Deco M5 with Virgin Media 2ac Super Hub - Best to put Deco in Router or AP mode?

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Deco M5 with Virgin Media 2ac Super Hub - Best to put Deco in Router or AP mode?

This thread has been locked for further replies. You can start a new thread to share your ideas or ask questions.
Deco M5 with Virgin Media 2ac Super Hub - Best to put Deco in Router or AP mode?
Deco M5 with Virgin Media 2ac Super Hub - Best to put Deco in Router or AP mode?
2019-08-05 10:24:48
Model: Deco M5  
Hardware Version:
Firmware Version: 1.3.1 Build 20190617 Rel. 47476

Hi there, Deco newbire here.

Main reason I bought this solution was to improve Wifi blackspots in living room and garden which were long (ish) distance from Virgin Superhub (cable router and WiFi)

 

I connected the Main Deco by wire to the lower ethernet port of the Virgin SuperHub. First time setup of my Deco M5 it was in Router mode. Easy setup and the mesh seemed to be working ok (or so I thought).

 

The Virgin Superhub was still in router mode so it was possible to connect to the original SSID. 

The Deco M5 mesh was also in router mode and offered a new SSID. I joined all wireless devices to the M5 SSID.

And then finally configured the Superhub to operate in modem mode (just to tidy things up and not have another SSID being advertised in my home which wasn't going to be used))

 

Again things seemed ok, but then I started to notice on Skype calls that internet would periodically be unstable and hence make Skype unusable. I hardly ever had that issue with just the Superhub in place and I was in a place with good connectivity to the Superhub. 

 

========= 

 

Could there be some kind of WiFi interference occuring the cases WiFi on the Deco to drop? Or could it be the Wifi connection from Decos back to the Super hub that is poor? (it's intermittent so not sure what to do to investigate)

 

Would I be safer putting Virgin Super hub back in Router mode and then using the Deco as some kind of AP / wifi extender?

(I have tried this approach but notice that the Decos in AP mode still seem to advertise a different SSID....I had kind of assumed that in AP mode the Decos would advertise the same SSID as the Superhub?)

 

What really are the advantges of Deco in AP mode over Router mode? I cannot really see this explained in any threads.

 

=============

 

Sorry for such a long thread! Hoping I can get this up and running better to improve overall wifi coverage because at the moment it seems to be introducing more problems!

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Re:Deco M5 with Virgin Media 2ac Super Hub - Best to put Deco in Router or AP mode?
2019-08-06 01:43:42

@muddlehuddler 

 

How do you connect the skype to the Deco? By wired cable or wireless?What about the network stability of other devices also? 

 

If it is connected by wireless, please disable the mesh technology for this specific device and try to set QoS as standard and remove all the high priority rules. 

 

For the SSID, you can customize the SSID and make them the same. You can put the Virgin Media router back to router mode and configure the Deco as the access point mode; the mesh network still works, while the advanced features stop working, like parental control. 

https://www.tp-link.com/support/faq/2399/ 

 

Or you can configure them both as the router mode, in this way, you can enjoy the advanced features, and for the SSID, you can create a same network for both routers. 

 

May it help. 

 

 

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Re:Deco M5 with Virgin Media 2ac Super Hub - Best to put Deco in Router or AP mode?
2019-11-18 11:27:01

@muddlehuddler  Did you get that issue sorted? I have a newish Deco M5 system and the Virgin hub has started to drop out. My computer tech set it up so that the Virgin hub still transmits a wireless signal and the mesh is a wirless booster I think. Internet keeps cutting out at random times. Hub replaced, but issue remains.  

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