@user30 Ahhh right, as annoying as it is that there's no real fix yet, I'm glad somebody got an actual answer from support about it so I know it's not a browser issue at least.

Just tried the second workaround, that's a genius idea, that seems to be working perfectly for me! Really appreciate the help!

Thanks, you too!

  @BallistiX09 

If you control your own DNS server on your network, you could simply add an A record for tplinkwifi.net to point to your router's IP address. Most internal devices will parse internal DNS before going out to the interwebs for DNS resolution. This way, any connected device will be routed to the appropriate webpage of your router and you don't have to mess with host files on devices.

I actually use DNS in conjunction with NGINX to route to a number of web servers, including my router's web page. DNS points to an NGINX server and NGINX server reverse-proxies to either an IP address or another hostname/FQDN.

I actually hate the fact that I can't disable TPLink's stupid redirect to tplinkwifi.net. I can only assume the AX20 has some sort of NGINX built in that does pretty much the same thing I described above, but I can't disable it. So little control over my own purchased hardware. Terrible.

  @Hillefied Yeah that's exactly what I ended up doing. I've got AdGuard Home (a bit like Pi-hole) set up on a Rasperry Pi which I'm using as a DNS server, and that's set up to rewrite tplinkwifi.net to the router's internal IP.

Totally agree on the control issue, I bought this router to move away from the lack of control over my ISP's router, just to find there's still daft things like this which you're stuck dealing with. There's probably custom firmware which could be installed, but that's getting into more hassle than it's worth I imagine.

Here's a userscript that can fix this. All it does is navigate back.

// ==UserScript==
// @name        Go back from tplinkwifi.net
// @namespace   /
// @match       http://tplinkwifi.net/
// @version     1.0
// @author      -
// @description Go back from tplinkwifi.net
// ==/UserScript==

window.history.go(-1);

I was having the same problem with the AX53's, except I have three of them running as APs, and changing DNS would only work with one of them.

  @FarCanal 

That doesn't go back to the IP you originally put in. In my case, it takes me back to my browser's home page. 

terziyski wrote

That's a FW glitch, which hasn't been addressed so far for many router models.

The workarounds described here, may work in some cases and for some router models, but this needs to be addressed in general.

Similar behavior has been observed for a long time:

Here's a story related to that matter, which in Archer C64 has been resolved by implementing a "HTTP Referer Head Check" option.

For example this hasn't been implemented in Archer C54 model.

I've filed a feature request a year ago related to the same issue for Archer AX20 that goes unattended.

I, too, filed a feature request for the AX21. It is beyond ridiculous that this hasn't been addressed. It's so common, that I assumed it was by design. Seems like it's just TP-Link not really caring about it enough to fix it. I've had 3 firmware updates since my last post and none of have fixed the issue.

I also discovered this same issue on a TP-Link Wi-Fi extender that a friend asked me to setup for them.

So I wait for this option: "HTTP Referer Head Check" in my AX55 PRo - but the best will be switch off this redirect from IP / my-local-domain to unusable tplinkwifi.net.

  @terziyski, you seem to be assuming that TP-Link actually wants to fix this.

That seems  doubtful, to me, since it would be an easy fix, easily added to every firmware

update. My guess is, that TP-Link China has nixed any 'corrections' of this 'problem'.

TPLinkwifi.net is a CN registered domain, that  currently points to an Amazon AWS ip, 3.224.42.34.

This means that TP-Link China has full access to logs showing EVERY time you log into your router,

and WHAT your external IP is each time. And I know, from my own work in years past in network

security, just how much information can be often be accessed with nothing more than a

time-stamped IP address.

TP-Link routers may not be configured to have a secret 'backdoor' periodically

'phoning home', but the 192.168.x.x => tplinkwifi.net redirect -- happening in the open --

is the next best thing.

GIven the Chinese government's current policy that "All your data are  belong  to us" I think there is

zero chance that this data is not part of the "Big Data" set China keeps  on US citizens.