Looking for advice for which products to buy - TP Link router, extenders and/or Mesh ???

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Looking for advice for which products to buy - TP Link router, extenders and/or Mesh ???

This thread has been locked for further replies. You can start a new thread to share your ideas or ask questions.
Looking for advice for which products to buy - TP Link router, extenders and/or Mesh ???
Looking for advice for which products to buy - TP Link router, extenders and/or Mesh ???
2020-08-16 20:40:12 - last edited 2020-08-18 11:35:44

Hi 👋 

 

We've been recommended that TP Link products would offer a good replacement for our Sky router.  We have Sky Fibre Broadband with a Sky SR203 router and Sky Q for TV.  We also had 2 BT1200 Wifi Extenders, one which was also connected to an ethernet hub.  We have approximately 8 wired and 40+ wifi devices many of which are smart devices as I'm disabled (a combination of Wifi IP cameras, Alexa's, Ring Doorbell, iPads, iPhones, smart switches, printer, etc).  Everything works well for a while then we get very poor wifi, devices drop in and out and we have to get the engineers out.  They replace all the kit, then two weeks later devices continually drop and reattach to the wifi. Long story short, it appears to be that the Sky router, and this model in particular, are known for randomly 'blocking' internet access to devices and could be causing the problem.

 

It has been suggested that replacing the Sky router with a TP link model and associated extenders or mesh may improve our set up.

 

We've been trying to contact TP Link in the UK to see if we can determine the best solution.  We need to understand which products will work best with handling Sky Fibre and what would provide us with the best wifi coverage throughout our home and garden.  

 

There are many different TP products on the TP Link web site and we're finding it difficult to understand how they work together.  We would appreciate advice as to which proucts would be best for us, so are posting this on both the Mesh and Router forums in the hope that we can find one solution that is going to give us what we need.

 

Thanks for your help in advance 😊 

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Re:Looking for advice for which products to buy - TP Link router, extenders and/or Mesh ??? -Solution
2020-08-18 11:35:39 - last edited 2020-08-18 11:40:00

@Kayfersmum 

 

Hello,

 

As per your description, there are probably 50+ devices that need to be connected to the internet and most of them are smart devices. You may refer to the Deco mesh network system which should help a lot to create a stable and good Wi-Fi coverage:

https://www.tp-link.com/home-networking/deco/

 

You may choose a model that most suitable for your needs based on your house layout and let me know if anything you would like to know, thanks.

 

BTW, please be aware that the Deco devices can only build up a mesh network with Deco units and they cannot build up the mesh network with other non-Deco devices. However, there is no problem to connect a range extender or access point to the Deco via Wi-Fi or wired to extend the Wi-Fi range, Deco is acting like a normal router to provide internet to those devices.

 

Good day.

 

 

 

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Re:Looking for advice for which products to buy - TP Link router, extenders and/or Mesh ??? -Solution
2020-08-18 11:35:39 - last edited 2020-08-18 11:40:00

@Kayfersmum 

 

Hello,

 

As per your description, there are probably 50+ devices that need to be connected to the internet and most of them are smart devices. You may refer to the Deco mesh network system which should help a lot to create a stable and good Wi-Fi coverage:

https://www.tp-link.com/home-networking/deco/

 

You may choose a model that most suitable for your needs based on your house layout and let me know if anything you would like to know, thanks.

 

BTW, please be aware that the Deco devices can only build up a mesh network with Deco units and they cannot build up the mesh network with other non-Deco devices. However, there is no problem to connect a range extender or access point to the Deco via Wi-Fi or wired to extend the Wi-Fi range, Deco is acting like a normal router to provide internet to those devices.

 

Good day.

 

 

 

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Re:Looking for advice for which products to buy - TP Link router, extenders and/or Mesh ???
2020-08-28 22:52:09
Thank you.
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Re:Looking for advice for which products to buy - TP Link router, extenders and/or Mesh ???
2020-08-28 22:56:39

@Kevin_Z  Thank you.

 

Following your recommendation and advice from a TP-Link Technical Support Engineer wepurchased the TP-Link AC2100 router to work with Sky Fibre Broadband.  Installed it and all seems to work OK.  Today we took delivery of the Deco M9 Plus smile

 

Please can you help with two scenarios?

 

1.  If we run the Deco in Router mode, we need to turn the AC2100 router into bridging mode.  Please can you tell us how to do this as we are unable to see this as an option with the router set-up?

 

2.  If we run the Deco in Access Point Mode, should we set up the Deco with the same SSID as the router, or create a new one?  If different SSIDs, can we connect different devices to the router and mesh or should we turn the wifi off on the router and attach all devices to the Mesh?

 

Thanks in advance. 

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Re:Looking for advice for which products to buy - TP Link router, extenders and/or Mesh ???
2020-08-31 03:36:58

@Kayfersmum 

 

Hello,

 

Just to confirm, as for the AC2100, its model number is VR2100, a VDSL/ADSL modem router? If yes, you may refer to the below instructions to change it into bridge modem and set up the Deco as a router:

https://www.tp-link.com/support/faq/2728/

 

It's OK to connect the Deco mesh network to the VR2100 and they are compatible. When Deco works in AP mode with an existing router, it is suggested to turn off the router's Wi-Fi network and use Deco's Wi-Fi network instead to minimize the wireless interference.

 

Please be aware that the Deco can't build a mesh network with non-Deco devices, it can only build a mesh network with the Deco devices.

 

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

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Re:Looking for advice for which products to buy - TP Link router, extenders and/or Mesh ???
2020-08-31 12:55:30

@Kevin_Z thank you so much.  That link has been very helpful.  
 

We've got the Deco up and running in router mode so   now we've got everything crossed for a stable solution 😊 

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Re:Looking for advice for which products to buy - TP Link router, extenders and/or Mesh ???
2020-09-03 10:05:27

@Kayfersmum 

 

Hi, glad to hear that it works, congrats.^_^

 

If need any further help, just let us know.

 

Good day~

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