@pgour even an acknowledgement from Tp-link would be good. 
 

I've emailed their uk MD (found through LinkedIn) as well as trying to open a case and have had zero response from any route. Not even an automated answer!

I feel misused at this point - they took my money for products that contained an inherent defect and won't do anything to support their customers. 
 

notnsurenwhst next steps we can take. Any ideas?

pgour wrote

still waiting for an upgrade. not fixed yet

It should be a setting, just hide it under that advanced section and everyone will be happy

Maybe someone knows a way to make this subject more public? There are only people here who was clever enough to find out that there's a problem and name it. There are probably a lot more people who doesn't know that they have a problem or completely doesn't know why they're LAN stopped working.

  @TP-Link I have the same issue as everyone else. I have a NAS connected to my primary Deco S7 (one of 3 in a 3 pack set). When I experience an internet drop the whole network drops. I was really happy with my new purchase until I came across this issue and subsequently found this thread. I cannot recommend these Deco products to friends or customers until a workaround is made for this issue. 

Would love to hear some feedback on the progress of this issue. 

  @TP-Link  Holy cow!  If I had only know about this issue prior to my purchase of an XE75 two-pack in December.  I wasted a day wondering why my NAS would not connect.  What kind of engineer designs a product that requires an internet connection in order for the entire wired network to function?  WOW. 

TP-Link - do you make any effort to understand how your consumers use your products?  Obviously, you think we are too stupid to plug the internet/wan cable into correct port.  You also don't do true "WAN/LAN" sensing.  You only do WAN sensing.  If you also checked for LAN connections, you wouldn't disable the ports.

I purchased my "defective" products from Amazon.  They are going back ASAP.  I will never buy another TP-Link product.  Since TP-Link has been ignoring this issue for nearly two years, it is obvious they are just leaving their customers hanging in the wind.  We need to get the word out.  I have left a product review on Amazon.  Since all deco products seem to behave in this manner, I am going to leave a similar review for all TP-Link Mesh products on every retail site I can find.

If you have encountered this issue, please leave a review so others can avoid buying a worthless product.