deco down stairs, I get the full 200 mbit. With regards to QoS -- QoS is not utilised by Deco as it is in AP mode.

 

Would you be interested in a test using a set of Devolo powerline adapters?

@Kevin_Z 

 

It seems a lot of P7 users on this forum sub-group are seeing the same issue, namely that the backhaul/signal source is a WiFi signal with 2/3 or 1/3 bars strength. The LEDs are green but it looks like the main backhaul ends up being the WiFi. It’s a frustrating issue when the whole point of the P7 series (and extra price) is the powerline feature.

@Kevin_Z 

 

Firmware is latest update 1.3.1

 

On Deco App download internet speed test to main Deco = 277 Mbps

My laptop and phone are sitting next to a slave Deco P7 with Green light (implying powerline backhauld > 50 Mbps at minimum).

 

Laptop (slave Deco P7 link Speed 867 Mbps) internet Speed = 19.4 Mbps

Phone is the same distance internet Speed = 17.4 Mbps

 

This implies that though the GREEN LED is lit, our network is not getting the powerline > 50 Mbps per second hence the green indicator light is wrong and probably should be RED.

 

Is the Green LED displayed in error based on the above?

@MeTPForum @Kevin_Z 

I fully agree to that and I want to chime in as well. Bought the kit with great expectations, but the system does not seem to live up to the expectations. I have a set up with 5 P7s now. I have issues in one particular room in which the Deco indicates both LEDs green, indicating that I should have a good powerline connection to the main deco/other decos, but when I do a test with Speedtest.net, it fails already before measuring with a "Latency test error" and the internet connection feels very sluggish. How can it be that I have a green Powerline indicator and only about 2 MBit/s internet connection arrive while, at the same time, I measure consistently about about 12-15Mbit at the main Deco? If the Powerline backhaul really worked, it could hardly be the bottleneck here? Slowly but surely I have the suspicion that I have wasted a lot of money here...

 

@Kevin_Z 

 

Kevin,

 

Any updates on the lack of power line speed even though LEDs are signaling green?