I left TP Link a long time ago. As mentioned in my previous posts, switched to Google wifi (not the Google Nest system). I am still shocked to see so many people with the same wifi channel issues posting here, and other websites. I have to think this many complaints cannot be wrong, that there truly is an issue with channel auto selection. Since TP Link doesn't even respond here anymore, I wouldn't be surprised if they are aware and have no intention or knowledge on how to fix it.
 

I still stand by my thought process, having sat with their support people while they used the CLI on my Deco's to troubleshoot. The least busy algorithm used in the software is backwards, it is scanning and choosing the most busy channel.The auto channel select function does work, again I witnessed it, but it always selcts the most congested channel. To me this is a simple code review, correction and testing. A few hours, maybe a day or two tops worth of quality engineering by TP Link and I'm sure this would be solved. 

With support I was able to simulate congestion using other routers in my house and setting them to an obscure channel. The Deco device would auto change to this highly used channel as well. Change the channle on my other routers and you guessed it, the deco's followed shortly afterwards. Simple test/QA process one would think TP Link has tried themselves in their labs. An issue was confirmed, I was told it was hardware, further I was told that my Deco's warranty period had expired (by a few days only, and due to TP Link delaying the support process), their recommendation - Go buy the latest generation Deco product.

I went out the next day and moved to Google. It may not have all the ability to tune, including no manual channel selection, but it has been rock solid and higher performant. 

  @Hami Same issue for me but with xe75. Always selecting the most crowded channel on both 2.4 and 5ghz. I can't believe after all these years they still will not add the change channel option. Bye bye TP Link, on to Asus for me. Pathetic 

  @celtiberian 

Unfortunately I have had a similar issue here with my S4's, when I bought them back in Feb 2021 I was getting pretty good Wifi throughput and rock solid service, now a couple of years on my neighbours have upgraded their equipment and whenever I do a network survey I see other devices on Channel 2 conflicting with my network and <50mbps with intermittent dropouts.

Before this I used to run a single Ubiquitiy Unifi which had a lot more options for changing channels etc, but sadly would've required buying a couple more units at about double the cost of what I paid for the the three S4's to get the mesh I needed after extending our house.  I figured TP Link would be reliable and kept up to date based on my previous experience with their routers and switches, sadly it looks as though the router software is buggy and nothing is being done to address this despite many calls from owners for them to do so. 

When I run the optimisation and congestion tests it almost always reports medium to high congestion and recommends moving to channel 11, which I can see in green and empty, channel 2 is red on the app!  Seems like the auto channel selection code is not using the same algorithm to select the channel the software suggests!

I'd be more than happy if an (at your own risk) option was provided for advanced users, I'm more than familiar flashing router firmware and sideloading software, I'd hoped that TP-Link might open source the firmware code, I'd have been up for making the changes myself, having more than 30 years software development experience.

Somewhere I saw mention that TP-Link can log in via a terminal interface to do tests on the routers, I might have to do a few port scans and see if I can get into that myself, unless anyone here already knows the details?

Also, I've tried checking for firmware updates recently but get an error rather than being told no new firmware exists, have TP-Link stopped supporting these routers completely?

Update:  Having run an NMap scan on each node I can only find web servers that are open on ports 80 and 443 (both providing a rudimentary web interface) so if there is a cli into these devices its not obvious, usual telnet and SSH paths on their regular ports do not yield anything useful.

Hello TP-Link Deco Development Team and fellow community members,

I'm a devoted user of the TP-Link Deco mesh system and have been pleased with its performance for the most part. However, there are a couple of areas where I believe improvements can be made to provide users with a more flexible and optimized networking experience.

1. Manual Channel Selection Feature:

Currently, the Deco system automatically selects the channels for both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. While this works well in many scenarios, there are instances where users may want to manually select a specific channel due to interference, neighboring networks, or other considerations.

According to Cisco, channels in Wi-Fi networks can suffer from co-channel interference (CCI) and adjacent-channel interference (ACI). While mesh systems like Deco do a great job in auto-selecting channels, there are some unique environments where manual selection would help alleviate interference issues.

Moreover, an article from Metageek explains why channels 1, 6, and 11 are most often recommended for the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band. These channels do not overlap with each other, reducing interference. Having the ability to manually select these channels or others in certain situations would be beneficial.

2. Compatibility Issues with Repeaters:

I, along with a few other users, have noticed that when running the Deco system alongside traditional Wi-Fi repeaters, there can be some connectivity or stability issues. Repeaters are often used to boost the signal in areas where a Deco node might not be practical. It would be great if the system was optimized to better work in tandem with repeaters without causing disruptions or connectivity drops.

Potential Solutions:

• Introduce a feature in the Deco app/settings allowing advanced users to manually select their preferred Wi-Fi channel.
• Ensure better compatibility and coordination between the Deco system and traditional repeaters.

In conclusion, I genuinely believe that introducing these features would enhance the user experience and functionality of the TP-Link Deco system. I'd love to hear the thoughts of the development team and fellow community members on this matter.

Thank you for your attention and consideration.

Warm regards

  @David-TP 

That is such a throw away line "Google mesh does it". I thought this was TP lik, not google mesh. If we wanted google mesh we would have bought it.

WiFi mesh should be smart enough to have the channels set manually. The devices should not be "orphaned" because the child devices should have their channels changed first whn the change occurs and then the parent should have its channel change last.  If things don't go to plan, aka, all satelites don't come back online, you either a.) fall back to last known settings after 30 seconds (this is part of openwrt LUCI which I would hazard a guess the TP Link is based on) or b.) the Satellites are smart enough to perform channel scanning until they find the "Parent". Much like normal mesh does. Aka, Cisco Mesh.  (off channel scans much like a WiFi client)

I have expereienced issues with my TP Link Deco equipment, where I actually have to force it to use only 2.4 GHz, because the 5 GHz channel it keeps selecting is absolute trash and my latency to and from the default gateway sits around 1000ms.  So, I have a really pricey 2.4 GHz mesh network that runs on 802.11ax (better than 802.11n I suppose). But being only 3 channels in the 2.4 Ghz range that don't overlap (And for some reason the Deco decides it wants to select channel 7 or 8, and not 1, 6 or 11 for some reason).

I am sure the reason that we haven't been given the ability to change the channel is because they think the end users are incomptetent and they are just looking at any possible way to reduce their support demands.  Instead of building a robust system that can be configured to change channels manually (maybe an advanced tab)

  @Kanzi33 

You are 100% correct. I am experiencing the exact same issues, specially as my home is filled with 2.4ghz devices such as MyEnergi, IoT devices for home assistant etc you can see where the frustrations sit. Stuck with 6x 6E decos. Should have spent the extra $$, ignored the fake reviews and went with systems I have experience with. Ubiquity or Cisco for example. 

I work in the wireless industry and I was very surprised that first of all you can't select channels but potentially this is to do with the mesh backhaul but more importantly it's picking random mid-level channels that we would never use in 2.4Ghz.

As most people know the only fully non-overlapping channels in 2.4Ghz are 1,6,11 anything in between will overlap with one of these three which is generally significantly worse than co-channel interference since it's overlapping multiple channels.

Furthermore, even the TPLINK app states that the upper 5GHz channels have almost no interference but it likes to stick with 30-50ish which is very odd. I understand there are reasons why you can't use some of the mid-band because of DFS but I thought this was built in to most radio equipment with a backoff.

Some of this might explain the very strange behaviours with my X20s but it's more mind boggling that you can't just do a channel sweep and then select if you want, auto is the friend of anyone who doesn't know what they're doing but seriously it doesn't look like it has any idea unless I'm really missing something to do with how the mesh technology from Deco works compared to any other mesh wireless system; even those in enterprise.

Veo que desde el 2018 anda pidiendo la comunidad la funcionalidad de cambiar canal en los Deco y por lo visto acabo de comprar uno y no se puede tampoco funciona bien el cambio automatico ya que el deco sigue transmiendo en canales iguales a los de otras wifi con mucha interferencia en comparacion con un Archer. Por lo que me propongo a devolver el equipo a la tienda y a converzar con mi abogado sobre mi derecho de consumidor a ser informado de este tema y no perder tiempo comprando una solucion que no cumple.

  @paddyB I am having the same issue daily. My iPhone even recognises that the channel the WiFi uses is too crowded and in fact seems to be choosing the busiest channels. It's hugely frustrating. 

After so much time with no proper response by TP link, guess only thing we can do is give bad evaluation on Amazon and whatever shops we got them from. So nobody else will make the mistake of buying their products.

It's nosense to spend over 250€ in a Mesh system that has continuous internet downs