UlisesGalgo wrote

@Alexandre. sorry, but I disagree.

If someone has a "regular home network" will be affected too but the repairing method consisting of unplugging and plugging is enough in many cases.

@UlisesGalgo 

That is not my experience.

My not so "regular home network" includes print server, file server and backup server, which is a bit up from regular household, but way more modest than some other people commenting here are running at home.

I only learned about this DHCP server feature from this forum, despite all that was happening with my Deco mesh.

I had numerous Internet outages, brief Internet loss for 5-10 times a day, every day. Deco LED would go Red every time it happens. Thanks to Deco LED and its logs managed to figure scope of the problem and engaged ISP to fix it.

I moved ISP router twice in my house, that included powering it off for up to 30 minutes each time, while Decos were staying up.

My neighbourhood had power loss for 40 minutes once, which powered off everything in my house that is not running on UPS, obviously. Neither ISP router not Decos do.

Not once I had to unplug or restart Decos to restore normal network functionality. Everything nicely recovered on its own.

For what it's worth.
I'm running a Deco M5 for a couple of years without any problems.

My ISP router has IP address 192.168.0.1 with subnet mask 255.255.255.0 

I have a print server and a small home file/server both in the same IP range and with fixed IP addresses

I've setup my Deco with IP address 172.16.0.1 and subnet mask 255.255.0.0 

I've turned off the DHCP (and the WiFi) on the ISP router and let the Deco hand out all the IP addresses in the 172.16 range

The devices can reach the print- and file servers and all runs incredibly stable for slightly over 3 years now. 

@Prinsje ya, the issue is when you aren't using the Deco as the DHCP server so different than your setup.

@TP-Link what's the update on the firmware - it's now March?  ... 2021 if you need reminding.

@Prinsje you can't have the problem of the "smart" deco's DHCP turning on by itself, because you already have it turned on.
Our complaints are because all we that use another DHCP have the intrusive deco's DHCP that can't be turned off permanently, a bizarre and useless behaviour.

@Alexandre. of course it depends on your configuration, but all we have had problems with them.
In my case, many problems.
I have sold the decos explaining to the buyer what's happenning, and he was happy to get them at a reduced price, but...
I can't switch off my DHCP, is far too complex to be managed by the basic deco DHCP functionality. If I or anyone else wants to use the decos as AP, with a configured DHCP, will face a problem that should never exist, because the function was programmed by someone, it's not a bug, it's not a glitch, it's not a compatibility issue, it is a useless occurrence of someone that do not understand what a DHCP service should do.

@UlisesGalgo 

I wish I could have been nearby, I would not mind to get slightly used Deco M5 or M9 at nicely reduced price. 

What amuses me is people who are smarter than me when it comes to running networks can't figure they are dealing with consumer grade mesh system. When I was doing my research looking for a mesh for my house, the fact that I can only manage and configure Deco from smartphone app was a sign I shouldn't expect more from it than what it could do for an average home user. Emphasis on "average."

You know, home user who does not know what VLAN is, can't figure DNS from DHCP even if their life depends on it, will have hard time explaining "band steering," and might even confuse 5G with 5GHz.

That also brings me to another point: I regret to inform people contributing to this discussion that, IMHO, TP-Link will place low priority on changing this DHCP functionality. Because, it impacts miniscule part of user base and there are more important features that must have higher priority. Such as firmware upgrade rollback. That one is really critical. 

Also, having ability to connect Satellite Deco to a Deco of your choice instead of preferring Main Deco. That one is competitive advantage, I am disappointed TP-Link does not see it that way.

As for me, my expectations from what Deco can do for me were exceeded.

Also, when I learned from this forum of their DHCP server running in AP mode, I had fun for few hours running different tests, triggering Deco DHCP server in AP mode and analyzing how and why my network does recover seamlessly afterwards. Reading Deco logs is entertaining. They are more helpful than logs from some brands of enterprise networking gear I have to analyze at work.

@Alexandre. 

your interpretation of the problem is simply WRONG, doesn't matter how good is your information.
This is not a problem of "priority for TP-Link". The problem here is that TP-Link introduced a special functionality that:

1. makes no sense
2. can harm your network
3. can't be defeated
4. is VERY easy to modify in a software update

We understand how smart are you, don't need to demonstrate that in every post. Some of the other reasons that you found to ask for a software upgrade are important too, put again, the problem is that TP-Link did nothing.
To be near me doesn't help you, because I sold my Deco's very fast, at a good price. I've correctly explained to the buyer why I sold it and checked that he will not have the same problem in his configuration.

A normal user doesn't need to have a VLAN, or his DHCP manually configured, playing online or having a VoIP phone is enough to go in trouble. Of course, this is also avoidable despite the Deco misbehaviour, but, why forcing a user to have this or that configuration to allow a functionality that has no sense?

Could you explain me "how and why my network does recover seamlessly afterwards"? what about the DHCP lease time? "seamlessly" means fast too? or it takes hours?

I bought the Deco because is cheap, your comment is based in a wrong assumption: cheap must be bad. I'm not a freak that needs to control everything, so I don't need a several hundred Ubiquity mesh, I need a mesh, dot. I don't understand what "amuses" you. I perfectly understand what is a "consumer-grade mesh system", and I also understand that the consumer-grade mesh system functionality is enough for me, I just need a simple, transparent, not intrusive working.

to finish: I'm not against TP-Link, in fact, I changed my Decos by an Omada mesh, and it works flawlessly. I'm insisting on this problem because companies and people like you continue to think that "consumer" and "quality" not necessary must go together. Doesn't matter how cheap a product is, it must follows a minimum quality standard, if not, it is a scam, a fraud, it is illegal. Can you understand this? Being a "minuscle part of user base" is not an excuse, despite I believe that it's not so minuscule, it's simply that many people don't understand what's happening, and soon or later the system repairs itself.

@UlisesGalgo 

>Could you explain me "how and why my network does recover seamlessly afterwards"? what about the DHCP lease time? "seamlessly" means fast too? or it takes hours?

Yes, "seamlessly recovering" means fast, too. In under 2 minutes, to be more specific. This is because of very short DHCP lease time from Deco.

Alexandre. wrote

@UlisesGalgo 

 

>Could you explain me "how and why my network does recover seamlessly afterwards"? what about the DHCP lease time? "seamlessly" means fast too? or it takes hours?

 

Yes, "seamlessly recovering" means fast, too. In under 2 minutes, to be more specific. This is because of very short DHCP lease time from Deco.

@Alexandre. 

thanks, mine didn't

the lease time was too long, and of course, no way to change it

actually, I don't know home much time, but enough to go upstairs and downstairs, reconnecting mobiles and so on

the worst part was the home automation devices (now I switched almost everything to Zigbee) because some of them are difficult to reach or to reset, and the only one way is to switch off the complete branch on the mains switchboard