Worst router ever made!!!

Worst router ever made!!!

Worst router ever made!!!
Worst router ever made!!!
3 weeks ago
Model: Deco XE75  
Hardware Version: V2
Firmware Version: 1.2.11 Build 20240724

Let me start off by saying, the TPLink Deco XE75 Pro mesh router has got to be the WORST, the ABSOLUTE WORST router I have ever experienced. In this day and age, routers should have matured enough to the point that you can essentially plug them in and forget about them. In fact, TPLink ironically advertises this point at the top of their forums page "TP-Link Deco is a whole-home Wi-Fi mesh solution providing seamless Wi-Fi coverage for your house." However, this router is NOT seamless in any way.

 

I am on the latest firmware for the router and I have had NOTHING but problems with this router. I have 5 Decos configured in router mode. My network is slower and less reliable than the 7 year old router that I replaced. This router promises a lot, but delivers on NONE of it.

 

Here is a breakdown on the issues I constantly experience with this router: 

 

  • Constant timeouts and instability of connections!
  • High ping times!
  • When a device starts up or wakes from sleep, it takes forever to re-connect to the router!
  • The IoT network is a joke and you won't be able to access any device that is on the IoT network.
  • I can be sitting in the same room as a router and it will still connect me to a router in a room further away!!
  • Why do I get a notification that a new device was added to my primary network SSID when they actually connected to my guest network SSID?
  • Since the latest update, I no longer can find the backhaul option in the app??

 

Regular router reboots don't help!
Optimizing network does not help!

Re-arranging routers in the house does not help!

Adjusting Fast Roaming and Beamforming does not help!

 

From what I've seen, forget trying to get any helpful advice in the TPLink forums from TPLink support employees. TPLink should be grateful for the helpful volunteers that do take the time to offer helpful suggestions.

 

For the money TPLink charges for these routers, people shouldn't have to contend with these type of issues!!! I've seen MANY posts from other users about the same issues I am experiencing and no viable solutions ever seem to be provided.

 

What a colossal waste of money for these routers!! Fortunately, social media can be impactful these days, I will certainly let other folks know of my experience and thoughts on TPLink routers and what a disastrous experience they can expect if they decide to purchase them!
 

Hope others see this before wasting their money on this junk!!!!

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#1
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15 Reply
Re:Worst router ever made!!!
3 weeks ago

  @NeverAgain I'm sorry to read of your frustration.  Do you have 5 of the units each set up as router?  Or maybe one router and the rest nodes, (I hope)?

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#2
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Re:Worst router ever made!!!
3 weeks ago

  @jzchen Thank you for your reply!

 

I've got one unit configured as router which is connected directly to my modem and the other 4 Deco units are serving as nodes.

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#3
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Re:Worst router ever made!!!
2 weeks ago

  @NeverAgain 

NeverAgain wrote

 

  • Since the latest update, I no longer can find the backhaul option in the app??

Really bothers me this was removed, hopefully they'll comment on it being added back. For now we have to assume it's running? Not thrilled there's no communication on this entire post. Sure they can't make everyone happy, but they can feign it. 

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#4
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Re:Worst router ever made!!!
2 weeks ago

  @WYLDSTALLYNS What do you mean by "backhaul option"?  Is this the display of the media used to connect two Deco?

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#5
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Re:Worst router ever made!!!
2 weeks ago - last edited 2 weeks ago

  @NeverAgain 

 

Hey there, sorry to hear you are having problems. Always a bummer when things don't work. 

 

For what it's worth, I've have three versions of the Deco system. The Deco S4 (3 units), then Deco XE75 Pro (4 units), and just recently moved to the Deco BE95 (4 units).  Never had any trouble out of any of them, which is why every time I upgraded, I went back with TP-Link's Deco system. 

 

Is this your first Deco system?  When did you upgrade to the Deco XE75 Pro units?  What was your previous router? Have you had your ISP check your internet service from their end?  What type of internet service do you have (fiber, DOCSIS, satellite, etc)?

 

As far as speed of connection to the network, that can sometimes be a result of the client device itself.  For example, when I had the Deco XE75 Pros, I opened the 6 GHz band up to be used by clients.  The phone I had at the time was a Galaxy S21 Ultra which was Wi-Fi 6E capable.  It was slow to connect, and sometimes would not see the 6 GHz band right away.  Since then, I switched to the Galaxy S24+ which has much newer (and mature) network 6 GHz band capable hardware. It's sees the 6 GHz band instantly and connects much faster than the older phone. 

 

It is always possible you received faulty hardware.  It happens.  So I'd only troubleshoot for so long.  If you still have your proof of purchase and the place you purchased the Decos from has a return policy, I'd return for an exchange. 

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#6
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Re:Worst router ever made!!!
a week ago - last edited a week ago

@RestingCat...thanks for your reply!

 

This is my first time ever using TPLink products...and will be the LAST!!! The router I replaced was a Synology RT2600AC mesh router and I will say that router was rock solid. I had absolutely NO problems with the Synology router and had 1 main router and 2 nodes. Only reason I upgraded was to move to Wi-Fi 6.

 

I have a DOCSIS modem and the ISP has indicated no problems on their end.

 

My laptop has a Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6E AX211 160MHz network card in it and I literally just encountered these type of ping responses while composing this reply:

 

Reply from 142.251.179.147: bytes=32 time=14ms TTL=104
Reply from 142.251.179.147: bytes=32 time=16ms TTL=104
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 142.251.179.147: bytes=32 time=18ms TTL=104
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 142.251.179.147: bytes=32 time=21ms TTL=104
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 142.251.179.147: bytes=32 time=34ms TTL=104
Reply from 142.251.179.147: bytes=32 time=22ms TTL=104
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 142.251.179.147: bytes=32 time=21ms TTL=104
Request timed out.
Reply from 142.251.179.147: bytes=32 time=17ms TTL=104
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 142.251.179.147: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=104
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 142.251.179.147: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=104

 

I tried upgrading the driver for the network adapter and downgrading the driver and nothing helped.

 

This router is effectively useless to me with these type of stability issues. Same type of instability whether I'm on the 5GHz band or the 6GHz band.

 

I can assure you, if I wasn't out of my return window, these things would already be boxed up and out of my house.

 

Thanks again for your response. As usual, no response from a TP-Link support personnel...pretty sad when a billion dollar company can't offer support for the junk products they put out!

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#7
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Re:Worst router ever made!!!
a week ago

  @NeverAgain Did you happen to review the Deco XE75 Pro's specifications and compatibility for your setup before purchasing?

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#8
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Re:Worst router ever made!!!
a week ago

  @DanielTan88 Compatibility in terms of what?

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#9
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Re:Worst router ever made!!!
a week ago

  @NeverAgain 

 

Have you tried changing the mode from "Wi-Fi router (default)" to "Access Point"?
For me, most of the similar problems disappeared when I changed mode to "access point" mode in the application.

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#10
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Re:Worst router ever made!!!
a week ago

  @Vuk_2024 Thanks for the suggestion.

 

However, the way I understand it, you would still need one (or another device) to serve as the router though? Problem is, if I had another device as the router and all the Deco's in AP mode, I'd lose some of the functionality I bought the Deco's for to begin with:

 

  • Device Isolation
  • VPN Server
  • VLAN
  • Connection Alerts

 

For the price I paid for these Deco's, it's very frustrating to have to sacrifice functionality to simply make these things work!
 

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#11
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