@Kevin_Z 

1. no the network names are the same for both access points. The ssid for the a9 and a10 is the same as the ax4400. My understanding was that this is how they should be set up so I can easily move between access points without having to change networks. Is this not correct?

2. yes, the web displays correctly (it shows the clients) even though tether shows 0 clients. 

3.  A9 and a10 are connected via WAN. And yes I do have a switch connecting the access points to the ax4400.

4. The DHCP setting is set to auto for all 3 devices. 

  @Kevin_Z 

so most of the time it's only the a9 that shows 0 clients. And it's very sporadic- most of the time I can see all of the clients in tether for the a9, but randomly it will display 0 clients. And to answer your question, when the a9 shows 0 clients the ax44 does NOT show the clients connected to it that should be connected to the a9. Also as I mentioned earlier when I check the web interface it shows as having connected clients for the A9 even though tether shows zero clients. So that is why I do not understand the notion that the clients are defaulting back to the AMEX 4400 when all signs indicate that I am still connected to the A9 even though tether shows zero clients. can you also please help me understand how I should be setting up the SSIDs for these access points? Is it OK to use the same SSID throughout the entire network including access points, or should I be using different SSIDs for each access point? 

Archer C9

  @Jwood81 This happens to me when I setup parental controls on the router web interface. Once I deleted the entries and disabled parental controls, the clients numbers were no longer 0 on tether.

I'll try setting up parental controls from tether this and see if the issues reoccurs.