What you can try to do is to modify the wireless channels and width of each band to see if there is interference with other signals. That is done by going to Advanced > Wireless > Wireless Settings.

There is another feature in the router called Smart Connect which will connect your device to a wireless band depending how much speed is needed. It will consolodate all the wireless names into one. This can be found in the same Wireless Settings menu.

If either do help help, it would be best to contact our support at that point.

I have tried changing bands and this does not help at all. Smart connect makes things worse because it will force some devices on to the 5Ghz - 2 channel due to signal strength over 5Ghz - 1 and then these devices will be capped at 2Mbps speeds. I guess I will contact support. 

@Neoprimal 

Smart connect is desinged to mitigate interference and bandwidth saturation by moving devices between the 3 bands, depending on their capablities and the content and load they need and create.  There should be no difference between 5GHz-1 and 5GHz-2 as the bandwidth benchmarks are the same.  The difference between the two are 5GHZ-1 is the lower four channels of the specturm and 5GHz-2 is the upper four channels.  

If your router is up to date on the firmware and you are seeing slow speeds we would deffiantly want support to troubleshoot with you.  If you already have and want to share your experaince here please let us know.

Best Regards 

@Carl 

I will share Speedtest results to give you an idea of what's going on with my router (I just took these). I'm trying (and have been trying) to explain that I know that this is how it's supposed to work in theory. I do know what a healthy network looks like. Before the upgrade, I had a tri-band router and it worked fine. My network is not healthy with this router and I still have yet to fix it. It came out of the box like this. I factory reset it and it still does the same thing. It's on the newest FW posted on the support page, FW that is almost 2 years old.

I've tested my older tri-band routers and their 5ghz bands seem to be fine so I really don't know what's up here. I've been hoping and waiting for a FW update from TPLink but you guys seem to have completely forgotten about this router as mentioned, the only FW I can find on your website is from 2017-09-12 and nothing else in sight, no beta updates, nothing.

Anyway, here goes: 

This is a test from my main PC, it's using a Broadcom 802.11ac network adapter. Default settings, no changes made.

These results are duplicated as similar on all my systems. I have 2 PCs, 3 notebooks, an ultrabook, 2 NUCs and many other wifi connected devices. Before you tell me the 5Ghz-2 network may be crowded, there isn't a single device connected to it. All of my 5ghz capable devices are on the 5Ghz-1 network and all of my non-5Ghz capable are on the 2.4Ghz network. I was considering putting the devices close to the router on the 5Ghz-2 but it's just as slow 5 feet from it as it is 20 feet from it.

I have tried putting the router higher up in my home vs. sitting on a desk as well as moving it around the home to see if maybe it's due to some kind of interference on those bands. The result is the same. 

This is the 2.4Ghz network speedtest: https://www.speedtest.net/result/8128114019

This is the 5Ghz-1 network speedtest: https://www.speedtest.net/result/8128118047

This is the 5Ghz-2 network speedtest: https://www.speedtest.net/result/8128121737 

One of the reasons I'm terrified of dealing with your tech support is hearing horror stories of people sending in their brand new routers and then receiving refurbished replacements or worse, being told that you don't have a replacement model and giving them the Deco unit instead. I was very much hoping that someone here could solve this issue through some tweak or setting.

Anyway, thanks for your time.

@Neoprimal 

Firmware updates are unlikely as the product has been EOL for a little over a year now.  Usually with EOL products frimware updates are not provided.  If a replacement is needed and on the face of this right now that looks to the case, then as long as the product was purchased from an authroized retailer we can replace it.  Yes, replacement products are refurbished units, which is not uncommon with tech products.  For instance Playstation only replaces with refurbished units, and as far as i know Netgear and D-link do as well.  The only time we use new products are when there is no refurbished unit available.  The situation you were refering to was when we had inventory concerns with the Archer C5400.  As it was going to be over a month before new stock was avaialble we were offering alternatives rather than waiting for the product to become available.  This shouldn't dissway a customer as their warranty is still valid from 2-years from the purchase date.  

The last thing we would be to reconfigure the router.  if that fails we would need to replace. If you haven't already please try that and let me know. 

I had no idea that the router, which was released in April 2016 would be considered EoL by November of 2018, especially when advertised as Version 2.0. 

I may try to do a replacement through Amazon or a refund to get something else. I had NO idea the router was EoL, this wasn't mentioned anywhere on Amazon or TPLink when I was doing research on it, otherwise, I definitely would not have purchased it, but I guess that's the point of not letting customers know when a product is EoL upfront.

I'm not keen on replacing it for a refurbished version and I don't care what Sony, Netgear or D-Link do (until I deal with those companies). I paid for a brand new TPLink router. If it's not working out of the box and it's been determined that there's something wrong with it, then it should be replaced with something new. I didn't get it from eBay or anywhere refurbished or factory re-certified, I got it brand, spanking new from Amazon in November of 2018. It hasn't been sitting in my home collecting dust for a year.

How exactly would you like me to "reconfigure" it? That's a bit vague.

Update: In terms of 'reconfiguring' the router, I tried messing around with the 5Ghz-2 band. 

1. Swapped to exact setting as 5Ghz-1 band, ie: N/AC mixed mode and then Auto Channel, then tried channels separately.

2. Swapped to full AC mode, set channel to Auto, then tried channels separately.

Nothing gets a higher speed test rating of ~7Mbps down but up is close to OK @ ~18Mbps or higher.

Thanks Carl 

@Neoprimal 

I was using compteitors as an example that it is common practice for RMAs to be refurbished items, while i do also understand that the customer preception of this might not always be pleasent, it is what we have to work with due to policies set forth by the company.  

As for reconfiguring the router,  I was referrigng to preforming a factory reset and then reconfiguration of its settings from there. However as you have attempted quite a lot already and worked with us I can authroize a replacement device.  Yes, as previously stated it will have be a refurbished unit though.  If you would like to begin this process you will just need to register your product on our warranty portal here

This FAQ will help you through the account setup and the one for registering

I also recommend reading our warranty policy located here

Best Regards 

Carl

Carl,

Thanks but as I said, I don't want a refurb device. For all I know, I'll be getting a dusty old Ver. 1 device or something that has fallen through the cracks and either not been properly serviced or something that has worse issues than my failing 5Ghz-2. I may consider it if there's no charge for shipping at all, otherwise, this makes no sense whatsoever. If your company replaces new routers with refurbished/old ones then chances are that you don't take care of shipping (correct me if I'm wrong). So let's say I end up getting a router that is "wrong", it's Version 1, or it has a broken part, or it's worse somehow than the router I'm sending in - not only will I have to pay shipping twice, I will have to wait weeks for a replacement and may still get another dud. 

This isn't reasonable at all, company "policy" be damned. Put yourself in my shoes and tell me you wouldn't be the least bit apprehensive.

@Neoprimal 

You are correct TP-Link does not cover the shipping cost for the defective unit.  Customers can choose to ship the defect back to us first or choose an Advanced option that ships the replacement before we recieve the defective unit.  The shipping fee associated with these advanced options are $14.99, $24.99 or $49.99, with shiping being FedEx smart-post, 2-day or next-day, after a process period of 3-5 buisness days.  

As for the product version.  The only time a lower version would be sent is if 1.  there are no current or newer versions available in inventory.  2.  The are no differences between the models.  Some version updates are just a visual update, such as the box or branding are changed.  For products with feature or significant design changes a lower version should not ever be used.  For the C5400, we cannot replace a V2 with a V1, because the V2 added the HomeCare feature, which the V1 did not have.  

Your warranty from the orignal purchase remains good and covers replacement units until the 2-year period form purchase date expires.  If a 2nd replacement is needed for the same issue we are able at that point to make some exceptions, like offering a upgrade to the next model up or refunding the shipping cost of the 2nd advanced shipping.  These types of exception can only be made after an intial replacement is completed and issues still exist.  

I deffiantly understand the apperhension and we do make every attempt to minimze replacements and  ensure if they do happen they only happen once.  But if they do happen a 2nd time we do not want to further sour the relationship and will do what we can to re-earn our customers trust in us and our brand.  

Carl,

Consider our relationship soured, sir. Not that 1 or 2 or 1000 customers matter to the big picture for the company anyway. The only way to fix this is to update your FW. How can you abandon something like a router after ONE YEAR? Like cell phones, they are insecure and can allow hacking into people's homes. They should be updated until they are no longer sold on shelves or at least, no longer sold new. This will at least be a clue to customers that hey, maybe this isn't getting updates anymore. I'm not going to buy an iPad 3 in 2019 because I know it will never get another update from Apple, but then Apple updates their products for up to 5 years so I can't fault them. You can't find a brand new iPad 3 anywhere. You can't find a brand new iPad mini 2 either but they updated that. You mentioned competitors similar habits of replacing items with refurbs but you said nothing regarding their habits of updating their products for years. Netgear R8000 for example, 3 years old and it gets updates. I maintain that I will never purchase nor recommend another TP Link product until/unless you guys change this no update policy. 

Amazon was kind enough to replace the device for me, so I will see what happens with the replacement. I did some research on my issue and I have been coming across many, many users with the same issue who say that the final FW update is what caused the problem and that their devices worked fine before it so if this is the case, is there a way to downgrade the FW? When I got the router it was already on the newest FW.

Thanks.