@dhowbad,

Sorry to hear about the experience,

From the sounds of the error, your phone is having difficulties connecting to the switches during the setup process. This is typically before your phone or device even trys to communicate with your wi-fi.

If your phone is having difficulties automatically switching wi-fi networks, you can always connect to the switches' setup network directly from your phone's settings and then going back to the Tapo App to set the device up.

One thing to note, this wi-fi is a non-internet network so your phone may try to switch your connection to your cellular connection - interrupting the setup. Consider turning off your cell connection for the setup so the switch doesnt occur.

Lastly, if your phone has already connected to the switch's wi-fi, it will be in your list of known networks. I would recommend deleting this known network before trying to set the device up again.