@JonnyT 

 

If you would like to know more about device roaming between mesh nodes, here is TP-Link article Get to Know Fast Roaming / Seamless Roaming on a Deco System on that topic.

I would also suggest googling for "WiFi roaming" and "WiFi roaming aggressiveness" - you'll find very useful info on that topic. Long story short: even if you have mesh system, your client (device) might need configuration settings tweaking to better utilize it. That is applicable to any mesh system.

For your laptop, check what WiFi roaming aggressiveness tuning recommendations there are for Realtek 8822CE Wireless LAN 802.11ac.

 

 

When it comes to network speed, I am sure M4 can do better than what you experience. I am easily getting 300-350Mbps, my max Internet speed, with M5. Deco M5 is hardware specs equivalent to M4. 

 

If you'd like to troubleshoot Deco network speed, here are suggestions than may help to figure where the problem is or how to improve Deco mesh network performance. They will include configuration changes on your mesh system, you can roll those back after you are done with testing.

 

Suggested steps:

 

1. Configure your Deco mesh to run in Access Point mode. 

That will eliminate all Deco router overhead and remove potential throttling configuration settings. You'll see how Deco mesh performs when it is not much more than set of range extenders.

 

2. Disable 2.4GHz on Deco WiFi Main network.

Not sure why, but I am getting suboptimal network speed when my Android 9 smartphone runs on 2.4GHz with Deco mesh. Under 100Mbps with 2.4GHz, over 300Mbps with 5GHz.

Also, running mobile devices on 5GHz only will improve their mesh roaming capabilities.

 

3. Run "Test Internet Speed" from Deco app.

This will run speedtest from inside Main Deco to the Internet. If there is some bottleneck, such as Deco only negotiated 100Mbps Ethernet connection with ISP router, you'll see it there. 

Whatever speeds you'll be getting from that test is obviously maximum you can get from running speedtest on wireless device such as Samsung S20+.

 

 

After you've tuned your Deco mesh that way, run speedtest from mobile device wirelessly connected to Main Deco, in close proximity to it (6 feet distance, clear view), and see what will you get.

@Alexandre. 

 

Amazingly kind of you to respond so quickly. Many thanks.

 

I have tried the following:

 

1. Configure your Deco mesh to run in Access Point mode. 

That will eliminate all Deco router overhead and remove potential throttling configuration settings. You'll see how Deco mesh performs when it is not much more than set of range extenders.

 

>> This made no difference to the speed. But I will say that the process to switch from Router Mode to AP Mode was really very simple.

 

2. Disable 2.4GHz on Deco WiFi Main network.

Not sure why, but I am getting suboptimal network speed when my Android 9 smartphone runs on 2.4GHz with Deco mesh. Under 100Mbps with 2.4GHz, over 300Mbps with 5GHz.

Also, running mobile devices on 5GHz only will improve their mesh roaming capabilities.

 

>> This made no difference to the speed. Most of my devices seemed to have to connected to the 5GHz network anyway. To be honest I need the 2.4GHz network online anyway as some of my legacy devices need to connect via 2.4GHz. 

 

3. Run "Test Internet Speed" from Deco app.

This will run speedtest from inside Main Deco to the Internet. If there is some bottleneck, such as Deco only negotiated 100Mbps Ethernet connection with ISP router, you'll see it there. 

Whatever speeds you'll be getting from that test is obviously maximum you can get from running speedtest on wireless device such as Samsung S20+.

 

>> I ran both the "WifI Analyser" and the "Test Internet Speet". Both are reporting speeds of around 80-90Mbps.

 

 

What's really interesting was the point you made about the 100Mbps Ethernet connection. I checked on the 'Hub 3.0' and indeed it could only connect at 100Mbps. All the other devices were connected at 1Gbps. 

 

I have rebooted the device and tried to reconnect, but it will only connect at 100Mbps. 

 

I tried doing the same but with nothing connected the 'Hub 3.0' and still the same - 100Mbps.

 

I then plugged the Deco into my 1Gbps switch and it connected to the 'Hub 3.0' at a reported 1Gbps, but after speed tests it was pulling the same 80-90Mbps. I think the switch was telling the router it was connected at 1Gbps but the Deco had actually negotiated a similar 100Mpbs connect to the switch.

 

So my next question is: why does the Deco negotiate a 100Mbps (and very limiting) connection to my switch and my router where they are both clearly negotiating 1Gbps connections to every other device in my house?

 

If you can help any further that will be hugely appreciated as it very much seems to be the issue.

 

Many thanks,

Jonny

 

OK, I now see the problem. I bought E4's not M4's which don't have a Gbps ports... I'm stupid. I've not bought M4s and will be returning the E4s. The issue is that the Amazon listing clearly says: "Data Transfer Rate 1167 Megabits Per Second" I have no idea how they expect to achieve this with 100Mbps ports. It's misleading. Here is the listing: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07NH1J543/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I will contact them and tell them that they need to update their ad. Many thanks for your help. Jonny

@TP-Link 

 

Hey,

 

There's definitely an error, as the advert clearly states:

 

Data Transfer Rate

1167 Megabits Per Second

 

 

This is completely untrue as there is no possible way to transfer over a Gbps through a 100Mbps ports (or as you again mislabel in the advert '2*Fast Ports' ... they are not fast @ 100Mbps). If you are attempting to refer to internal transfer rates, then all well and good, but label the statement as that, otherwise it's very misleading as no one will achieve those speeds through any device in the real world.

 

You should relabel the ad to ready

 

Data Transfer Rate

~ 80-90 Megabits Per Second Max

 

And the ports should be '*100Mbps ports'.

 

This would then stop the plethora of comments on this forum asking why the E4 Deco is so slow compared to modern broadband speeds.

 

Many thanks,

Jonny