@TP-Link_Deco Whilst I understand much of the thinking behind your response here, can you please explain why - if the system is intelligent enough to know when there is channel congestion - there is still an option to optimize the system manually?  Why isn't this done automatically? On a daily basis I check 'Network Optimization', get the message 'Your current wi-fi channel is congested', select optimize and then everything is supposedly ok.  Thirty minutes later, the channel is somehow congested again.  What is going on?

@TP-Link_Deco 

"Meanwhile, theoretically, the Deco will choose a wireless channel with best performance automatically."

Emphasizing the theoretically part.

The Deco's Wifi analyzer itself suggests switching to a better, less crowded channel but I am unable to.

I really am quite unhappy with this (M4R)

I havent seen many threads about this in 2021 but I hope I am just missing some critical hidden update that allows me to fix the issue that the Deco app itself is suggesting as the solution. 

(EU, Finland)

@obnoxiousalpha 

I don't know why but they are deleting some post about this matter

@TP-Link_Deco 

I appreciate your manufacturer perspective with selling these to the masses, but the problem we as a WISP are running into in a few instances now that we've deployed over 50 of the Deco for ISP M4/M5 models is that they choose the same or overlapping channel as the fixed wireless dish on the roof.  Talk about interference and it is 20 times more difficult to find a good frequency (clean doesn't exist anymore except in the remotest of places) outdoors that it is in any individual home, unless it's in a MDU with lots of people with WiFi crammed together.  So changing the frequency outside for one client is not an option as they will affect many other clients.

Maybe a compromise---is there a way to make the Deco mesh choose another frequency, or block a frequency range from it's chooses?

This lack of ability to force the Deco's to move to a frequency not in use by the Internet connectivity dish on the roof is forcing us to reconsider our choice to use Deco in our client homes.

Sincerely,

Tim@281 Communications

@TP-Link_Deco I've found this thread now which seems to be a similar issue to what I've realized is my main issue.  Please see this other thread I had started which describes my problem with a cluttered 5Ghz space that the Deco won't move from and that I can't change it from:

M5 throughput problems/questions

  @TP-Link_Deco  

Your explanations why we don't have option to change WIFI channel are rather silly. I think this  is rather a "mess" technology instead of "mesh". 

I think this is my last time when  I bought your devices. How can you explain this? I am doing network optimization, Deco report the problem with overloaded WIFI channel and then DECO is  informing me that optimizations are done and everything works perfectly from now without even changing the overloaded WIFI channel. This is not fair for me as a user to inform me tha everything is fine when it is not fine. Many cheaper devices have option to change WIFI channel. This is really poor to do  not predict that lack of this option will affect users so badly. I am disappointed.

I started out reading this thread kinf of excited... I am experiencing issues that would be very easy to solve if it would be possible to just "lock" the Deco systems to certain channels..

Several promises of "development working on it " as of 2020 made me think: wauw, they must have already solved this thing..

Unfortuantely at the end of the thread I have to conclude that it was not fixed after two years ?

What can be sort as to have an "advanced" option that just bypasses the algorithem.. Certainly that is easy code...

  @David-TP 

Hi

Just bought the M5 and I see your long long answer about why you don't think users should pick channels.

Sure it's good for many users with some automation. However, as a system radio specialist working for Ericsson I think I am more capable than most of your emoloyees to pick my radio channels myself.

I see that it picked the most congested frequency for one of the nodes. The node I prioritize since all servers are there. So your So called intelligence failed and I am unable to do it myself. That is a major draw back with your equipment. Can you please implement this?