HELP!!
This thread has been locked for further replies. You can start a new thread to share your ideas or ask questions.
Morning everyone
Apologies in advance as I'm new to this and only have limited technical ability.
So long (very!) story short, I've been with BT fibre (Infinity 2) for a year or so and am reasonably happy with the results. I get about 40-50mbps which for my area is about as good as it gets unfortunately as we have no other options in terms of Virgin etc.
Anyway we have a 3-4k sq foot house built in 1971 (so not massively thick walls) and I've been running Google Wi-Fi for the last couple of years with a mixture of old and new pucks. For the last six months to a year its been getting worse and worse with freezing and slowing down and dropping out etc, but still stable at the BT hub. So I took the decision after yet another ear bashing from my wife and teenagers (plus working from home on my laptop was becoming painful) to change the Wi-Fi system to TP-Link M9 Deco plus and also purchased a M5 single to try and improve the distance and strength of the signal.
That's when the problems started. The network is now more flaking than before (my own laptop has dropped three times and reconnected again in the time its take to write this), the strength seems similar in terms of walking around the house, but my son can hardly play his Xbox anymore as the signal is so poor. The CCTV unit which is in the garage no longer connects at all to the Wi-Fi (even when I moved one of the pucks to within a few feet) and it generally feels like a backwards step!
My set up is the main DECO in the living room on a table which is connected to the BT Hub via cat 5, then another DECO in the hallway on a table (about 20 feet as the crow flies), then another DECO in the kitchen about 50 feet from the main one and 20 from the hallway and then the M5 DECO in an upstairs bedroom (this is a reasonably new extension built about five years ago). This is currently hard wired in a switch via cat5 that runs from the BT Hub.
Any ideas what's wrong? Have I made a big mistake in shelling out (over £350) for all this and go back to Google? Is my set up not correct? Anyone experiencing similar issues. It's driving us up the wall as I'm sure everyone will understand how much of the house (door bell, CCTV, music, games machines, work etc) is so reliant on decent Wi-Fi these day!!
Literally any assistance or views very much appreciated.
Thanks
Shaun
To help you with tuning your Deco mesh, I am going to ask you for additional information.
1. How many Google WiFi units did you have before switching to Deco mesh?
2. Your BT Hub, does it run in router mode or have you changed it to bridge (modem) mode? If you haven't made any configuration changes in it when deployed Deco, most likely it runs in router mode, but I need to know for sure.
3. Do you run Deco mesh in Router or in Access Point mode? You can check it here in Deco app:
4. It is important for good WiFi coverage to have Deco units properly connected to each other. Perform an audit: in Deco app, touch the globe with word Internet under it, it'll open screen with list of Deco units.
For each Satellite Deco M9, which are in the hallway and kitchen, see what it shows under signal source. Example:
That tells you to which Deco your Satellite Deco is connected to and strength of WiFi signal of that connection. Which is excellent in this example. I need you to share that info: to which Deco hallway Deco is connected and signal quality, to which Deco kitchen Deco is connected and signal quality. Also, how did you name your Main Deco (mine is named Living Room and in that example Satellite M9 is connected to Main M9).
Also, for Deco M5 in the bedroom, check if it is connected by Ethernet or by WiFi. If it is by WiFi, you'll see this:
and if by Ethernet you'll see this:
5. Please run "Test Internet Speed" in Deco app, under Mode, and let me know what speeds you've got.
6. Open "Update Deco" in Deco app, under More, and copy here firmware versions of Deco M9 Plus and M5. You'll find them under confusing label "New Firmware Version:" which should have been "Current Hardware Version."
--------------------
Finally, CCTV. Not every wireless device, especially older models, understands WiFi mesh. When you share information I asked you, I will provide recommendations that should help to force CCTV and other stubborn IoT devices connect to Deco mesh.