When will the Deco P9 get new firmware? How can we force powerline backhaul over weak WiFi signal?
I have been very frustrated with the experience of using these for clients. They are billed as AC1200+AV1000 Hybrid devices, and "adds a third lane for data to travel through, similar to a Tri-band mesh router, to create stronger connections between Deco units and increase the network's overall performance, eliminating signal interference from walls and other objects."
In practice, however, these devices seem to prioritize connecting via WiFi over the Powerline backhaul, resulting in very spotty performance in installations where the units are far enough away to get a weak WiFi signal but not far enough away to get no WiFi signal. And there doesn't appear to be any way to force units to use Powerline at all times and stop trying to mesh together with WiFi.
Additionally, it has been almost TWO years since the last firmware update, which seems extremely unacceptable given the fact you are still ostensibly selling and supporting this unit.
Finally, while it is billed as an AV1000 device, it cannot be used with existing TP-Link AV1000 powerline adapters, which is a huge oversight and may border on false advertising. There are still zero Deco-compatible powerline-only adapters on the market, which means extending the network to devices that don't need WiFi over powerline isn't an option without investing in entirely separate device ecosystems.
You could have an absolutely killer product on your hand here but the choices that have been made as far as signal type prioritization, features, and interoperability are making me consider replacing these for all the clients for whom they're failing to perform reliably.