Deco X50-5G - Cannot operate on 5G bands in either SA / NSA mode
Dear Tp-Link Community,
While setting up my Deco-X50-5G router, i followed the instructions on the app & noticed some critical technical glitch. The Deco 5G router refuses to work on 5G bands in either SA / NSA modes with 3 different carriers / sim cards. Note that the default option of automatic band selection was initially left unmodified.
This appears to be a Firmware related issue with the Deco-X50-5G router, even though it was updated with the latest version: 1.1.5 Rel. 73943.
Kindly note that all 3 carrier sim cards have No restrictions whatsoever and are unlocked to be used with any 5G device. The manual 5G band selection option doesn't work in either SA / NSA mode.
However, my iPhone 14 works flawlessly with the three different 5G carriers in my country.
The Deco X50-5G chooses to rely on 4G bands only. I've attached a screenshot below for reference.
Dear TP-Link firmware team, I am requesting you to kindly issue a software update to resolve my ISP / carrier related 5G network connection issue. This appears to be a common issue faced by others too as per the official Tp-link forum.
Hi, Thank you very much for your feedback.
May I know the 3 different carriers that you have tried on Deco X50-5G?
(Please also try to mark whether they use SA or NSA.)
If your keep the Band Selection as "Auto" here, then enable "Cell Lock" and are you able to delect the any 5G bands here:
Wait for your reply and best regards.
Hi David,
Thanks for your kind response. I've tried changing the network settings on my Deco x50-5G with 3 different carriers that are listed below - Jio works on SA network topology and the remaining 2 carriers - Airtel and Vi relies upon NSA network topology. I would like to reiterate that the above 3 carriers work flawlessly with my iPhone 14 Plus.
As per your earlier workaround to achieve the "5G only" mode that you had suggested to one of the members on this forum, I had downgraded the firmware version to 1.0.0 beta in order to achieve SA mode. Even though the 5G only option was available & the manual band selection of NR28 and NR78 was visible, the Deco x50 refused to connect to those networks even after the 5G APN settings were applied.
https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/topic/660122
For the NSA mode with the remaining 2 carriers Airtel and Vi., the latest firmware version 1.5 was upgraded. Still the router refused to connect to the 5G network bands.
However all 3 networks are operating on 4G bands only with the Deco X50-5G router.
If necessary, I could also share the MAC address of my device with your engineering team for development purposes.
looking forward to your feedback.
Hi, Thanks for the update.
What are the network bands on the Deco X50-5G with a JIO SIM card installed?
---Since Jio is 5G SA, I wonder whether Deco X50-5G only works under the "4G network type" if it can't adopt any 5G NR bands.
How about the network bands on the Deco X50-5G with Airtel and Vi SIM cards?
As for the iPhone 14 Plus, would it always prefer N28/N78 with any of the above SIM cards?
Wait for your reply and best regards.
Hi David,
Thanks for your prompt reply. The following 5G & 4G bands are available with the 5G Preferred setting on the DECO-x50-5G router after inserting the jio sim card, as the firmware v1.5 allows the router to operate on NSA mode only. Please refer to the screenshot attached below for your reference. However, a point to be noted is that the device does Not get locked to the 5G bands with either firmware version 1.0.0 beta or the version 1.5.
Its extremely disappointing to see that the device relies upon 4G bands only.
To answer your 2nd question, yes my iPhone 14 Plus would always prefer N28/N78 when you select the 5G On/auto option as it relies upon VONR for voice, which is considered the latest 5G standard for Voice Calls instead of VOLTE.
Regards
