I am having a bear of a time with the TP Link Deco App.

 

I have 3 existing Deco M4 devices. All was working swimmingly (aside from the lagginess of the Deco app in general)

 

I just picked up a 2-pack of the TP Link W3600s and with a little research said they would work fine with my existing system.

 

I got them up and running fine, all was good.

 

Then the app said to switch the "Main Deco" to my new W3600 since it's newer and has fancier tech. Sounds good, makes sense... let's do it.

 

Boom. Problems.

 

Took lots and lots of reboots. Finally got the internet working again. Same password for the WiFi works, all my systems can connect. I can get into the system via the web browser and IP address.

 

But now, the Deco App is completely bricked.

 

Half the time it will show my network in the menu, but won't show me any devices. All I get is the splash screen saying "Let's Begin" or "Log Out".

 

I've tried both. Let's begin only lets you create an entirely new network. Log Out simply logs you out. Log back in and you are back where you started.

 

The Splash Screen of Death (SSoD).

 

I tried uninstalling the app, then re-installing. SSoD again.

 

I tried on a diff phone. SSoD again.

 

I rebooted everything again... yep. SSoD again.

 

When the menu shows me the "network" icon and I click on it, I can see my network listed with the correct "Main Deco" MAC address. It even tempts me by showing a little badge there that says "Connected" but alas when I click on that, again says "Switching..." followed by "Couldn't switch to this Deco Network" followed promptly by SSoD.

 

I go back to the menu, now my network shows there. I click on it, now my "Select a Network" page has the beautiful "Connected" badge but ALSO has a checkmark. Certainly now it MUST work! Nope... SSoD.

 

I'm just stuck. Tech support asked me 3 questions, then said they'll handle the rest by email with no less than one business day response time.

 

One strange thing I noticed... When I login to the Deco app, if I try to do it THROUGH THE DECO NETWORK, the login fails every time. Even if I have internet access. But if I login to the Deco app while on cellular, it will work, then I can reconnect tot he Deco to go through the SSoD dance.

 

The web-based app does almost nothing. Not very helpful at all. Seems like an obvious place to put functionality to do all the same stuff you'd normally do in the Deco App.

 

Firmware is up-to-date on all devices.

 

I changed my password on the TP Link site, and logged out, then logged back in.

 

Another strange thing I noticed... I cannot save notifications preferences. It will let me save the settings to receive promotional messages, but cannot save notifications preferences. Regardless, even though I am not seeing the network (still just SSoD) and I can't set it up to send notifications, I still get these notifications when any new device is added.

 

I also feel like I used to be able to manage my network remotely even when I wasn't connected to WiFi. I could block or unblock devices, adjust parental controls, etc. I can't see anything if I'm not connected via WiFi now.

 

Is this one of those things where you just completely try to reset every device to factory settings and start over?

 

Or is there some more reasonable solution here?