Deco S4 (3-pack) recently causing unstable connection!
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I have been using the Deco S4 since December as a home mesh wifi system. Within the past month, the network has been dropping all its clients and we would lose connection to the internet without any warning, it happens multiple times a day. After a few minutes connection resumes, but happens constantly and cause lots of ping/lag during usage. I currently live in a 3 floor townhouse with 4 units total, 1 is ethernet connected to our modem. There are usually up to 14 devices connected to the network. I have turned off fastroaming and beaming. I have switched between Access Point mode and Wireless Routing mode but issues still occur.
Additionally, my Deco App reports speeds of 32 Kbps which seems low for the internet speed I have signed up for. Are there any solutions?
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To Verify, only one Deco is connected to your modem and every other node and device branches off from there? If so, you will want to use router mode to configure your network.
If your modem from your ISP is providing a wireless connection and can operate as a router, you will also need to enable Bridge or IP passthrough mode to have a stable network. Otherwise, you will have to use AP mode on the Decos, which will use the ISP router for management, and the Decos could then be connected to multiple ports on your modem - but you will lose most of the advanced configuration for your mesh.
The test speed feature has been removed from the most recent Deco app due to a few issues with the test reporting inaccurate numbers or users misinterpreting the purpose of the test. I have been seeing multiple users that have these speeds in their app.
I would, however, try changing your DNS server to a common service such as Google or Cloudflare to see if this will help. Otherwise you will need to look at the LED indicators on your modem when the issue reappears so we can try and narrow down the cause.
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@Riley_S Hi!
1. There is only one Deco unit connected currently to the modem through ethernet, 3 other Decos are branched off and unconnected from any ethernet ports. Yep I have the Decos in Router mode currently in the app.
2. I have now enable IP passthrough or at least I hope I did it correctly.
I did change the DNS server on the Deco App following the tp-link guide to 8.8.8.8 is that the same as what you said? The LED lights usully remain white so its hard to tell when issues occur and sometimes they will randomly disconnect providing a flashing red LED.
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Awesome, with the IP passthrough enabled and the ethernet configuration this way, you can be assured that your local network is connected properly and should not have any conflicts with your devices. The DNS server for 8.8.8.8 is Google's DNS server and is one of the most stable due to its popularity, if you connect to websites with the changed DNS, you know you set it up correctly.
- Is the Wi-Fi network the same SSID as your Mesh Network? Changing to IP passthrough may fix the behavior if this is the case, but I would recommend trying to only use the connections provided by the Deco network.
- Are the LEDs flashing on the Modem/Gateway? If this is the case then the issue most likely lies with your ISP connection. If the lights are going red on the modem, you should also potentially be able to see system logs that would indicate the problem, or you may try to contact your ISP to see if they can see the disconnects on their end.
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Hello so I found what you said super helpful, I disconnected one Deco completely so I am only running 3 Deco S4 Units. The main deco unit is connected to a ethernet port which is connected to the modem. The other 2 decos are connected to the network via wifi and on the Deco app they are in router mode. I changed the DNS servers on the app to what you recommended as well as having IP passthrough enabled for the main deco on the ISP modem.
- The mesh network created by Deco is not the same SSID as the ISP modem provided network. In this case I did allow IP passthrough as recommended and believed to have helped!
- The LEDS are fully functional on the ISP modem.
So far after 3 days of trial, the internet connection speed has returned to normal (200-300mbs), ping has decreased significantly and connection appears to be stable now.
I appreciate your support and time! I was wondering if you recommend to add the 4th Deco unit back to the network? I am only hesitant as I do not want to lower internet speeds for all devices by adding the additional unit.
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Glad to hear! @jvstin5,
It could really go either way for connecting the last Deco, if the last unit is in the middle of your other nodes, you may see slower speeds from interference or devices swtiching more often, however, your Deco network is meant to handle this many nodes (Recommended Maximum is 10 Nodes) and will work to make sure that each connection is given more than enough to accommodate the traffic.
The only thing to really be wary of is that if your 4th Deco connects to another wireless satellite node, the overall bandwidth that can be used by the last deco will probably be around 40% of what it could do with a wired connection - this is why it is not recommended to wirelessly daisy chain more than 3 decos together.
You should have fixed most of your disconnects with the IP passthrough and any speed or routing issues with the DNS server, so heres to hoping it stays stable.
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