@flai54 

I would love the ability in the Deco app to have a "Wifi channel" configuration option for all 3 frequencies (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz) to select a specific channel to avoid congestion.

There are lots of reasons to make this available, such as avoid frequency overlap with zigbee and Matter (thread) networks. It is a very frequently requested feature. Which seems to fall on deaf ears at the TP-Link end.

  @jam905 What is puzzling is that the wifi channel customization is already available on their Archer normal router products so its not like any of their router products don't already have this feature.  All they need to do is add this functionality to the Deco app for all 3 frequency bands and that would satisfy all parties.  By default they should keep it to the "Auto" setting which is how the Deco currently operates and for like 80% of the people that works just fine but just allow those that are a bit more tech saavy to be able to switch wifi channels especially in the 5 GHz band.

  @flai54 

This feature has been requested for years but 5ghz ALWAYS runs on channel 48, even if you put another device on channel 48 right next to it and reboot. I know this because I can only use 2.4ghz at my home because 5GHz will interfere with my JBL wireless sound system.

I'm in the market to sell my system and buy another brand.

I think the worst part of this fiasco is that TP-Link swears up and down that their system chooses the best channel, but it just plain doesn't. Always channel 48! The network optimization does nothing. It's a sham.

Seems they are leaving themselves wide open to a class action suit.

@Carl @Riley_S @David-TP @TP-Link 

Can I get a response from a TP-Link team member on whether this feature request is being considered to allow the user to change wifi channels like a normal router?

  @flai54 

Support does not generally get acknowledgments of features that will or will not be implemented.  The reason is that if we provide something and the word changes then it creates a false perception and that is a far worst situation for us to deal with.  I can say through my experience there is no plan, now or in the future that will allow separate bands.  That all said there are two features that we are testing that SHOULD be coming in the not-too-distant future if they work well in testing.

IoT dedicated band.  This would be a separate band to allow all of your IoT devices to connect to an independent band separate from the main WiFi.  If launched it would not likely be Brand wide as it would likely have hardware requirements some older Decos can't meet. 

Preferred band.  This one should be a simple software update and more easily distributed to older and newer Deco models.  This allows you to tap on a device in your Client list and select a preferred band (2.4GHz or 5GHz) that the device will primarily connect to. 

Both features are being tested but we do not have and ETA.

  @Carl Thank you and appreicate the reply.  However I am not asking about separate SSIDs and I know you can just set up the Guest network for your iOT devices and I am not asking for the main wifi SSID to have 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz SSIDs separately. 

I was asking more about the wifi channels (ex: 1, 6, 11, 48, 161, etc) where the user is allowed to customize which wifi channel say on 5 GHz to be between (32-48, 149-165).  The reason I ask is that according to what I have read, the Deco is suppose to choose the best wifi channel available on 5 GHz, but in my observation and what others have also reported, the Deco always sits at Ch. 48 which and never adjusts to another wifi channel within 5 GHz.  When I do a neighborhood wifi scan, Ch. 48 is already crowded and it just seems this "automatic wifi channel adjustment" is not working.  I see in my neighborhood that the wifi channels 149-165 are more free and clear and it would be nice to migrate my Deco network to be able to utilize those channels. 

I think being able to choose the wifi channel within the different frequencies (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz) just like a typical router could do would help alleviate that channel congestion and surely this feature request has been noted many times.  Really my point is that this community is hopeful an avenue for the users to flow things up to technical management as feedback on how to improve the product.  I understand that confirmations and so forth can change but I think being able to flow this feedback for consideration is all that we are asking the support mods to do.

  @flai54 

My apologies I misread the request.  At this time is not something that has been considered.   The Deco was built around ART or adaptive routing technology. This is the Deco's Version of Smart Connect and is an integral part of the Deco and how it automatically manages the network for you.  I will admit that it does need work and we are working at optimizing how it chooses a network channel but beyond that, there has been no talk, that I have been made aware of, that will allow manual channel selection. 

  @Carl Thank you for the reply.  I think at the very least the ART technology and algorithm needs substantial work in updating to not only search for 5 GHz channels in 32-48 but especially search for 5 GHz channels 149-165.  Channels 149-165 tend to be more open free and clear in a neighborhood that can really help with keeping up the good speeds and higher transmit power.   Hopefully a future firmware update will improve on the ART algorithm to search for the upper 5 GHz channels.

  @flai54 

Absolutely, and that is how its supposed to work.  I will provide your comments to the engineers along with my own and I hope that we will have an improved detection  soon. 

  @Carl Thank you for the reply.  Hopefully we will see a Deco app and firmware update soon with improvements specifically to the Adaptive Routing Technology (ART) feature to actively search for the most available wifi channels in the entire frequency ranges especially in the 5 GHz and 6 GHz frequencies.  We know that 2.4 GHz is pretty limited so I am not as concerned about that. 

Perhaps maybe even adding a button in the Advanced tab to allow the user to trigger the router to query the router to do a search in the 5 GHz and 6 GHz channels for the most available wifi channel with the least amount of interference.