@csotelo 

 

It is unlikely but possible that you've got two defective units. Here are steps to check if your Deco M5 work correctly.

 

1. Verify Ethernet backhaul.

 

You said you connected all Deco with Ethernet cable, but have you checked they use Ethernet? In Deco app, check what it says under Signal Source for each Satellite Deco. When Satellite Deco uses Ethernet, you'll see this:

 

 

2. Slow WiFi.

 

30Mbps sounds like 2.4GHz speed. To see if your Deco can broadcast on 5GHz, turn off 2.4GHz on Main Network:

 

 

Check if your devices can connect to Satellite Decos after that and at what speed. If they can't at all, your Deco might not be broadcasting 5GHz WiFi signal.

 

3. Use WiFi analyzer app on smartphone

 

You can install WiFi analyzer app on smartphone to see what Deco units broadcast at which bands and with what signal strength. I am using WiFiman from ubiquiti and this is what it tells me about my Deco mesh (with 2.4GHz turned off):

 

 

Obviously, I was standing near Deco Node 1 when running this test.

 

You can bring all three Deco to the same room, connect them by short Ethernet cables, make half-circle out of them, put smartphone with WiFi analyzer app in the middle of that half-circle, run WiFi analyzer and it should report all three Deco with very close levels of signal for 2.4GHz and for 5 GHz. If one or two Deco have much weaker signals than Deco3, either 2.4GHz or 5GHz, it may point at issue with Deco hardware.

 

For reference, this is explanation of what is good signal level:

 

 Hi  @Alexandre,

 

Thanks for your response.

 

1 – I had verified this, 2 and 3 show source from 1, ethernet.

 

2 -  You got it right! Units 1 and 2 are not broadcasting 5G network. Turning off 2.4 network, only Deco3 is visible.

 

Do you have any idea on how to enable 5G network on these 2 units??

 

60-A4-B7-B8-33-EA – Deco1

60-A4-B7-B8-30-3E – Deco2

60-A4-B7-B8-33-EF – Deco3

 

 

 

3 -  By now I tested 2 and 3, both 1 meter appart, phone in the middle of the two.

 

 

 

Only getting really close to unit 2 the phone registered the 5G channel. If I got 1 meters appart it gone.

 

Is there any way to factory reset besides the back button? (which I already did)

 

Thanks,

 

Carlos Sotelo

 

 

 

 

 

  @csotelo 

 

From your tests it does appear you have two defective Deco M5 units. If you can, return them or send for replacement under the warranty.

 

Forcing factory reset will not fix defective hardware. Still, there is another way to factory reset Deco units: How Do I Reboot or Reset My System?

Hi   @David-TP ,

 

I did the setup at September. 18, just Deco1 and Deco3 because I didn´t had the cable to last unit.

 

Router                 Main

[####} ---------->Deco1--------------> Deco3

 

After initial setup, the app requested to upgrade the firmware, I guess for 1.6.0,  and a few days after it requested again, for 1.6.1. (II´m in Brazil).

 

I remember to test speed at unit 1 after setup and I got 80% of full internet speed. On the unit 3, I got 100%.

 

A few days ago I noticed performance degradation close to unit 1, and started to use wifi from the  ISP router.

 

In the weekend I got the cable for last unit, added unit 2 and noticed that all clients still connecting to unit 3, so I started the troubleshooting swapping the units.

 

Yesterday I got unit 2 downgraded to 1.6.0 and then to 1.5.7 (using tftp) but nothing changed, still low signal.

 

Thanks,

 

Carlos Sotelo

 Hi  @David-TP ,

 

I did the test, changed Deco3 to main and nothing changed.

 

I put unit 1 and 2 together, phone about a meter away and the signal is weaker than deco3 that is about 10 meters away behind a brick wall.

 

60-A4-B7-B8-33-EA – Deco1

60-A4-B7-B8-30-3E – Deco2

60-A4-B7-B8-33-EE – Deco3

 

 

 

I also got a new deco unit (Deco-n1), did the setup, firmware upgrade and in this one the Wifi works great! It reaches 100% of internet speed as Deco3.

 

28-87-BA-89-E9-97 - Deco-n1

60-A4-B7-B8-33-EF - Deco3

 

 

I´ll contact the local support to send the faulty units for replacement under the warranty. Never had a good experience doing this, I hope it will be different with TP Link. I´ll send the link of this thread in my request and report back here the results.

 

I´m putting the SN of the units here, maybe it helps TP Link to address quality issues. Never had the “lucky” of get two defective electronics out of the box like this.

 

 

 

I´d like to thanks @Alexandre and @David-TP for the help in the troubleshooting.

 

Carlos Sotelo.