Deco M4 not connecting to nearest deco

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Deco M4 not connecting to nearest deco

This thread has been locked for further replies. You can start a new thread to share your ideas or ask questions.
Deco M4 not connecting to nearest deco
Deco M4 not connecting to nearest deco
2022-10-25 02:22:41 - last edited 2022-11-04 11:55:11

Deco M4 does not connect to nearest deco, instead it connects to the main one which is farthest and results in slow internet speed. I have 4 Deco M4 mesh devices and each one only connects to the main Deco (which is connected to the modem).

 

What's the point of this Deco system if it cannot connect to the nearest Deco ? It connects to the nearest Deco when I set it up for the first time only and that time can see that the speed is very good. But after some time it automatically switches to the main Deco which is farthest and this the speed becomes very slow. 

 

This is really frustrating, why can't we manually select which Deco to connect to ? This is really frustrating, being a user with 4 Deco devices and also having recommended it to many friends, I'm really disappointed with this low quality service.

 

Clearly tp-link does not seem interested to solve this issue for its customers. 

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#1
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43 Reply
Re:Deco M4 not connecting to nearest deco
2022-10-25 11:29:19

  @abhishekgujjar 

 

Please check the hardware version of your M4 units. If it is hardware V4, TP-Link provided solution for it: https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/topic/581554

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#2
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Re:Deco M4 not connecting to nearest deco
2022-10-25 11:37:57

  @abhishekgujjar It has been discussed so many times in this forum...that Deco "Mesh" routers don't actually have Mesh network (they have more of a "Star" topology instead)

 

One deco must be set up as "main" Deco, and other units will work as "satellite" Decos in the network. All satellite Decos will connect only to the main deco.

 

Also, why do you need 4 Deco M4s??? 3 of them are supposed to cover 5500 square ft. easily.

Just a M4 (2-pack) user who regrets buying it
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#3
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Re:Deco M4 not connecting to nearest deco
2022-10-25 11:50:26

ImtiazAli wrote

One deco must be set up as "main" Deco, and other units will work as "satellite" Decos in the network. All satellite Decos will connect only to the main deco.

  @ImtiazAli 

 

This is not exactly correct, there are nuances. Satellite Deco prefers to connect to Main Deco. If signal from Main Deco is very weak or non-existent, Satellite Deco will connect to another Satellite Deco.

TP-Link started to release firmware that allows to overwrite that preference. With that firmware, user can define where Satellite Deco should connect. Deco M5 has that firmware released for general public, Deco M4(V4) has that firmware in beta currently. 

 

I expect that eventually each supported Deco model will allow user to define Satellite Deco connection preference.

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Re:Deco M4 not connecting to nearest deco
2022-10-25 13:03:32

  @Alexandre. Before the firmware rolls out widely for all deco models, I stand (mostly) corrected

Just a M4 (2-pack) user who regrets buying it
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#5
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Re:Deco M4 not connecting to nearest deco
2022-10-25 13:26:13 - last edited 2022-10-25 14:11:16

  @ImtiazAli 

 

Sure, no problem.

 

 @abhishekgujjar 

 

Please check firmware hardware version of your Deco M4s. If it is V4, you can follow link I provided. If not, there may be workarounds available but I'll need to ask you more questions about your Deco mesh before I can be sure.

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Re:Deco M4 not connecting to nearest deco
2022-10-25 14:04:14

  @ImtiazAli  I don't agree it supports only star topology, even while adding a new Deco it asks how is it placed (1floor, 2 floors etc). And in the options provided it includes both mesh and star topology.

 

Regarding how many Deco M4s I have, it's my wish, why do I need to justify it, I've purchased them and they should work the way they are supposed to, period.

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#8
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Re:Deco M4 not connecting to nearest deco
2022-10-25 14:07:00

  @Alexandre. 

 

Thanks for your inputs. Below are the firmware details, can you advise how to proceed:

 

Please find 

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#9
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Re:Deco M4 not connecting to nearest deco
2022-10-25 14:25:32

  @abhishekgujjar 

 

Thanks for sharing this screenshot. It points at possible inconsistency between firmware versions of your Deco nodes, but I'll return to it later. What I need you to find for me is hardware version of your Deco nodes. I made a typo in previous post, but I fixed it now - hardware version is what needed.

 

Because you do have different firmware versions, you might have different hardware versions, too. To find what you have exactly, I need you to login to Deco web management interface and share screenshot with me, I'll tell you which one.

 

If you run Deco mesh in its default Router mode, you can login to Deco web interface through http://192.168.68.1 

Enter the password of your TP-Link ID to log in.

 

There, select Advanced at the top. Then, choose System/Firmware Upgrade. Wait till Online Upgrade screen populates on its own (could take few seconds), make screenshot and share it here.

Here is example screenshot from my Deco mesh:

 

 

In this example, I have two Deco M9 Plus with hardware version 2.0 and two Deco M5 with hardware version 3.0.

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Re:Deco M4 not connecting to nearest deco
2022-10-25 14:43:20

  @Alexandre.  Thanks for your inputs, please find below. lliving_room is the main deco, which along with bedroom and Dining was the initial set of 3 decos I bought. master_bedroom deco is the single deco I added recently to the network, and master_bedroom needs to connect to the bedroom deco, which it does initially and gives a good speed, but eventually it switches to the main deco living_room and then it becomes slow.

 

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#11
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Re:Deco M4 not connecting to nearest deco
2022-10-25 14:50:42 - last edited 2022-10-25 14:52:11

  @abhishekgujjar 

 

You have exactly what you need!

 

Your master_bedroom Deco is hardware V4 and you need to have ability to configure just that Deco where connect to (to the bedroom deco).

 

Here is the process:

 

1. Update master_bedroom Deco to beta firmware 1.1.0 following instructions from this link: https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/topic/581554

Keep all other Deco on their current firmware.

 

2. After you successfully updated master_bedroom Deco, open its page in Deco app, touch text "Signal Source" and new configuration window will open where you can configure preferred connection. 

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#12
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