@TP-Link 

I had tried turning the mesh toggle off the other day, but hadn't seen any effects to reverted it. Do I need to reboot the decos, or restart my NIC before seeing any change?

 

Device manager states the card is Killer(R) Wireless-AC 1550 9260NGW 160MHz, driver is outdated; updating now. Laptop itself is a refurbished Dell G7 7790

Driver update didn't change anything.

 

One thing I just noticed, while my laptop has full bars, if I check in the deco app for my laptop, it states it only has a single bar to my laptop. This is strange, as it lists every other device in this room, including the phone inches away from it, as full bars.

@kirby_422 

 

Any suggestions would be helpful.

 

These would be my suggestions:

 

1. Turn off WiFi on your ISP router, if you haven't done so yet. You must: your Deco mesh is providing WiFi.

 

2. Make laptop Forget all WiFi networks it knows, then connect it to Deco WiFi. Laptop will only know one WiFi SSID to connect to.

 

3. Switch Deco mesh to AP mode. That will remove network management overhead in Deco, as well as potential issues such as parental controls limiting amount of time device can use Internet. You'll have Deco mesh providing WiFi and ISP router managing network.

 

4. Configure laptop WiFi network driver to only use 5GHz (with some drivers you can only set it to prefer 5GHz). That should make laptop more reliably connect to nearest Deco , and will improve speed of connection.

Example of where you could find this setting in Device Manager:

 

 

5. If you can configure channel width for 5GHz in WiFi network driver, set it to 80. 

 

In case WiFi device driver does not allow forcing of 5GHz, at least temporarily, for the purpose of testing, disable 2.4 GHz on Main Network in Deco app.

 

 

 

 

If above didn't make the difference, while Deco mesh still runs in AP mode get 10ft Ethernet cable, wire laptop to second port of Main Deco. If suddenly laptop networking issues on laptop dissapeared and don't come back, that means the issue is, indeed, somehow related to WiFi - but more challenging that just those which can be dealt with by following suggestions I provided above. 

 

------------

 

Also, on a side note, unrelated to laptop issues as it according to you should be connected to Main Deco, but you should check this anyway. See the quality of Signal Source on Satellite Deco. If you see something similar to this, it is good:

 

 

If you see red or yellow bars instead, it means Satellite Deco is too far away from Main Deco and must be moved closer. Otherwise, you'll have strong signal on mobile devices connected to Satellite Deco, but slow or unstable Internet connection.

Seems like it's an issue related to 5ghz networks; laptop was always connecting on 5g, only other devices that I have noticed minor issues with so far (phones, nest hub) primarily connect via 5g, although the other devices usually only disconnect for under a minute and then return properly. I tried tossing a cheap shitty usb wifi on my laptop, and it connected to the 2.4, and other than shittier than expected speeds (typically less than 8megabit), it stayed connected for the past few hours. Tried re-enabling my internal network card, and locking it on 2.4 to see if this helps; in extremely few minutes I've been connected so far, it hasn't had any hiccups, but given the previous patterns, gotta wait atleast a day for some results.

 

Also ordered a Wifi 6E card to replace the internal one, since I have seen complaints about Killer WIFI cards, and why not get the full Wifi 6 experience for ~50 CAD, but it won't be here til the end of july; shipping from china.

@kirby_422 

 

I do not believe X20 supports WiFi 6E, but if you plan to use your laptop for a while, it makes sense to future proof it.

 

I run my home WiFi on 5GHz exclusively, Deco mesh works exceptionally well. I have Deco M9/M5 with WiFi 5, it is established technology and it shows. WiFi 6 is relatively new, occasional compatibility issues between WiFi 6 routers and mobile devices should be expected.

 

WiFi 6E will bring even more fun to WiFi 6 mix.

At this time, I'm hoping it's that my deco's are defective.. 5ghz does seem to be the biggest problem, where the network just dies constantly. 2.4, it doesn't disconnect, but its giving exceedingly shitty results, typically under 10 megabits while connected to the main wired deco, when I would have expected atleast 50 our of my 300 total. Ping times are erratic; 30-2200 ms to 1.1.1.1, but typically around 40.

 

Have switched it over to AP mode, no improvement to be seen, but primarily using my ISPs router for now, just having the Deco's to deal with my one family member who doesn't understand wifi bubbles who had all the issues with the 2 identical SSIDs, complaining about it switching, and then stupidly deciding the "solution" was to sit directly between them so it could ping-pong them (The whole entire reason I got a mesh network). If it doesn't go any better, I can't see it being anything other than them having some minor defect, and have to start a waranty claim or return.

 

Is there anyway for the decos to run health checks on themselves?..

 

kirby_422 wrote

Have switched it over to AP mode, no improvement to be seen

@kirby_422 

 

Deco mesh in Access Point mode does little more than providing WiFi signal. Because you can't get satisfactory performance from Deco in AP mode, I would recommend to return Deco hardware and try different brand of WiFi mesh.