@everjenk, 

Smart Connect might not do anything for you. The 'main' feature of Smart Connect is that the Router determines what Radio (SSID) the Device will connect to. There are differing implementations of Smart Connect, some do 'load leveling', that is all Radios (dual band or Tri-band Radio's depending on router as well at the Guest Radio's) will get an even number of devices connected. Some just determine the best Radio for the device and will connect to that leaving some radio's having more devices connected than others. Some implementations will also dynamically level the number of devices connected to the Radio's.

However, single band devices in all cases will be connected to the proper radio.

The main drawback for me with Smart Connect is that in some cases slower devices can be on the same Radio as faster devices due to how the version of Smart Connect works (not sure how TP-Links is implemented).

I do not use it on my Tri-band router. All 2.4Ghz only devices are manually assigned to the 2.4Ghz SSID, N devices to the slower 5Ghz SSID, and AC devices to the faster 5Ghz SSID. Another vendor router I had would mix N and AC devices on the same SSID and that slowed down the AC devices.

Smart Connect works if you don't care and just want a device to connect and don't worry about performance or have some slowness on the LAN. Otherwise, manually determine what devices connect to is my suggestion.

@everjenk 

If the devices are only 2.4Ghz then it should be fine as the smart devices would not be capable of connecting to the 5Ghz. The benefit you would see in enabling smart connect is needing to only connect to one band. However, an issue others have brought up is not being able to connect to a band they wanted since the router determines that. 

I would recommend keeping the bands different or leaving the router as is so you know exactly what you are connecting to.

Gimmy077 wrote

if i enable Smart Connect the 5G connection disappear and only 2.4 uses.

No, it is still there (the 5Ghz). Smart Connect using a single SSID, the 2.4Ghz one and its password.

When Smart Connect is used, the Router will determine which band is best for the device to use. It will probably also do load leveling.

If you look at the router via a browser, and click on Advanced, Wireless, Statistics, you will see the wireless devices you have and WHICH band they connected too. If ALL are connected to the 2.4Ghz band, well then it sort of implies all your devices are not 802.11 N device (of higher) but 2.4Ghz devices only.

If on the otherhand ALL you devices could connect to the 5Ghz band if Smart Connect is not being used, you might have a router problem and should probably contact support.

For example, if from my desktop windows 10 now as WIFI connections displays only 1 SSID available, if I try to connect it always connects in 2.4, if I use the TP-LINK WIRELESS CONFIGURATION UTILITY application it displays 2 SSIDs with the same name a 5g and 2.4. If I try to connect directly to 5G and then I go to find what I am actually connected with I see 2.4 and not 5 ... then the 5G connection is as if it were not there and ONLY 2.4 works. Look, I assure you that I have done a thousand different tests and ONLY if I disable SMART CONNECT I return to a normal situation.

Gimmy077 wrote

For example, if from my desktop windows 10 now as WIFI connections displays only 1 SSID available, if I try to connect it always connects in 2.4,

@Gimmy077 

OK, make some sense if you told me what is the Adapter make and model as well as 802.11 Speed (suspect N)?

Gimmy077 wrote

 if I use the TP-LINK WIRELESS CONFIGURATION UTILITY application it displays 2 SSIDs with the same name a 5g and 2.4.

Where did you get that Utility? Not listed under APPS for the C6 and copies I found on the web do not specify W10?

Gimmy077 wrote

 If I try to connect directly to 5G and then I go to find what I am actually connected with I see 2.4 and not 5 ... then the 5G connection is as if it were not there and ONLY 2.4 works. Look, I assure you that I have done a thousand different tests and ONLY if I disable SMART CONNECT I return to a normal situation.

I can probably explain that, if  I knew the hardware you have for wireless. Like I said, I suspect it is N Speed. N speed will connect to both 2.4 and 5Ghz SSID's. However, not ALL N speed devices are equal. You might want to read this page, https://www.speedguide.net/faq/what-is-the-actual-real-life-speed-of-wireless-374. I've seen N Speed devices with a 150Mbps limit, 300, and 600 as well. A device with a 150 or 300Mbps limit probably would be determined by the router to be a 2.4Ghz device, and hence connect to it. Since it is an N Speed device, it can work on the 5Ghz SSID, but connecting it to a 5Ghz SSID would actually slow down the 5Ghz speed on other faster devices when it was 'working' the connection as the SSID slows down to process its data.

In all honesty, Smart Connect is absolutely useless to me and reading all the comments on the net I know that I am not the only person to have encountered several problems .... strange problems. I just turn it off, that's all.

Utility: https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/topic/171036 (latest versions work perfectly on w10 and offered by various support guys, if u google)

Search on google: tp-link smart connect problem archer c6 (I don't need to explain anything, just read the existing problems of many other users)

Gimmy077 wrote

 

Utility: https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/topic/171036 (latest versions work perfectly on w10 and offered by various support guys, if u google)

 

@Gimmy077 

You might want to look at that link above again. Dated almost a year ago, but that isn't the problem. The link to the Tool is. Not specifically for your router, and it runs on these Operating Systems: WinXP/7/8/8.1. WinXP is not WinX (Windows10) but the original Windows in 2001. Oh, utility Published Date: 2015-01-08. I would not rely on what it tells you.

Gimmy077 wrote

In all honesty, Smart Connect is absolutely useless to me and reading all the comments on the net I know that I am not the only person to have encountered several problems .... strange problems. I just turn it off, that's all.

 

Sure, many people have problems. Most really don't know it works. Many confuse seeing only one SSID (many people used the same 'form' for the SSID and add 2 or 5 after it so they know which is which) that is the 2.4Ghz one and think they lost the 5Ghz band.

Many are unaware of how the router figures out what to connect where.

Many don't know how to look on the router to see the band a device actually connect too.

Many experience slowdowns in the wireless due to Smart Connect.

To me, the real value of Smart Connect is for the inexperienced user who doesn't want to manage the devices they have and which band they connect to. Easy way out. Set all devices to connect to the 2.4Ghz band and let the router figure it out.

Yes. I encountered some problem with my Archer C54 and AX1500. I have 100mbps internet speed but there's a time that the connection cuts randomly. It will reconnect within a few seconds but as you play online games, it's really annoying to deal with it. So what I have done was I enabled Smart Connect (on AX1500 only) and as I observed the problem were solved. Not really sure why does it happen as I used AX10(damaged by lightning) before and we don't experienced the sudden drop of wifi connection. Same number of wifi user, same settings, everything is the same. So yeah, it's worth it using smart connect.