Model :

Hardware Version :

Firmware Version :

ISP :

I have a new pair of TL-PA9020P adapters that seem to be working just fine. I was looking to see if I have the latest firmware, but am having a problem comparing version designations. I see that the latest version on the download site is:

BCM60500_v3.2.0c_20160405_US_PA9020Pv1.2_upgrade.ggl

or

TL-PA9020P(US)_V1_160405

The above doesn't look like a firmware version number to me at all, the "20160405" or "16405" looks like a date stamp (4/5/2016 or 5/4/2016). Which looks old.

The version that the TP-Link utility says that I currently have is:

3.2.4_902101_170118_901

which might be a date stamp of 1/18/2017.

These firmware "version" numbers seem to be from two different universes. Just guessing, it looks like I might have later firmware on my adapters (from the timestamps above) than is on the download site, which is kind of stunning. That usually means that the firmware that's on the adapters was posted on the website, but has been withdrawn due to problems. Or it could mean that the web site download just wasn't updated...lots of room for guessing here.

Anyways, this isn't critical since I'm not having problems. And I have read of others getting into problems when trying to update the firmware on their adapters. So I'm inclined to not try to upgrade the firmware, first because I can't really tell whether the firmware on the web site is older or newer than what I have, and also not seeing any problems. However, I do like to have security fixes, so it would be nice to know how to compare firmware versions by their version numbers.

Any tips on how to compare these version numbers? I've never seen firmware apparently versioned by date stamps before. Or maybe it's just coincidence that these version numbers look like date stamps?

Thanks!