@David-TP Hello David! Thanks for your reply!

1. I have already downgraded to a single device, the issue remains unchanged unfortunately.

2. I have turned off dual band! I will try with 5GHz only for now to see if it makes a difference.

I just realized I made a mistake, I previously owned a D-Link 868L, so I apparently have no previous experience with TP-Link - I mistook TP-Link for D-Link!

Thanks!

skavank wrote

  @David-TP Hello David!

 

1. I have already downgraded to a single device, as I wrote in my first post. The issue remains unchanged.

 

2. Sounds like you are suggesting I turn off dual band. I've run dual band on all routers I've set up with no issues. I live in an old building with thick walls, so I would like to keep the 2.4GHz for when in the room furthest away, and to my understanding 2.4GHz travels better through obstructions.

 

I will try with 5GHz only for now to see if it makes a difference, but if it does, that's not a good thing since I've essentially had to turn a smart router dumb.

 

  @skavank 

This is called troubleshooting. Often there are stages between "step 1" and "problem found" that don't reflect the ultimate solution, kind of like how cleaning up a cluttered space often looks more chaotic before everything is sorted and organized. In this situation, you're finding out what exactly happens when only 1 Deco is in the equation, and finding out whether switching from a single dual-band SSID to different SSIDs for 2.4GHz vs 5GHz (via the IoT Network feature) makes any improvement.

Usually it's beneficial to approach irritating problems in life with a little politeness for the people attempting to help you. People will be more likely to enjoy working with you and therefore be more invested in getting you a satisfactory solution, and it's less likely you'll come across as really just wanting to complain for its own sake. Here you've assumed you fully understood the thought process behind the support rep's suggestions (which, I assure you, you did not) - so at best, no value is added to the process by grumbling about downgrading to 1 Deco and changing some wifi band settings, and at worst, you've ended up even more annoyed and unhappy by proactively imagining a negative outcome.

And while this last point doesn't seem to matter to many people, being polite and respectful when someone is trying to help you is simply the right thing to do. I can promise with confidence that you won't be on your death bed someday regretting that you hadn't been sufficiently angry and irritable toward other people.

  @jbdub82 I apologize if my posts here have come off as hostile. WiFi connectivity issues can be very frustrating, as I'm sure we all know. I agree with you that anger does not help in these situations, and a support rep trying to help is only a very nice thing. I reformatted my reply to be less angry :)

I will argue though, that If the "issue" turns out to have been having Dual band enabled, or Mesh Technology, or Beamforming, that's not a good thing - that signals that the devices are working poorly, which is cause for concern! One always want the latest and greatest to work better than before.

It's hard to troubleshoot this, as it only happens a few times a week, but I'm on a baseline now where every smart feature is turned off, and I'm on a single band (5GHz). We'll see if this makes any difference!

After a while testing the barebones approach of turning off all the features, which worked a bit better (although never perfect) I decided to try turning on the mesh technology setting for choice devices again, and there's a clear noticeable worsening when trying to connect.

Googling around it seems that the Mesh Technology setting is known to cause issues... Is something wrong with my devices, or is that just how it is?

(Currently writing this from my cellular as my mesh router refuses to accept my phone's connection)

I don't seem to be getting any replies on this thread, but I will just report my findings.

I seems relatively clear that the "Mesh Technology" setting is the culprit here, sometimes causing devices to connect to the wifi, but not receive internet for minutes at a time. It happens on my TVs, computers, tablets and phones.

What is the solution here, should we accept that the connection is poor, disable Mesh Technology manually, or is ther something wrong with my devices? Is there a go-to answer?