@Gaffer 

My setup with just one RE605X (upstairs) has been up and running for a couple of weeks now with no problems. I have 32 Clients with most either fixed to the main AX11000 and 9 to the RE605X (including smart bulbs, Amazon echo, and smart plugs) - items like smart phones, tablets and laptops seem to swap between the 2 as thy are moved around the house. Just a reminder I have SMART switched on and WPA etc is set at default.

Steve

@Gaffer 

1) I think you would have achieved the same effect, i.e. regaining your 2.4 GHz, by simply rebooting the router and thereby resetting its wi-fi.

2) I would further recommend that you set up your mesh this way: set and save all requisite parameters on the AX11000 - reboot the AX11000 - connect the first node - reboot the first node - connect the second node - reboot the second node, and now, crucially, do not change any wi-fi parameter on the AX11000; if you do, it will be necessary to reestablish the whole config from scratch. This routine may seem crazy, however it is highly recommended for setting up Asus AImesh systems, due to their flaky hardware. Of course I am hoping that TP-Link is not going down the flaky hardware path.

3) Yesterday at 4:00 am local time I set up yet another OneMesh config (even though I was sorely tempted to let it go for a while). The only 2.4 GHz device that I have connected to one of the nodes is an antique Brother HL-1210WE printer, I've got no option there. Everything else is connected to 5 GHz, and here, of course, there are no drops. But while the extended 2.4 GHz of the RE505Xs fluctuates wildly and tends to plummet, it never conks out altogether. Will see if it implodes tomorrow morning.

The negative experiences written about in this thread clearly point to some bugginess in the firmware. I remain convinced, though, that the engineers will sort it out.

@Steve - Thanks for the confirmation - this means it only happens when more than one node is added.

@Maciej - if a reboot does the same thing, that's even better as I can simply schedule an AX11000 reboot every night (say 2am) and it will stay OK for the next 24hrs till the next reboot. I'll check next time it happens to see if it works (rebooting).

I could even schedule all the reboots sequentially in that order - 2am AX11000, 0201 1st RE605X, 0202 2nd RE605X.

(rebooting all three takes about 1min each)

EDIT: Just did it again and a reboot didn't work - still no 2.4GHz channel. Rebooting the RE605Xs also didn't work. SMART toggled off/on also actually didn't work - but turning OFDMA off -> save -> turning OFDMA on -> save worked.

^^^So i'm convinced it has something to do with OFDMA causing the 2.4GHz band to drop, rebooting or SMART toggling hasn't helped for me.

With regards to WIFi are you all finding SMART to be a bit crap? In my neighbourhood, channel 1 has about 4 people on it when scanning upstairs and downstairs,, ditto channel 6, but channel 11 only has 1 very faint signal that crops up every now and then (using WiFi Explorer to scan), so that's the only 'empty' channel.

5GHz has no one from 100-165 and about 4 people 36-44, no one 48 (even though 36-48 overlap).

Anyway, I noticed this morning that SMART had put 2.4 on channel 1 where everyone else was and stuck BOTH 5GHz channels on 36  - doesn't seem too smart to me.

Am sorely tempted to manually set channels myself and remove SMART all together - 2.4 @ 12, 5G1 @ 48, 5G2 @ 112 - with all SSIDs and pswds the same for seamless roaming (I don't want separately named bands, would rather have 1 SSID and the router sorts it all out itself - I think it will still do this even if SMART is switched off).

I'm also hoping the engineers will sort it out for the official release.

@Gaffer 

1) If I understand correctly, a router reboot does not work when you have SmartConnect switched on. Am I right? Sorry then, I was referring to a situation where you have separate SSIDs and everything configured manually. At least that's the way it works in my scenario.

2) SmartConnect, whatever manufacturer's implementation we're talking about, has very few fans.

3) I've read a ton of conflicting opinions regarding the impact (good or bad, if any) of OFDMA.

4) I'm not sure whether two extenders tip the scales, at least not for everyone. Two days ago I set up my AX11000 with one RE505X in OneMesh mode and one in Access Point mode. The AP worked flawlessly, but the OneMesh node suffered terrible 2.4 GHz link rate/speed drops.

Hello @Gaffer 

For information's sake - I woke up a couple of hours ago to find that 2.4 GHz on both my nodes, while not turned off, had fallen so low that even my piddling printer (Brother HL-1210WE) had disconnected from the node and connected to the router.

I've now set up a fresh OneMesh system, this time with OFDMA switched off. Who knows, maybe this'll work?

Cheers

UPDATE:

OK, so some really weird things started happening day before yesterday and over the night:

1) Wife's iPhone 11 pro started losing and gaining connection randomly (didn't happen before)

2) Smart TV lost connection and literally had to be set up again (hasn't happened before)

3) PS4 lost connection and when it gained it after a reboot, rather than being on it's normal 5GHz band it got put on the 2.4GHz one during a 6.5GB download.

4) The garage node started occasionally losing connection (previously fairly stable although this could be my positioning)

5) Roaming upstairs now had a noticeable delay when switching between router and node

6) Kitchen node lost 2.4GHz again (fixed by doing the OFDMA off->on trick as per previous post).

Anyway, constant multiple issues caused me to remove the kitchen node (my second one) completely so I'm back to main AX11000 and ONE node RE605X (garage).

System has gone back to being stable again for the past 24hours since yesterday morning (like it was before I got the second node). 

So yes, my setup reflects @Soram in that one AX11000 and one RE605X seem to play well together. Adding another node adds more issues.

(It could potentially start playing up again whilst in this setup but I'll update here if it does.)

Meanwhile, @Kevin_Z, yes the engineer dept did reach out to me, thank you very much .  I did respond but received no further reply (may have been too late in the day for them, I'm in the UK). Another issue worth communicating to them is that they wanted me to download a program (AweSun) to allow them to take control of my laptop whilst they troubleshoot (exactly the same as those Indian call centers do which worries me slightly). Unfortunately I have confidential patient information on my laptop (I am a doctor) and therefore cannot do this for them. I am happy to provide any logs they want from the nodes or the router and happy to go through my setup and settings (e.g. sending them my backed up settings for each device) but I will not be handing over control of my laptop to anyone else.....it's something I simply an unable to do given my work. Sorry.

@Kevin_Z 

Sorry to keep adding but I think it's worth keeping you updated.

So the network was OK, but I for some reason cannot login to TPLINKcloud on the RE605X anymore. I can login on the AX11000, but the 605 keeps timing out.

So I did a hard reset and set up from scratch only to find out that if using WPA2/WPA3 mode, WPS is now disabled.

So I have unbound the RE605Xs from my TPlinkCloud account (only AX11000 left), reset/rebooted AX11000 into WPA/WPA2 mode, and used WPS to set one RE605X into Mesh mode.

First time I did this, everything fine. Logged into TPLINKcloud on the RE605X fine to bind it to my account. Then I enabled DST time settings as before and the RE605X rebooted.

Now same as before, network is stable, I'm staying in WPA/WPA2 mode (I find WPS useful), everything working OK......apart from I can no longer login to TPLINKcloud from the RE605X again.

I mean this has potential but too many bugs currently:

WPA2/WPA3 mode should allow WPS.....otherwise I have to stick to WPA/WPA2 mode.

If I can't login to TPLINKcloud on the RE605X alone, a standalone website where I can see what's logged in, what's bound etc (like logging into iCloud on a web browser for instance) would be ideal as I can not admin my RE605X's TPLinkcloud account from within Tether.

Hello @Gaffer 

I will get back with a lengthier post in a day or so, as I am still testing some different things.

As far as I understand, WPS is automatically disabled under WPA3, full stop, irrespective of manufacturer.