I have recently upgraded my home network from a group of old mistmatched routers to a new BE10000 system with 3 Decos.  I bought an additional BE63 to maximize wifi coverage and provide my network with the most flexibility in terms of high speed wired connections. All of my satellite units are connected via a wired backhaul.  Overall the system is fairly robust and full featured but I do have a suggestion and a few gripes.

Suggestion:

Wireless connections show signal strength, which is great.  How about showing the link speed for WIRED connections?  There are no link lights or connection speed indicators on the Decos themselves but there is no reason why you could not show this in software.  Reliable multi-gig connections require quality wiring and high quality patch cables. 

Scenario:  A satellite Deco is connected via a wired backhaul but the performance is abysmal and you can't figure out why.  Ultimately it comes down to a damaged patch cable causing the connection speed to negotiate all the way down to 10/100.  A simple link speed indicator could go a long way towards reducing the number of troubleshooting steps.  As it is we just have to assume that our link speeds are what we think they should be.  If you cannot show link speed for EVERY conneciton, at a minimum this needs to be shown for the satellite Decos and the WAN connection.  I have had an issue before (with a TP-Link router) not auto-negotiating link speed properly on the WAN port and falling back to 100mb. 

Gripes:

1.  Why can I set a static IP address of the main Dec but not the satellites?  Other people have asked this question and you have responded with "why would you want to do that?"  Their response and mine is, why does it matter?  Why would you NOT offer this functionality?  If you're going to take the "why would you want to do that" approach, why do you offer the ability to specify the IP of the main unit?  It technically works without it so it clearly isn't need right?  Even if you can't specify a static IP at the individual satellite, they should show up in the list of connected clients and should be reservable via DHCP but it's not an option there either.  Any network administrator with a shred of dignity will have all of his equipment set up with static IP addresses for management purposes.  That might not seem like your typical home user, and you might be right, but some of us are not your typical user.  Such an omission is irksome to the power user.  It's a simple ask, make it happen guys.

2.  Why is the web interface such a joke?  I'll give you guys credit, when I first learned that the only way to configure these things was to use a phone app I let out a groan.  I have been pleasantly surprised that the app is surprisingly full featured and seems to work well, but I still have to ask the question, why not provide a decent web interface?  You have a very good product with a lot of features that would appease even a great many power users, but then you force dependence on another piece of hardware.  What happens if my phone gets damaged or lost and I need to troubleshoot a network problem or make a configuration change?  What happens if the Google Play store is down or if some Android update causes your application to not work?  It is EXTREMELY poor practice to create a device that relies on another device which you have no control over.

Imagine if you will that TP Link mades a car.  Any licensed driver can get in the car and drive it but the only way to put gas in the car is to use a phone app that requires cellular connectivity to unlock the gas cap.  Would you set out across the country in this vehicle?  Sure the system will PROBABLY work just fine, but what happens when you need gas and the only gas station is 50 miles from the nearest cell phone tower?  The phone app works surprisingly well but there is ZERO reason to restrict users to only that option.  Imagine all the functionality of the app but on a full sized monitor which can display lots more information at once.  Setup, configuration, diagnostic, troubleshooting, and management could all be handled much faster on a larger screen with a full sized keyboard, the ability to copy and paste, etc.

Furthermore some of us will utilize equipment that continues to work well beyond what YOU might consider the useful life.  What happens when I have perfectly functional equipment that I can no longer manage because you stopped supporting the app years ago and it no longer works on modern phones?  That feels a whole lot like planned obsolescence and is an absolute guarantee that will never buy your brand product again.