@Kevin_Z 

Hi Kevin, so just to reiterate what you're saying: This $300, 8-Stream, 1148 Mbps 2.4 Ghz, 4804 Mbps 5 Ghz, WiFi 6 router can only handle 30-50 connected clients? Or is it active clients? I also understand you're saying this is in a perfect environment and that a handful of devices will kick the others off the internet but that makes it sound like you're suggesting the internet bandwidth would run out but that's not usually the case. I can tell it's the router failing to handle the devices if I'm using AirPlay. I'll use AirPlay while gaming and AirPlay is all local over WiFi. If the game starts becoming laggy AND the music becomes choppy, then it follows that it is the Router having problems not the internet since AirPlay doesn't need it (and the music is stored locally on my phone). Another example is my Nanoleaf lights which are on local network control and Cololights (no local control). A few days ago, the Cololights could not be controlled despite being connected to the router. Hours later, it started working again but I guess it traded spots with one of the Nanoleaf because then that light couldn't be controlled and still cannot be despite the router, modem and lights being completely unplugged (waiting 10 seconds) and then plugged back in (these are on 2.4Ghz)

As for the TX3000E computers, it seems to actually be a Windows working with the router problem. All three computers came back online later in the afternoon but then a Windows 10 laptop that had worked fine could no longer connect to the internet. Now that I'm typing this out, this seems similar to the light problem where they switch off who is going to have problems. Anyway, this morning it still wasn't working until around 9:30 it finally was able to get internet. Now that they're all connected it'll be hard to see what the problem was at the time. 

1. Out of the 3 computers, 2 always have intermittent issues but not for this long. One of them had 0 issues when I had the AC4000 and with the AX6000 up until yesterday (this was actually why I had recommended the TX3000E for the other computers instead of any random dongle off Amazon so it's unfortunate they have so many issues)

2. No point in pinging it now because it works but to be clear, the computers could connect on both 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz but there was no internet. I released and renewed through ipconfig and flushed DNS with no luck (obviously also turned off the computer, waited 10 seconds turned it back on, moved the antennas to new positions, etc). 

3. The router is set to Auto Everything. Only thing I have changed is enabling MU-MIMO (which I also did on the AC4000). Do you still want me to change it? Using WiFi analyzer, looks like it has chosen channel 157 and there is one other router far away on the same channel. I can also set the width up to 160MHz but not sure if that's helpful

My 2.4 Ghz devices are the ones with the most problems and I try to get whatever I can on 5 Ghz because I know 2.4 has the most interference. So you can get an idea of how many devices are connected there are:

• 38  2.4Ghz
• 21  5Ghz
• 6    Ethernet

Now do note, these are mostly smart devices so they're just sitting there connected and not using a lot of bandwidth. I use the traffic meter tool to check (despite it being very hard to actually see the devices, wish you could export a CSV file or something). Do you think "downgrading" to a Deco M9 would help? I didn't think I needed mesh with the 8 streams since I figured that would make up for not having 3 separate access points with 2 streams (or however many the Deco has)

@Kevin_Z 

After increasing the bandwidth and changing the channel, the router restarted and the Windows 10 computers could no longer connect again. It seems the issue is with the DHCP server and Windows 10. Despite none of them using an IP that was already taken, reserving an IP address made them work. Any idea why this is?

Also, you said to set it to 80MHz and then change the channel to 36/40/44 how does the actual router handle this? According to WiFi specifications, the 80MHz channels are 42, 58, 106, 122, 138, 155. I picked 44 since that was the closest one but it's not one of the ones listed there in specs so just wondering if I did it correctly

Editing a couple hours later: Friend came over with Windows laptop, same issue. No internet.

@Kevin_Z 

Since we weren't able to completely fix the problem and I didn't feel like spending $300 on a router that won't work for me, I've returned the product

Now I have a question about the Deco M5 vs the M9. I see the main differences are slightly longer range, USB port, smart hub and triband on the M9. However, it seems this third band is just a dedicated backhaul and is completely wasted if I decide to use ethernet backhaul. Is that correct? If I don't care about the range, USB port or smart hub, is the M5 pretty much the same thing since the M9 won't even use it's third band to serve clients?

You responded here that it would not use the third band for clients but it was over a year ago so was kinda hoping there would be a software update that enabled the feature: https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/topic/167058

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71gspZIuSoL._AC_SX522_.jpg

This image on Amazon seems purposely deceptive with the connections between the mesh clearly being labeled 2.5, 5 1 and 5 2 and then the same colors coming to connect to the phone but above saying 2.4 + 5 + Ethernet