Deco X20 as router with Vodafone THG3000
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Moved into a large bungalow with 40 smart bulbs. Add our own smartphones, and two each of laptops, TV, and XBoxes, we're north of 50 devices, some on wifi, some on LAN. And wifi dead spots either end of the house - it's long and low. Had a lot of trouble with devices going offline. Thought it was 2.4GHz band congestion, and that I could overcome it and the dead spots in one go by using three powerline LAN APs I had to hand, set to different channels, each supporting one third of the 2.4GHz smart bulbs. It didn't work - VF Tech support advise THG3000 has limit of 30(?) devices total, not just wifi but wifi AND ethernet combined. So, now we have this shiny Deco X20, which supports up to 150 devices. Couldn't find UK supplier for Deco X20-DSL but saw somewhere that X20's ethernet port is WAN-sensing. Figured I could connect that to the VF VDSL router, turn off the VF router's DHCP and wifi, perhaps expose the Deco in DMZ, and let everything pass through to the Deco. No joy. I've tried plugging it into the LAN port as suggested by the TP-link instructions, and the WAN port as suggested by VF tech support. I've set the connection type to PPPoE, VLAN ID 101, VLAN Priority 0 and I've carefully typed in my VF DSL credentials (thank you VF tech support). Left it as Obtain DNS automatically. Every time Deco lights up red and no WAN connection results. Have tried various things, including changing the Deco's LAN IP from 192.168.68.1 to 192.168.1.x and subnet mask from 255.255.252.0 to the standard 255.255.255.0 I suspect it needs to work with the VF router's LAN. Nothing. Even then I can't even ping it from a laptop wired to the VF router. Swapped out the cable for a known good one, too, still no joy. Anyone had the X20 and THG3000g working, with the X20 as the router? There's no point in me using the Deco in AP mode - not only do I already have APs, I'd still fall foul of the VF router's IP address limit.
I am not sure why did you have so many struggles. With working router, such as THG3000, initial Deco setup should have been straightforward, just like it is shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F03chUcwxQ
Is this your router: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oYeJmJs9SM
I will use this video for references.
I am skeptical of VF Tech Support statement that THG3000 can only support 30 clients total. For WiFi clients the number 30 might sound right, but why would router DHCP service can't handle more than 30 wired clients? That's weird.
You should be skeptical of that, too.
I would recommend you still try Deco in Access Point mode. At least to ensure that everything is OK with Deco hardware, with Ethernet cable connecting Deco to THG3000, and with connectivity to THG3000. In AP mode Deco is nothing more than a client for THG3000 router. If Deco mesh in AP mode won't work - no need to bother with Deco Router configuration. Something is already wrong.
After you've setup Deco in AP mode successfully, I would recommend you verify the claim about maximum number of wired clients THG3000 can support. At 2:41 of video it shows screen with number of connected clients. You only need to up number of connected LAN clients above 30, that should not take long. Every client connected through Deco WiFi will appear as LAN client on THG3000.
Just make sure that DHCP IP range for LAN is sufficient to accommodate many devices, its configuration is 7:36 of video. In that video, it is OK and can handle up to 200 devices. Check yours.
Also, lease time for LAN is set to Forever on Local Network there, and that needs to be changed now that iPhones and other devices have MAC address randomization. It should be set to 1 hour at most, or even less if that is not enough.
Disable MAC address randomization on your smartphones such as iPhones and Android 10 and above, for Deco SSID.
Same for any other device where you have MAC address randomization on - turn it off for Deco SSID.
Older IoT devices do not like (can not handle well) band steering and mesh protocols. To address that, split 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands in Deco between Main and Guest networks, like that:
Connect devices that can use 5GHz to Main Network, IoT devices and those that can't connect to 5GHz - to Guest network.
For each IoT device and for each stationary device such as TV or desktop, as soon as you see it connected to the nearest Deco, turn off its Mesh toggle in Deco app.
To make sure two WiFi networks (THG3000 and Deco) don't interfere with each other, disable WiFi on THG3000, it is at 2:42 of the video.
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If you find that, indeed, THG3000 can't handle more than 30 wired clients, at least you've got working Deco mesh in AP mode. Out of it, it should be easy to switch Deco to Router mode. Let me know if AP mode with all my configuration recommendation doesn't work, and I'll give configuration recommendations for Deco Router mode.
