@realjax 

I've lost hope.

There are a number of threads, they are well aware that for some customers it is a big problem and they don't care.

I still don't get why anyone with any knowledge of networking thinks throwing up a DHCP server out of the blue and dishing out IP addresses in what is most likely a different IP range would be a good idea for anything at all. It is perhaps one of the dumbest ideas I have ever seen.

I suspect most customers use the APs in router mode etc.

@phillip_mcmahon 

> It is perhaps one of the dumbest ideas I have ever seen.

I've said it before and the more time passes the more I think I am right. I think that tplinks 'engineers' is really just one guy. One guy who needs to come up with new firmware for each device that gets plugged (typical box-shovelling-sales behavior. Sell as much as you can, dont care about customers). So he simply has no time to fix his bugs, his priority is new firmware each time.  A prime example of this is the difference in functionaility between v1 and v2 of the M9.  Must be a running joke among other serious hardware manufacturers that one.

I think we all agree that we all made a serious error in judgment when we  bought TPlink products and thought they would listen and improve. Turns out to be just another piece of shite from China.

TP-Link: This is a serious flaw that needs correcting ASAP!

In AP mode, the Decos should NEVER start a DHCP instance. NEVER !

Your excuse of needing it for 'discoverability' between the mobile app and the units is bunk, ever heard of mDNS / Bonjour / ZeroConf? Use that!

This is endemic to your product line, people have been screaming for years about unwanted DHCP services popping up on networks and screwing up everything, your powerline extenders are a good example, and there are dozens of threads like these, with no resolution: https://community.tp-link.com/us/home/forum/topic/106148?page=2

At a minimum, you need to provide a setting that allows anyone with an ounce of networking knowledge to disable your so-called 'Smart DHCP' permanently. Engineering-wise, this is like a few hours of effort, just do it.

We are OK with a requirement that devices in AP mode need to be connected to a network with a functioning DHCP. That's like expected for standalone APs.

Constantly breaking running networks with unwanted DHCP services is toxic. 

You are and will be losing sales, as I and others who recommend products to others will be telling customers to avoid your products due to this horrible flaw.

Dear @Kevin_Z, more than a year is passed since the request of a FW with the ability to switch OFF the dhcp crap was done, and until now, we have received just unsensed reply from your company.

I would like to know if it is possible to send you back your precious and fully(not requested) featured devices and be totally refunded? 

For sure I will never buy a tplink device anymore. 

There are bugs as this or the unpossibility to change the wifi channel, that are really serious and they are not supported at all 😡😡😡🤬🤬🤬

@SKAL 

I don't think we should take that guy that calls himself 'kevin' too seriously. For starters, how many Chinese have you ever come across called Kevin? That is the very first lie you're confronted with as soon as you start using this forum.   Furthermore, he supposedly is for support but from the 10.000+ messages he posted only 800 were marked as a solution. That's a measly 8 percent.

How many companies in the world would be willing to keep someone with such a low success rate employed??  Think about it. It doesn't add up.

@realjax 

Not one to defend tplink here as this is an absolute sh1t show.

However I suspect western names are chosen for a number of reasons and I doubt it's one person behind the @Kevin_Z account.

We are assuming here the support is solely based in China. Maybe that's incorrect.

Regardless. Not fixing a simple but critical bug and blatantly ignoring the needs of their customers seems to be all too common with @tplink.

I'll never purchase or recommend their products again. I'll activity steer people away in fact.

Surprised there isn't a class action law suit brewing in the States but I assume that can only be aimed at a US registered company?

I'm not too fussed what the account is called, or the real name of the person behind it. As long as they're helping their clients is what's important.

@DLMax 

I have the opposite problem.  My Deco is in Router mode but doesn't seem to function as a dhcp on the LAN.  The WAN works fine.  Is this normal.  The app doesn't appear to have a way to change.  Am I missing something or does it only have dhcp on the WAN.

Thx.

@kmartburrito Well. I had some replies from the devs, when it got really ridiculous (an understatement). I was told, then the guy under Kevin_Z resigned. That a new firmware will come out. I was told some beta firmware exists. I have nothing to this day. I even got replies from D-Link, where their firmware was apparently not sending some packets needed for the backhaul. Hell, they made a new firmware in two weeks and send it to me!! As said before, Tp-link has some damn potential with this, if you have no problems, its awsome. But the guys are absolutely killing it with their support of existing devices. It gets insane, once you want to solve a problem, that should not have existed in the first place. Awsome, if they make a new device without problems. But they should solve the problems in their existing ones first. I bought 10 for work, around 30 for friends and customers. And I am sad to have to say it, but I have trouble with large networks. At work, it might be through the D-Link switches, I am testing it now. But common, it seems like there is one guy developing the firmware. Where insane would be an understatement, if that is true.

@kmartburrito 

Really. Don't buy *any* Tplink product. Their support is beyond pathetic. Expect problems that will not be addressed. You are far better off spending a little more on better product's.