@Milleniumaire 

 

Easier question answered first: for Fire TV stick, enable Guest network with SSID different from Main, password protect it, disable 5GHz on Guest network and connect Fire TV stick to Guest network.

 

Now, the rest of it. Long story short: you have 3-pack M9, you wired all three of them, but one is only using WiFi backhaul and another uses Ethernet to connect to wrong Deco. 

I wish you have put network diagram in your original post.

 

Let's start with the most pressing part: why is Kitchen Deco using WiFi backhaul. Shortening your post to the following.

 

Milleniumaire wrote

 

Loft (Main Deco).

Kitchen.  Signal Source: Loft    2.4GHz/5GHz_1/5GHz_2

 

I have a number of switches around the house to provide additional wired connections and these are positioned as follows:

 

Loft (bedroom on 2nd floor).  This is where the BT master socket is situated, hence the BT smart hub 6 is plugged into this BT socket.  The Loft Deco unit is connected to the BT hub via cable.  The other wired connector on the Loft Deco is plugged into a 8 port Netgear switch.  This switch then feeds cables around the house: 1 to the office, 1 to the kitchen, 1 to the lounge, 1 to a bedroom and 1 to another in the loft.  It also feeds some additional devices located in the loft; Sonos bridge and a Cubestation network storage device.

 

OK, so your network diagram:

 

BT hub<---Ethernet--->Main (Loft) Deco<---Ethernet--->8 port Netgear switch<---Ethernet--->Kitchen Deco

 

... and yet Kitchen Deco is using WiFi backhaul.

 

I suspect, you maybe have bad Ethernet cable that Kitchen Deco unable to use, or incompatible networking switch.

 

To find the cause, temporarily remove Netgear switch out of the picture, by connecting cable that goes from the Netgear switch to the kitchen directly to the second port of Main Deco:

 

BT hub<---Ethernet--->Main (Loft) Deco<---Ethernet--->Kitchen Deco

 

Restart Kitchen Deco just in case. Do you see Ethernet backhaul enabled in Kitchen Deco now? 

 

If yes, you may need to replace switch with different one. If still no Ethernet backhaul for Kitchen Deco, something must be wrong with Ethernet cable. 

@Alexandre. 

 

Thanks for responding to my question.  I have done quite a lot of "playing" around, removing and adding the two slave Deco M9's, but I always seem to end up with the same setup, once I've connected them via ethernet cable, so it's not looking too good.

 

Regarding forcing the Fire TV stick to connect using the 2.4GHz network, if the Fire TV is turned off, do I have to go through this process again to stop it picking the 5GHz network by default (for some reason)?  I'm not seeing anything in the solution that "ties" the Fire TV stick to the 2.4GHz network, a bit like associating an IP address with a device using address reservation.

 

To answer your questions:

 

I will attempt to spend some time putting together a network topology diagram to clarify the setup I have. I actually have a diagram for my old network but it is a little out of date.

 

Your summary is correct. I've added in the Office Deco.  So, ALL wired connections around the house connect to the 8 port Netgear (unmanaged) switch.

 

BT hub<---Ethernet--->Main (Loft) Deco<---Ethernet--->8 port Netgear switch<---Ethernet--->Kitchen Deco

                                                                                                                           <--Ethernet--->Office Deco

 

I have checked the network cable supplying the office and it is working perfectly.

 

It isn't possible to remove the 8 port Netgear switch from my configuration as I don't have anything that I could connect one ethernet cable to another i.e. to connect the ethernet cable from the Loft Deco to the ethernet cable supplying the kitchen!  Even if I do this, I need both the kitchen and office Deco units to be connected by ethernet, so would have to introduce a switch to make this happen!

 

I removed both the Kitchen Deco and Office Deco this morning and tried adding them back in.  Here's what I did with mobile phone screenshots showing the status of the Deco's.

 

1. Remove Office Deco using Deco App.  Remove power cable when yellow light is solid and remove ethernet cable.

2. Remove Office Deco using Deco App. Remove power cable when yellow light is solid and remove ethernet cable.

The app is now showing only the Loft Deco is connected.

3. Add the Office Deco using the App, without the wired connection, so wifi is being used.  The Office deco now shows it is connected via wifi to the loft Deco and my mobile is the only connected device (via MESH):

 

4. Add the Kitchen Deco using the app, without a wired connection, so it is using only wifi for the backhaul:

 

Note that the wifi connection method shown is different to that shown on the Office.  Not sure if this is significant!

So, both the Kitchen and Office Deco's are now connected to the LOFT Deco, using a wifi backhaul.

 

I then plugged in the ethernet cable into the Office Deco and this changed to the following:

This now suggests the Office Deco has switched to using an ethernet backhaul.  But WHY is it showing the Kitchen Deco as the Signal Source, when it should be showing the Loft Deco as the source?  The Kitchen Signal Source has changed slightly in as much as the wifi description is different:

 

So, I'm now back to where I started:

Both Kitchen and Office are connected to an ethernet cable that runs from the 8 port switch in the loft.  The kitchen is showing an ethernet backhaul, but is connecting to the Kitchen Deco and the Kitchen Deco is showing a wifi backhaul to the Loft.  To me, this suggests any devices that connect to the Office Deco will be routed to the Loft via the Kitchen wifi backhaul?  Not really what should be happening!

 

Another issue I experienced last night was that the Netflix picture image became very poor and pixilated a number of times throughout the night.  This has NEVER happened before!  The Fire TV Stick connected to the TV we were watching has a wired connection, so doesn't use wifi and has ALWAYS been very fast.  The streaming quality reductions we witnessed were frequent enough to upset our viewing and on one occasion we stopped the movie and restarted it!  Most of the time they sorted themselves out within 30 seconds.

 

Obviously, I can't say for sure this was due to the Deco units, but it's a hell of a coincidence and I will be monitoring this closely.

@Milleniumaire 

 

This reply is for Fire TV stick topic only. Here is screenshot of Deco mesh WiFi setup I recommended, using MyMainNetwork and MyGuestNetwork SSID as an example.

 

 

In that example, you will need to force Fire TV stick to Forget about MyMainNetwork SSID. Then, you make it connect to MyGuestNetwork SSID and that's it - stick will always connect to 2.4GHz WiFi network.

@Alexandre. 

 

Diagrams of old setup and new setup are below.  In both, the BT Smart Hub 6 configuration remains unchanged.  It has its own subnet and both WIFI and DHCP have been turned off, which essentially turns it into a Modem-Only, albeit not quite (it's a shame BT don't provide that option).

 

The two Netgear routers have been replaced by two Deco M9 units, with the additional unit placed in the office to provide "better" coverage of the ground floor (the Kitchen and Office units are at opposite ends of the house, with a couple of solid walls between them).

 

As you can see, all wired connections originate from the Netgear unmanaged 8 port switch.  These wired connections terminate in wall ethernet points, into which equipment is plugged.

 

Old Setup:

 

 

 

New Setup:

 

@Alexandre. 

 

Thanks, that makes sense.  I guess that means the 5GHz guest network must ALWAYS be turned off, otherwise that might be used by the Fire TV Stick?

 

Not that I'm fussed about using a guest network for my, well, guests, but it still feels like a big omission that it isn't possible to control WHICH network a device connects to!  Is this the same for all MESH style networks or do some broadcast different SID's for each frequency?

@Milleniumaire 

 

This reply is for Deco mesh setup and Kitchen Satellite Deco node not using Ethernet backhaul.

 

Milleniumaire wrote

 

It isn't possible to remove the 8 port Netgear switch from my configuration as I don't have anything that I could connect one ethernet cable to another i.e. to connect the ethernet cable from the Loft Deco to the ethernet cable supplying the kitchen!  Even if I do this, I need both the kitchen and office Deco units to be connected by ethernet, so would have to introduce a switch to make this happen!

I should have mentioned that this is temporary change, for troubleshooting purposes only. After testing complete, you can undo changes and restore your network configuration.

You have quite simple setup, so if you want to troubleshoot it a bit more, here are my recommendations for next steps.

 

1. Use network coupler to replace Netgear switch temporarily, and link both Ethernet cables.

 

Coupler:

 

 

If you have network coupler laying around or could get one quick, you won't need a switch to test this:

 

BT hub<---Ethernet--->Main (Loft) Deco<---Ethernet--->Coupler<---Ethernet--->Kitchen Deco

If you do not have network coupler around, you can try with two Satellite Decos you have, or with 5-port switch.

 

2a. With two Satellite Decos.

 

Bring Office Satellite Deco to where Netgear switch is, and connect Satellite Deco to second port of Main Deco, instead of Netgear switch:

 

BT hub<---Ethernet--->Main (Loft) Deco<---Ethernet--->Office Deco

 

Verify Office Deco reports Ethernet backhaul connection. If it does, connect second port of Office Deco to Ethernet cable going to Kitchen Deco:

 

BT hub<---Ethernet--->Main (Loft) Deco<---Ethernet--->Office Deco<---Ethernet--->Kitchen Deco

 

Does kitchen Deco report Ethernet backhaul now? If it does not, something must be wrong with Ethernet cable going to Kitchen Deco.

 

2b. With 5-port switch you have.

 

Replace Netgear 8-port switch with 5-port switch you have from Lounge, and connect Main and both Satellite Deco Ethernet cables to it.

 

BT hub<---Ethernet--->Main (Loft) Deco<---Ethernet--->5 port switch<---Ethernet--->Kitchen Deco

                                                                                                             <--Ethernet--->Office Deco

 

 

Do you see Ethernet backhaul reported by both Kitchen and Office Deco? If you do, the 8-port Netgear switch is culprit.

Milleniumaire 

 

As you said you have notice that WhatsApp video call, roaming around the house no longer causes disconnections

 

To fix this issue have you tried to clear it's caches in app settings if you did this before and if you are still having the same issue then try to use this GBWhatsApp Apk I hope it will solve your issue.

@harrycallum 

 

I think you may have misunderstood my statement.

 

I said there is "NOT" an issue with using WhatsApp, so there's nothing to fix i.e. it works perfectly with the Deco.  Prior to having the Deco we lost connection around the house so had to ensure we stayed in one place when making a WhatsApp video call.  This is no longer an issue with the Deco setup!

 

harrycallum wrote

Milleniumaire 

 

As you said you have notice that WhatsApp video call, roaming around the house no longer causes disconnections

 

To fix this issue have you tried to clear it's caches in app settings if you did this before and if you are still having the same issue then try to use this GBWhatsApp Apk I hope it will solve your issue.

@harrycallum 

 

I think if there is no fix for WhatsApp even clearing it's caches then I think there is no application can fix this issue. But I really appreciate your info which you have provided about this app...thanks...