irohit wrote

TP-Link India support asked me for replacement with V1 version. They say in V1 version both the antennas works and in V3 version it is for representation. Please tell me how to check if left port is working or not. If I remove left antenna there is no change in signal strength, neither the performance of the router decreases.

I am worried about the left antenna because the signal strength of router with two 5dbi antennas is very less. I have TP LINK 8901N 150 Mbps which has more signal strength and covers wider area than TD8968.
Thanks

Tobacco wrote

No, both left and right antennas are functioning. I 100% sure because I'd confirm similar questions before from the global support.

Now I answer your query. TP-Link TD-W8968 as a 300Mbps Wi-Fi router is definitely using two antennas synchronously in order to apply MIMO. However only one antenna will send out the beacon frames which contains the basic information of the Wi-Fi.

In your case it is the right antenna that sends out the beacon frame. The left one doesn't send any beacons so that the Wi-Fi SSID disappeared once you dis-attached the right one.

Beacon frame is used to show the Wi-Fi so that we can see the Wi-Fi. But not seeing the WI-Fi does not mean the antenna is not functioning.

Vivian wrote

It is not a bug. Share the reply got from TP-LINK support team: :)
The antennas of TD-W8968 are designed with main antenna and affiliated antenna.
The affiliated antenna can barely work without the main antenna, that is to say, remove the main antenna may cause bad effect to the wireless signals strength and wireless speed which equal to all of the antennas don’t work anymore.
However, the wireless performance will not decrease a lot when the affiliated antenna is removed in the short distance.

@Tobacco  i was also facing the same issue, left port was not working, it shows as 'connected without internet'... I bought the router to attach with an external lpda antenna...which port should I use to connect with external antenna...?