My system clearly is not choosing the least congested channel.  it is choosing the most congested one.  When will the firmware be updated to fix this?

TP-Link_Deco wrote

Hello all,

 

We have already noted all of your requests about choosing the wireless channels manually on the Deco system and they have been forwarded to the developers, they will publish new official firmware in the near future, not too long to wait, which will optimize the current channeling picking mechanism, it is suggested to wait for the new updates and confirm if that will help address any of your concerns.

 

I will try to explain why we don't give the Deco administrator the permission to manually choose a channel on the current Deco system, which may not precise but I will try my best:

 

Firstly, we need to clarify that the wireless channels on the current Deco firmware are not manually configurable as Deco automatically selects a 2.4GHz channel to use based on what it sees around it, selecting the channel that has the least interference. The 5GHz channel appears to be configured based on the region the device was manufactured for use in and they are apparently not auto-selected and are definitely not manually configurable.

 

Secondly, we need to reiterate what is the point of having a whole mesh Wi-Fi system in your network. The whole point of mesh networks is to give a seamless, unfettered, and performant experience for wireless networking, and thus a mesh network is "self-configuring" and "self-healing", the network automatically incorporates a new node into the existing structure without needing any adjustments manually by a network administrator and it automatically finds the fastest and most reliable paths to send data. If you change the wireless channel on the Deco nodes manually, it may give you the risk of losing the other Deco nodes and thus ruin your Deco system, you may need to start over again to reconfigure them.

 

What's more, it is not always easy to choose a clear wireless channel in your networks, you may need to test with all of them in order to find one that may be usable. Most importantly, crowded isn’t the same as busy, even though some channel scanning apps tell you one specific channel is busy, they don’t always measure other sources of congestion and interference. Non-Wi-Fi signals (like those from microwaves, Bluetooth devices, cordless phones, garage door openers, baby monitors, etc.) can all congest a channel but may not show up in a scan. So it’s possible that a channel can appear empty, while it is, in fact, saturated with other kinds of interference. 

 

Last but not least, other mesh systems such as Google Wi-Fi mesh (update here that Netgear Orbi is not the same mesh as Deco, Orbi is more like a router + an RE, so if we misunderstood it previously, we are sorry for that), don't allow users to change the channel manually either, which means when developing a mesh system, our developers have already taken all factors into serious consideration and choose the current one, the current Deco mesh system may not be perfect or even good, but we don't think it's just that awful or nonusable as some of you thought. If we need or we must do this change to allow you to change the channel, it will require a lot of research in the market and it is not that easy just like you said "just open the option", I think most users like you guys should understand it.

 

Hopefully, that answers your question but let us know if you need more details.

@TP-Link_Deco 

PeekaChuU wrote

....using wifi 6 on small channel widths would never get me the speed im looking for

The 'center' of the channel has (almost) nothing to do with the width of the channel (which is about twice as wide as many other similar products), and is not directly related to the throughput of all the connected devices.

Yes, being able to change the 'center' of the channel can help (sometimes dramatically) the throughput of devices if there are other (non-Deco) strong transmitters on or near that same channel.  But the Deco's have a very _large_ channel width -- as well as throughput.

@TP-Link_Deco  With android (and other os) Wifi Analyzer clearly shows my 3 X60 v1s on 2.4GHz (Ch6) and 5GHz Ch40(42) << what the iPhone and School notebooks connect on for our teens upstairs.

We are having disconnects on a 1Gb LAN BackHaul X60 in an upstairs Bedroom.  The girls involved are quite upset since we had Cox Gigablast w rented router working reasonably well but not reaching upstairs.  Not we have good signals and roaming connections with X60s, but the disconnects, which I can see via the app are happening despite home run LAN connects on the X60 upstairs.  

Will try reboots again, but the 5GHz 3 X60s always seem to land on Ch40(42), and if we force to 2.4GHz its fairing badly as well with busiers channel 6, which all 3 of the X60 v1s are selecting.  On the reboots, the Main seems to pick, but not good choices, and the 2 other X60s follow.

Any help truly appreciated.   I have added them to High Priority, and tried the QOS options, but we are have many devices, many TP-Link plugs :) and avid IT folks in the family crowding both 2.4 and more pushing to 5GHz, WiFi 6

@TP-Link_Deco  this is a good explanation. Sadly  my ecobee seems to drop signals on 2.4ghz channels below 6. But Id take that as an ecobee problem. 

@cpufox 

I personally have gone back to a single SSID for both the 2.4 & 5 networks; some of the 2.4 devices require Internet access, not just local, and it was getting to be a configuration pain to attempt to allow both access with the router I was using.

However, keeping in mind that I am using the Deco's in Access Point mode (and thus not using the Deco's DHCP services), the by far biggest improvement in the home network stability as recently come from replacing the router (TL-R600VPN) with a Ubiquity EdgeRouter 4.  The issues with disconnects (which, from reading elsewhere, may be due to DHCP server/router issues, not the wireless network itself) seems to have gone away -- caveat: a little less than two weeks of usage so far.

When choosing a replacement router (if one goes that way), I would not recommend a TP-Link router, because chances are pretty good that their DHCP service software may use the same "code base" which seems to be causing intermittent issue with other TP-Link routers (Deco, perhaps, as well as the TL-R600VPN router).

In addition, because this Ubiquity replacement router is very "high performance" (for a home-type router), I'm also seeing faster/better Internet responses, too (both measured & perceptual).

Just yesterday I also did the firmware update on the Deco X60's and there has been nothing negative about it.  After my previous replacement of the separate router, I couldn't say if that firmware update might have any affect on those using them for routing.  (the release notes indicate there should be some improvements)

@Dan_C. 

I too have an ER4 (have had for a while, at first using Ubiquiti AP PRO's but those were slow, had bad range and were flakey).  Switched to Deco M9 Plus set of 3 in wired backhaul mode and was happy.  Great range and stability.  A month later, I had the opportunity to upgrade to the X60's (just a couple days ago).  Same wired backhaul and so far, same great stability, but a little disappointed with the WiFi 6 speeds I'm getting on my iPhone 11 Pro Max and my 2 WiFi 6 laptops. 

Learning that the max channel width is 80Mhz on the X60 is disappointing. 

Curious what WiFi speeds you're getting on your WiFi 6 devices when at close range to the AP's?

ps.  I am on COX Gigablast with a Netgear CM1000 modem.

@Dissing re: network speeds

I have Comcast cable (not fiber, which is unavailable in our development), and after upgrading to the EdgeRouter 4 I've been getting *better* than 'ISP-rated' Internet speeds.  (At least when testing at non-peak times, like in the morning.)

When I test the Internet speed from the Deco App (which uses the Main Deco, which is a wired X60 in my case), I'm often getting ~460 Mb download ... which will reflect the WIRED speed.  When I test from MacBook Pro, direct-wired, I get ~440 Mb download.  So the Deco's, when wired (AP mode), seem to be able to fully access the available network speed.

When I test from my iPhone 12 Pro (using Ookla Speedtest app), I get ~430 Mb download -- which is pretty decent in relation to the wired speeds!