TP-Link - Deco X55 Pro

Installed Deco x68s at my place, x55s at in laws, x55 pros at friends, and Linksys Velops at other friends, all hardwired, rock solid and roaming works flawlessly. All of them having 20-30+ clients.

Installed Deco x68s at my place, x55s at in laws, x55 pros at friends, and Linksys Velops at other friends, all hardwired, rock solid and roaming works flawlessly. All of them having 20-30+ clients.

Yes, your Wi-Fi 5 mesh system is definitely bottlenecking your internet speed. Google Wi-Fi 5 only supports gigabit ethernet ports, so even though your Rogers plan offers 1.5 Gbps, your router is capped at 1 Gbps before accounting for network overhead. Wi-Fi 5 also has limited real-world speeds, with a maximum of around 800 to 900 Mbps per device under ideal conditions. Mesh systems can introduce additional latency and signal loss, especially when using wireless backhaul, which explains why your speed drops to 60 to 130 Mbps upstairs. Mesh routers are not inherently bad, but they often suffer from signal degradation when connected wirelessly. A Wi-Fi 6E mesh system or a system with wired ethernet backhaul can provide full speeds with minimal loss. If you upgrade, you should look for a Wi-Fi 6E router with a 2.5 Gbps ethernet port to fully utilize your internet plan and improve performance across your home. The Amazon eero Pro 6E is a high-performance mesh Wi-Fi system that supports Wi-Fi 6E, giving access to the 6 GHz band for faster speeds and lower latency. It features a 2.5 Gbps ethernet port, allowing you to fully utilize high-speed internet plans. This system supports multiple devices simultaneously and is ideal for modern smart homes. You can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-eero-Wi-Fi-router-newest/dp/B091G65HH6 For alternatives with similar capabilities, there are several options. The TP-Link Deco XE75 Pro is a Wi-Fi 6E mesh system featuring a 2.5 Gbps WAN/LAN port, providing smooth 8K and 4K streaming with low-latency gaming performance. It covers large areas with seamless Wi-Fi. https://www.tp-link.com/us/promotion/deco-xe75-pro/fb/ The ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 is an AX11000 tri-band Wi-Fi 6 gaming router with a quad-core CPU, PS5 compatibility, a 2.5G port, DFS band, Adaptive QoS, AiMesh for mesh Wi-Fi systems, and free network security. https://www.asus.com/us/networking-iot-servers/wifi-routers/all-series/filter?Spec=768 The TP-Link Archer AX55 Pro is a Wi-Fi 6 router featuring a 2.5 Gbps port, dual-band connectivity, VPN support, OFDMA, MU-MIMO, USB port, and WPA3 security. It is compatible with Alexa and offers multi-gigabit wireless speeds. https://www.amazon.com/2-5gb-router/s?k=2.5gb+router The Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500 is a Wi-Fi 6E tri-band router with an optimized CPU, multi-gig LAN support, link aggregation, and advanced networking features. https://www.homeowner.com/connectivity/routers/best-2-5-gb-routers The TP-Link Deco X55 Pro is an entry-level Wi-Fi 6 mesh system with two 2.5 Gbps multi-gig ports, providing reliable whole-home coverage and solid mid-tier performance when used with wired backhaul. https://dongknows.com/multi-gigabit-wi-fi-6-routers-to-bring-home-today/ When selecting a router, consider coverage area, device compatibility, speed requirements, and features like multi-gigabit ports to ensure it meets your networking needs.

Before upgrading to UniFi because I’m a geek. I used Tplink Deco system in a 1800 sq ft house 2 story. They worked great. Deco X55 Pro is the model I used.

You could do a few different models my suggestions would be Deco XE75 Deco XE75 Pro Deco AXE4900 Pro Those 3 are WiFi 6E tri band Systems If you want something WiFi 7 that would future proof you then something like a BE63 or BE11000 would be a safe choice. If you go with the BE63 make sure to grab Hardware Version 2.6 as 1.6 hardware has a lot of issues and is being phased out but there are still some out there. So just watch for that. If you want a basic WiFi 6 system then something like an X55 or X55 pro would also work fairly well

You could do a few different models my suggestions would be Deco XE75 Deco XE75 Pro Deco AXE4900 Pro Those 3 are WiFi 6E tri band Systems If you want something WiFi 7 that would future proof you then something like a BE63 or BE11000 would be a safe choice. If you go with the BE63 make sure to grab Hardware Version 2.6 as 1.6 hardware has a lot of issues and is being phased out but there are still some out there. So just watch for that. If you want a basic WiFi 6 system then something like an X55 or X55 pro would also work fairly well

OP this is helpful- can you comment on my setup. I only got a modem from my ISP- no router. I have 5 Deco X55s in my 4 story townhouse I have one networking closet that has my wires coming in from outside and my exposed Ethernet cables (that are also running throughout my home). In this closet I have my modem from my ISP and my Deco X55 router and a TP link 8 port switch. I have an Ethernet cable going from my modem to my router and also from my router to the switch. I have plugged in the 7 exposed Ethernet cables to my switch as well. Now in my other rooms and floors of the house- I have plugged in my other routers to the wall jacks so they are hard wired. My speed is great everywhere when I run speed tests from my iPhone and iPads and laptops. Am I doing anything wrong or can I optimize further? I believe I have done something called wired backhaul- my Deco app is in Router mode- not Access Point. Is this correct? ​ https://preview.redd.it/27np5avsr7ke1.jpeg?width=1320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=69fab3f466a2885d7b1260485d4d49bc5b38c691

With that budget you should be fine for a three pack with WiFi 6, eg Deco X55 at £199. You don’t need anything more expensive like WiFi 6E or 7 because most devices you’ll have right now can’t use it anyway. You’ll get most benefit from just the fact you’re using a mesh. Then the placement of the devices is the most important thing. Trial and error. And there are some apps that can help. If the devices are too far apart, the mesh will struggle to create an effective connection to the base, and you’ll be reliant on the weakest link. If you can, Ethernet is king but UK houses typically won’t be wired for that. You probably don’t need a 1gig connection btw. Netflix UHD etc only needs 15mbps for example. Good luck!

I’m happy with the TP-Link X55 Deco system. Have used it both with and without Ethernet backhaul and was pleased with the results either way.

Another vote for the Decos (X55s here). Great coverage throughout our house, easy to setup and use.

The mortar does not matter (and likely it's not mortar, but brick and mortar!). It's the steel reinforcement in there that would be causing the problem. Faraday cage. A Wifi backhaul will have trouble as well, but strategically distributed, a mesh would solve the problem where the signal can go through one wall, but maybe not 3. I have had success in my place (steel-reinforced concrete) with 2 XE75 Deco units (about 50-60 clients, most of them on the IoT 2.4 network). But I found them to be a bit quirky -- I had to decommission a third X55 unit that I needed for an outdoor space, but that seemed to hurt rather than to help. From what I read the powerline backhaul is hit-and-miss. I wouldn't count on it. If it's a new home, why aren't there CAT6 cables in the walls already?

Depending on your budget, 3 tplink x20s or x55s should cover you. Hook 1 into your modem, and then you can simply plug them into an outlet and add them to your network. I wouldn't get anything that says "extender" and I see no reason for a "traditional" router anymore. I spent a bunch of money on one of the most "powerful" routers out there a few years ago in our 4000 sqft house and it was worthless. Discovered tplink mesh units and see no reason to change. 3 units in our new 2900 sqft house and we're covered all over the backyard and out to the street

Wireless backhaul is fine for 99% of people. Unless there's some specific reason you need the router, you can send it back. The mesh units offer most routing functions. Then it just depends on how much you want to spend and how big your space is. I would think 2 x55s would cover you well, but you might want 3 units to make sure. They're very easy to setup. Go from your modem to the mesh unit. 3 pack is 150 on Amazon right now. Doesn't work just send it back. But I've been using tplink mesh for about 8 years now and have had a great experience.

Puedes usar un deco x55 o un deco xe75. Puedes usar 2 o 3 nodos todo depende del tamaño de tu casa

I have three Deco X55 's ( with Ethernet backhaul) used as AP's with a TP Link ER 707 M2 router. I am getting between 400 and 600Mb depending on the location with my current 1 Gb network. I am switching to 2.5G all around and looking for the best AP's/Mesh to use with my TP lInk. I have looked at XE75 Pro's but do not like the fact they have only one 2.5G port. I use the wifi units as strictly AP's and not as switches. Looking for a faster WIFI system. None of my Mac's support WiFi7 but they are all 6E ready. All advice is appreciated.

That is why I am avoiding the ProSumer kits like ubiquiti and others. Once I start I will go down that rabbit hole and it will become a never ending story. My network is more than adequate for me and my wife. Out needs are unlikely to grow as we are both retired. Only reason I am looking to replace the Deco 55 's is I moved to new apple computers and they all support WiFI6E and I am a geek. I am getting between 400 and 600 Mb on my wifi with my IG service. Wonder if I will do much better with 6E.

I took the blue pill and started my journey down the Ubiquiti rabbit hole. I have a Ubiquiti Cloud Gateway fiber on order. I will try it out coming Wednesday and if it works as I expect it to, I will probably get three Ubiquiti WiFi 7 AP's to replace my Deco mesh. l also plan to replace my current switch with a ubiquity POE+ switch. You are right. My challenge now is to stop before I get too deep in to this :-)

My first router was a links's years ago. Worked great until I replaced it with an Apple AirPort Extreme. It held up great for almost 10 years . I had some issue with a Deco X-55 as a router so I repurposed them to AP'S and stuck them behind the Airport extreme, I replaced the AirPort Extreme with a TP Link ER 707 M2 only because I wanted to go to 2.5G. So far it is working well. I think Tp Link routers are fine but their Mesh systems do not measure up as well.

We have 2 deco x55, an x50, and an x10 with wired backhaul and everything works seamlessly. Great coverage all around the house.

I have the TP-Link Deco X-55 happily running in basic AP mode, no need for them to work as routers.

Similar here. Left Deco X55's for 6+ mainly because Decos could not would not deliver IPV6 in my Spectrum network. Need it and 6+ serves IVP6 perfectly.

Yes it's most likely your Mesh that is the bottleneck. I upgraded from Google Nest (5 access points) to TP-Link Deco X55 and X50 (2 access points) and i have way better coverage and speed now with less than half the access points. What really made a difference for me was getting the X50 mounted in the ceiling in my living room, it pretty much covers the entire house alone. Wifi is not magic and any obstacle like walls, windows, tv on a wall, bookshelf or cabinet will reduce the signal, which is why all the different makers of wifi access points have some sort of guide that tells you not to place them in corners, in narrow spaces etc. Do you use a router from your ISP? I've setup Deco at home, at my parents and brothers place, so that will be my recomendation. Go buy it somewhere where you can return it if you dont like it, then you can easily see how many access points you need and what the coverage and speed is.

I recommend TP link Deco, there is s nice user friendly app and it’s an easy setup. However as someone else wrote, mesh can be difficult on different floors without some cabeling in between floors. I have set it up at one location with an outdoor deco x50 as the main point and then 8 indoor units to cover 8 apartments in two floors and that works good, so that’s an alternative solution for you to consider.

Yeah I dont really get it, it’s like all the middle range Deco pretty much perform and do the same, TP links plan must be to just swamp the market with white boxes, so that it looks like they provide so many different products, but to the average consumer 80% of them are the same. I have both X55, X50 and X50 outdoor and the only major difference on those is that the X55 support easymesh and the X50 does not and it’s not even listed on their site when you compare units. I found out when I wanted to set a X50 as main unit, then I got a warning that easymesh would be disabled.

Rather than a repeater, invest in a mesh network. I have the Deco X55s in four locations in my house - base unit in the bedroom where the Xfinity router lives, dining room, living room and tv room. No issues.

My condo townhouse (built in 1984) is solid as a rock - no idea what’s in the walls, but I needed 3 Deco X55s (plus the base) to cover 2000 sf in a one story house. ETA: the Deco X55 is a mesh router, so second the recommendations on installing mesh to address any dead zones.

Your setup needs to be: Internet > Modem (or ONT for fiber internet) > Router > APs People here get too hung up on jargon. The TP-Link Decos can act as mesh (wireless backhaul) and they can act as APs (ethernet backhaul). Wired connection will always be superior so just wire them together. I have the TP-Link X55 decos and have them wired together. One great thing about the decos is they can offer seamless roaming (wifi protocol 802.11r). So as long as you have seamless roaming enabled, then when your devices come within range of a stronger signal from a different deco, then your device can connect to the other deco without having to re-authenticate. If you buy a router and different models for APs, you aren’t guaranteed to have this feature. Edit: in my case, I have fiber internet and I have one of the decos plugged in directly to the optical network terminal (ONT) and this makes that deco the main router which then makes the other decos mesh points/access points.

So for jargon’s sake, with fiber internet, the optical network terminal (ONT) is essentially the modem, but what really makes an ONT different from a modem is you can connect a computer directly into an ONT and be online. You can’t do that with a modem. ONTs don’t require a router but you still want a router if you want to connect more than one device. Anyway, with traditional APs, each AP can either have different SSID and password combos if you choose, or they have the same SSID and password as the primary router. However, having the same SSID and password doesn’t mean they offer seamless roaming. What happens is your phone will auto-join the first wifi access point that it can find. It will remain connected with that access point until the signal weakness drops below a certain threshold and then your phone will re-scan what’s around. Supposing it finds a secondary access point with the same SSID and password, it has to re-authenticate and it does this in the background but because it has to re-authenticate, it isn’t seamless so you could experience glitches on Facetime if you’re walking around your home. For seamless roaming, your access points and your devices need to have the 802.11r wifi protocol and it’s not enabled by default on the decos. After enabling it on your decos, what happens is the decos do a handshake with your phone so that you connect to the stronger signal without having to re-authenticate. I hope that makes sense?

I’ll share what I went from to what I have now. Former: TP-Link Archer A6 AC1200 & TP-Link RE-315 wireless range extender (both with the TP-Link branded OneMesh feature). Fiber internet with 250Mbps plan. Current: 3-point TP-Link X55 Deco wired with ethernet. Seamless roaming enabled and QoS configured. Fiber internet with 100Mbps plan. Even though my internet plan’s speed is less than half of what it used to be, my current setup is superior and feels faster than my former setup simply because my current setup is more optimal than before.

Which Deco units are you using? I'm struggling to get my X55 with ethernet connected 2 x S7 units to give me a stable fast mesh around the home.

I actually ended up getting the X55 triple pack in the Amazon sale, as they were better spec and were reduced in the sale. They were a bit of a nightmare to get set up, but since they've been up and running, they've been great. We've got one connected directly to our internet, so we're not using our isp router, one in the next room and one on the furthest room in the house. The one furthest away, is connected to my computer via ethernet, and we're now getting around 230Mbps, so way up from the 50Mbps were had been getting. The nodes are all connected to each other via wifi, but I'm considering connecting the first and second nodes via cable, to help improve the speed even more. Overall it's been great, and has massively improved the WiFi speed through the house.

Ok so I have x75pro’s and they get at least 100 feet and the one in the window gets 220 feet to my solar camera. They also connect to my x55 which is an outdoor mesh access point

I can’t say I have 3 xe75 pro and one x60 and one x55. I did go look up if the play nice on the to link web site…I would suggest you do that or call them, they are great over the phone or with on line chat

i am supporting 3 deco systems, one for a friend (3 nodes), one for my parents (also 3) and one at my new home (6 nodes) and they have all worked well. the oldest is about 3 years, so not yet able to call it BIFL, but they have been rock solid thus far. all ae the x55 model, all from amazon

I have a newer house but with various brick walls that made coverage a ball ache. We upgraded from 50 meg copper to 500 meg fibre. We had deco E4 mesh which was great with the 50 and so much better than the power line ones or access points however input was limited to 100meg so…needed faster input option ie 1 gig input port for connection with the new fibre router. I ummed and ahh’d about how much to spend, looked at s7, x50, x60 and went for x55 having googled comparisons and found threads on here about same questions. Furthest away point gets a good 60 meg now instead of 30-40. Nearer to the primary unit attached to router by Ethernet cable it’s virtually the full 500. 4 x55 units cover house with an e4. I understand you can have too many as well. I’d suggest always stretching your budget a bit to cover for the future. I might have spent a bit more to up the WiFi speed between units but for tv, home office work, surfing internet 50-60 at slowest point is fine. I’m No expert at all but took wifi 6 option over wifi 5 as its a newer standard and for any future changes. Sorry probably not helping here but x55 is rated at 3000 mpbs wifi and as discussed a fair drop off to 60 from 500 at some points. More than enough but the point I’m stumbling around if you’re looking at 1500-1900 you may suffer a larger drop proportionally if you’ve a Victorian brick walled house. Equally you’ve a much higher starting point with 900 than my 500. I defer to the pros on here. Benefit of Amazon is free returns so try one set up and see how it goes. Sorry my absence of the correct terminology and knowledge is obvious but I have some basics and some limited experience with setting up e4 and x55 network. The app made install and swapping units easy too so you don’t have to reconnect all your devices. Maybe just go for a trial courtesy of Amazon.

Just about any pair of Wi-Fi routers/access points will do. Case in point -- had some work done on my network earlier this week. My network has 3 Deco X55 pucks ethernet wired into it, with one serving as a router and the other two as access points. When they took down the central switch connecting the 3 pucks, I figured I'd lose internet service. To my surprise, the pucks automatically reconfigured to wi-fi connections and I was still getting service on the office devices since those connect to a puck through another switch.

I've used my X55 Decos for over a year in AP mode, but recently switched to what will become T-Mobile fiber in my area. Rather than use the ISP-provided Eero, I've put my Deco system into router-with-two-mesh-units mode, and it's rock-solid.

Deco AX3000. Going strong for almost 3 years with no issues.

Also have a deco, ax3000 wifi 6. This is my second deco system, as I upgraded from an older system. 2000sq ft split level, but I got it with 3 bases and particularly for the Ethernet back haul as I have one unit in a shed about 75 ft from my house that I ran Ethernet to. (Shed is a converted game space for tabletop gaming). Never have had any issues, works great. Friendly easy interface.

I run Decos (AX3000) in my house which was built like a f\*\*\*ing faraday cage. 2300 feet and I need 3 mesh units to get coverage throughout, plus another one just outside the back door (X50) to reach the backyard, otherwise the signal is gone after 15 feet.

I am trying to create a Mesh Wi-Fi system in my apartment (1,100 sqft) to improve speeds & general coverage around the house. I just tried doing this with a Verizon 5G router but it did not work in any capacity, I was also getting very poor signal with Verizon since I'm surrounded by concrete & brick buildings. So, the question is does anyone have any experience with this? I can't seem to log into the admin page to locate "IP Passthrough" for Spectrum like I was able to with Verizon and I can't find any good step-by-step videos of it either. With the Spectrum router, is it just a plug & play? I'm currently using a TP-Link extender in the back of the house but I have to manually switch it and the speeds aren't great either. If someone can post a link or any info it'd be much appreciated, thanks! UPDATE: I found out that with Spectrums dual device setup that I had 1 modem & 1 router, I was able to fully replace the Spectrum router and get all the features of the Deco Mesh Wi-Fi setup without any "middle man." For anyone wondering, I am using the TP-Link Deco AX3000 routers. With the app and ChatGPT as well as this thread it was pretty easy to setup.

So I was actually just using ChatGPT to try to get more info & figure things out. It told me since I have 2 separate units as the combo, I can just disconnect the Spectrum Router and use my Deco unit as the router and that will still get me the desired Mesh Wi-Fi Network. But just to give future Redditors (is that a thing? I'm new to using Reddit lol) the model # to my Router is : SAX1V1R.

I'm using the DECO AX-3000 in my home. I read that article. It said, "The group regularly targets think tanks, government organizations, non-governmental organizations, law firms, defense industrial bases..." Do you think it targets regular people, just watching Netflix and cruising around ebay? Thing is, I do worry about my crypto.

I run the 22000 version of these in my main home and the wifi6 version in a 2nd home, where they have been for over 4 years now. I have mine wired backhauled and get solid, fast connections with both. I upgraded from a nighthawk router with the 22000's about 6 months ago and saw speed improvements across the board. The app that comes with it is very intuitive and works for me. I have been reading the articles on the possible ban and I am not concerned. I know others will tell you to go cheaper, or avoid TP-Link, and their opinions are just as valid as mine, but for me the TP-Link mesh just works. Other mesh I have tried and not been a fan of include Google and eero. Good luck

Plus one here for Deco. I have four WiFi 6 models. Mesh is a better solution I agree. WiFi 7 models are still very expensive but few devices are compatible at the moment so for me WiFi 6 is the best option for the money.

I have a TP link Deco with all nodes hardwired it works brilliantly. Anything wireless is not going to perform it’s best especially as most people put mesh nodes in the wrong place

Deco is great using the older wifi 6 stuff and have great stability and speed, highly recommended

You can buy 2 unit. The main one being in the house and another garage. However, it’s hard to determine which type of connection can be used to connect the unit between the garage and the house since i’m not an expert. But if you can run ethernet from the house to the garage than you can connect the deco together via wired backhaul. The deco does have a wireless backhaul where you don’t need a cable for the two to connect but it may or may not work depending on the yard length. You could go with an outdoor unit on the yard and that would possibly be a wirless bridge between the unit in garage and unit in your house - would suggest the outdoor unit to be wired to the one in your house. That said, if you can figure that part of how to connect the deco together, i think you mean 1 gigabit internet speed instead of 1 gigabyte but if you want best performance on wifi you should go with Deco with Wifi 6E or Wifi 7. Wifi 6 is a cheaper choice but expect to get only 700-800mbps on average even in ideal condition based from my previous setup. That said it’s important that your device support wifi 6E or wifi 7 too since it’s recently introduced. Wired ethernet is also a great choice too.

I have a basement, first, second and third floors. ISP's router on the first floor (WiFi 7), and a TP-Link Deco on the third floor (WiFi 6) that's wired to the router on the first floor. Coverage is fine, 500+ mbit everywhere. I dislike the Deco's forced online login and management via a phone app only, and its lack of logging or other functions, so I recommend against it, but otherwise the performance is more than acceptable. And the ISP router is pretty damned good (Orange Funbox 10).

Agree with this. Go with mesh routers (TP Link Deco is a good option). I was able to cover a 3 level house using two units (one of the ground floor and second mounted near the roof of second floor near the stairs. This covers all 3 floors completely. If you can still do it, I highly recommend installing a CAT6 Ethernet cable from the point where you will keep the primary router (most probably somewhere in ground floor) to a central point in second floor to act as a wired backhaul. This will give you a better consistent connection from the second floor/ third units. And yes you can install this by the yourself without any networking knowledge.

TPLink Deco Mesh user here with no issues.

I’d try a mesh router system first something like the Eero 7 Plus or the TP Link Deco and see how that works before deciding to run cat6. That should be able to adequately cover 2600sqft no problem. If that isn’t enough then I’d go down the cat6 rabbit hole.

That other end of that line runs outside to the phone nid but you need it to go to your router, so you'll need to fish 2 walls. Not saying it's impossible but it would be much more complicated than you're thinking. I'd go with a mesh system like the Eero 7 Plus or the TPLink Deco, it would be much easier to get up and running.

The deco units are fine for general usage but in our case we want to game on the wifi and the ping was atrocious

Same here

My TPLink Deco, 3 unit mesh system does not rely on cloud (to function or manage) after it's initial set up. It would depend on cloud connectivity if I turned on it's advanced security features but I do as much as I can myself vs. having it inspect all my traffic. I did originally have to create an account for TPLink but my management URL for the system points to the local IP of the primary unit. It would still be talking out to TPLink at some point as it knows when updates are available but according to my PiHole and Ntopng, it's one of the quietest devices I own. Maybe not perfect for your described need but I'm happy enough with it. It also does surprisingly fine on mesh without backhaul. Even switching between APs is mostly smooth as I move around the house. Also, I'd certainly prefer to backhaul (wired connectivity back to primary router vs. one unit wirelessly feeding another.) However, my new to me house has Cat5 everywhere but the electrician only terminated 1 pair for phone at each jack. (GRRRR!) I plan on re-terminating everything but have other priorities to fix first as wireless is working surprisingly well. Mind you, I'm pretty rural so my Internet is only 50/10 anyways (500/50 after today hopefully,) so it's not exactly stressed. I miss my Gig service for hosting......

Yep all absolutely true. I ended up trying to downsize and optimize picks but the lag and need for content reboots remained. Switched over to Decos and never looked back. Incredibly fast solid coverage throughout and no downtime. Light years better.

Works fine. Not a single issue

I have a deco, nothing but trouble. Read the tp link subreddit about dropped connections. If you work from home this is not for you

Deco. Asus has done me dirty too many times to EVER buy something from them again. Don't warranty me twice. Get out of my house.

this needs so many more upvotes! I have having a nightmare with my networked PC's, some plugged into the ISP router and some on the wifi. They weren't showing up under worked PC's in windows and once i switched the Deco's to AccessPt Mode... everything fixed. I can connect to either the Deco AP mesh, or directly to the ISP router and all pc's can now see each other! Finally a good explanation on the matter :)

It’s a good system…..until your modem looses internet and the whole LAN side of your network stops functioning. It’s a known issue with many still waiting on a fix. For whatever reason, TP Link decided not to designate one of the Ethernet ports as “WAN” and instead relies on auto sensing. When the internet goes down, Deco gets confused and the general response is that the LAN also goes down until internet is restored. I ended up just running these as APs and put in a different router.

Re-iterating what others have stated. They work great when you hardware each unit. I am not a fan of wireless backhaul. In theory it should work, but in reality I find them lacking. I have recently done a Deco install and an Eero install, hardwiring all units for both. It is sometimes cheaper to do it this way than buying APs to wire in. Just remember to have the "Main" mesh unit first in the chain. I usually go Internet Modem -> First Mesh Unit -> switch -> satellites.

I've tried Orbi and Deco... Deco at least has more options but I had a lot of issues walking around the house and the switching between nodes taking a long time or unable to get a full Internet access once reconnected.

I have one of their combined routers and modems. I still run 3 decos across the house broadcasting is own signal. No issues.

I did. I have one house with 3 decos and spectrum and another house with 5 decos on optimum and no issues on either. I named both ssids on the decos the same so every device connects in both houses.

It works pretty well. I think bridge or pass through mode is a better way. But if you can’t change the settings, then this way works

Exact same setup and results (TP-Link Deco). We couldn't be happier - including multiple family member Internet power users. Life is good.

No. This is a piece of hardware that requires other pieces to work. UniFi sells business and enterprise networking equipment. It requires a management system to be in place. A cloud key or Dream Machine is needed to configure this. Think, professional use only where professional knowledge is necessary. Return this to where you purchased it. If you want to use Mesh, pickup a TP-Link Deco system, Eero, or a Google Nest WiFi system for a ***proper*** functional system that won’t make things worse. Don’t buy garbage called “range extenders” or “WiFi boosters”.

Upgrade to Wifi 6E. It's quite the jump. Not just in speeds, but how the connections are handled. You want 2x2 MIMO at least on the router side for that many devices. The Deco line works well and is easy to set and forget. You can pay huge premium for Wifi7 and enjoy that, or just realize that 200-400mbps real world speed over wifi 6 or 500-750 on wifi6e will be just fine.

Skip extenders and go mesh Error, Deco or nest will cover all 3 floors reliable. Keep the motorola as modem turn off it's WiFi and let the mesh handle everything.

More customization helps though. My TP-Link Deco units don't allow you to change the network channel, instead they have an "algorithm" that always picks the most congested channels.

\+1 for deco, I have 3 of them at home (one on each floor) and it works great!

I have an e7 and another wifi7 AP that I don’t care to remember its name, and I went back to using my old orbi mesh system. It was nothing but headaches with the ubiquity WiFi. If I were you I’d try a decent Deco mesh system. Ive set a few of those up at clients and they are very nice and super long range. If it don’t work good you can always return it :)

Initially, I had an issue where DNS resolution was failing on only some web sites, so they were just not loading and if TM reset things on their end, it seemed to work for a day or two but problem returned. Long story, short… factory reset on their end Deco fixed the problem. I think the AI didn’t like me changing to TM. No problems since.

I've had great luck with TP-Link Deco systems

We had an older Google WiFi system we just replaced with a Deco system. Night and day difference in terms of reliability.

Both should work, no issues at all. Etisalat tech lied to you. All their hardware is bargain bin stuff. You can get Deco or get multiple tp link routers with Easy mesh ethernet backhaul - the latter is cheaper and what I'm using these days.

I don't think it would honestly. The XE70 pro is a freaking beast still, you will not be disappointed. Just make sure to get a solid modem. I recommend the Netgear CM2000, or CM3000 if you want to future proof for multi gig plans down the road. I tried a combination of arris modems, top recommended routers with Merlin firmware... so much trial and error. The CM3000 and deco mesh just worked right off the bat - blazing speeds and zero issues. I 100% recommend deco

I’ve always had Asus routers with my recent being the AXE 16000. As a result it seemed logical for me if I wanted a mesh system to go the AImesh route. I purchased an extra couple of ASUS routers and to be honest found the speeds to be disappointing and found that the extra routers were often disconnecting. As a result I moved to a TP link Deco system and have been incredibly impressed particularly with maintaining my internets full gigabit speeds between nodes. I know some people go on about how managing the system is app only but personally I actually find that more convenient, but then maybe I don’t tinker enough with the system to require more access than that, apart from changing a few DNS settings.

Mesh will have a potentially hard time with the concrete, wifi simply doesn't penetrate - so mesh will be problematic - placement would be key, the satellites need to have a good signal from the base to work well. You might get away with it by placing them near doorways etc. Many people use ethernet along the base of the walls, over doorway frames etc. and wire access points. Mesh systems do have the advantage of a central controller for the access points, so if you can wire them, your wifi experience would be a lot better. I am not a fan of Netgear, TP-Link Deco is popular in this sub, as is Eero (but there's the fact that it's Amazon and has a semi-subscription model. If you want to be a little more spendy, Ubiquiti UniFi has a great interface and good quality that should last. The UniFi Express models have a built in AP and can be meshed. The Cloud Gateway Ultras would be ideal with multiple access points placed around. (I am a UniFi fan) Asus is also mostly well thought of. I think the TP-Link Deco line would be the most affordable choice.

Deco works really well with extending range. Actually better than a range extender, as Mesh systems are designed from the ground up to work with each other in the system. I had a Ge800 tied to a be550 and a WiFi 7 range extender. Super good stuff right? But it's half ass "patched up" jerky jerky mesh was no match to a Deco. Deco was snappier, more reliable, and longer range.

Can confirm. Have Deco. Am miserable.

To echo what plenty of others are saying, but also provide links to specific items to Do-It-Yourself and save money but still get good finished product. Assuming you have roof/attic access above the rooms and can run power to the attic: * buy bulk CAT6 cable, shielded twisted pair, not CCA (CCA stands for copper coated aluminum). [Get good shielded copper wire, like this](https://a.co/d/ijNWYa0). * buy a [crimper toolkit like this](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C7GRX9DW) * watch a few youtubes on terminating Cat6 cable. * buy a mesh wifi system like Amazon Eero, tp-Link Deco, Asus Zen Wi-Fi, etc. [Here's a good article / review of mesh systems and what to look for](https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/best-mesh-wifi-routers/) **NOTE:** mesh wifi is the consumer grade solution. If you can afford it, you're better off getting Wifi Access Points (APs) - the business grade solution - Ubiquiti is the best known of the AP options. Connection works similarly, with one key difference -- APs require power over ethernet (POE) instead of an electrical outlet / power supply. There are pros and cons of installing either Mesh or APs. * buy at least one [Unmanaged Ethernet Switch like this](https://a.co/d/88WLwNn) - this one is 8 port (1 connection in, 7 out). * You'll run an ethernet cable from your Comcast box to your wifi mesh router. Then you'll run a **long** ethernet cable down toward your L-corner dead zone. You'll plug that long ethernet cable to the Unmanaged Ethernet Switch. Then you'll run another ethernet cable from the Unmanaged Ethernet Switch to one of your mesh wifi satellites. BAM! Good internet within reach of that mesh satellite. You'll need to estimate/experiment with how many satellites the system needs (get multiple people to watch netflix on iPads, and spread them along rooms close to the mesh satellite -- see how many people / how many rooms you can cover before you need to add another mesh wifi satellite). I did a low-key simplified version of this at my house. Reply here if you have questions / need help. # You can do this yourself.

TP Link Deco. You won’t regret it. Of course the best case scenario is to have wired backhaul between the nodes, but real life is another thing. I’m sure you’ll be happy with the Deco solution. It’s very user friendly, easy maintenance, decent support and upgrades, and you can remotely manage them. If you decide to put some wires between them later, awesome! But you can start leveraging the benefits from day one.

Same setup here, 3 TP-Link decos along with a Ubiquiti Access Point that broadcasts into an open farm field with allows me to get WiFi 300+ ft away.

For the less network savvy, it's worth mentioning that many of the fancy features the deco router offers through the app will not work in AP mode. I consider that a good thing, but YMMV. I 'upgraded' to a deco system months ago, unaware that this is meant for the average user and advanced features are crippled, e.g. browser config is minimal as they want you to use the app. No luck querying the DHCP reservations from a script. I'm now moving to a separate OpenWRT wired router behind my cable modem and switching the deco to AP mode. This gives a lot more control. Another upside is that upgrading the WiFi system is then possible without losing all the painstakingly configured DHCP reservations and port forwarding rules.

Tp link deco. Just a no fuss system. Plug in, download the app, set ssid and don't worry about it anymore for years. Mine has been stable and working for years. There are better systems out there for sure, but at the price point, it's good value

Strange, I use vlan tagging on my deco system. It has allowed me to replace my ISP modem.

Mesh networks are the way forward. Extenders often create a new network. You can also use powerline adapters, but from my experience, you can get better speeds with a mesh network, do some research, I personally use the tp link Deco devices.

That's what made me buy my decos, I had an eero provided by talktalk which I sent back when I swapped to plusnet who use the bt hub 2 and honestly after using a single eero it was noticeable how bad the Hub 2 was so I brought the decos.

My TP-Link Deco (with all nodes connected via Ethernet backhaul) has been superb for me, easy to setup, zero black spots, seamless transition between nodes, decent and pretty consistent speeds throughout the house.

Hello!! I also use Deco Mesh and Homekit, i noticed a BIG improvement once i conected all my decos via ethernet. I hate cables but it was a game changer, i use smart products from different brands and now i don't have any issues with disconections!!  Some meross plugs disconected all the time before wiring my decos, now they work flawless! Hope you can find a solution that fits your needs! 🙌🏻

I would get Ethernet drops for access points, you could also use a mesh system like deco but make sure you are hard wired at each satellite, don’t depend on wireless connectivity between wireless points unless you absolutely have to.

I am pretty happy with my Deco system. All these systems are typically discounted on prime day if you have surrendered your soul to Darth Bezos and if you can wait until then. I know the standard advice on this sub is to do hardwired APs. But without enterprise grade system with controller, devices (I am looking at you fruit-phone) tend to cling to APs. I think the mesh systems are somewhat better at making the devices hop since the stations can “talk” to each other. Read about 802.11 k/v/r if interested. Also, most mesh systems offer wired backhaul that will always make things better.

Don't they are an Archer You want a Deco Mesh System EasyMesh, OneMesh and Deco Mesh are not compatible with each other [https://www.tp-link.com/au/home-networking/deco/](https://www.tp-link.com/au/home-networking/deco/) Choose carefully and use 'Ethernet Backhaul' where you can to improve communication between Deco's I have 4 Deco's for a large apartment and I have strong signal everywhere. You may need more Deco's but start with 4 Also take note you do not need to buy Wi-Fi7 right now. Most of your devices can't use it fully, and, they may be more unstable using BE & MLO I would suggest Wi-Fi 6E tbh, cheaper and much more reliable (without upgrading every single piece of technology in your house)

I would say to stay one step behind the 'best in class' maybe the XE200, depending on the interference in your home you may need 3-4 Deco's but start with 3, its extremely easy to just add them 1 by 1. $200 isn't a lot so you're not going to get the best performing system........remember tech is like cars........you get what you pay for..........if you want your home network to perform like a piece of sh\*t spend $200 but I assure you with your internet plan.........you will regret it later. This won't be a case where you can call your internet provider and scream at them when your home router is worse than theirs

Never used Google Mesh tbh I've always used TP-Link, both Archer and Deco and have been impressed all the way. I mean sure like computers routers need an occasional restart but twice in 1 year, that's not exactly a problem

Same 552 days and not one restart :) Even when the internet goes down it knows when to immediately reconnect

TP-Link Deco is working well for me

I've got two deco units due to my previous apartment having solid brick walls. They've been amazing for my use case. Easy setup with advanced options for what I needed. Works with TPG and now Aussie broadband. Only issue I had while with TPG and the dexo unit was not having a setting to change the packet size. With my works VPN on Microsoft teams would have a packet size just slightly over what TPG's system accepted so my teams would just stop working. Switching to Aussie fixed the issue as it was too hard to explain to IT that they need to change some backend operating system settings.

Deco is generally fine except that it handles iphones really badly. I think related to the handoff - very frequently moving from one end of the house to the other I have to switch wifi on and off again to find the network. This seems to be a common complaint on the support forum. If I weren't already $600 in on nodes I'd probably switch to an omada setup.

Don't do this if you have a home network and semi-regular internet outages. I just discovered that Decos and TP-Link's gaming routers require a modem connection to route traffic for physically connected devices. This is probably no big deal for a lot of folks, but for those of us with a NAS, or PCs that require a physical connection, it's obnoxious. The Deco unit ports are WAN/LAN ports, and they default to WAN until a modem is detected (same for their gaming routers). During an internet outage, most modern modems go into a reboot cycle, and every time they do a full power cycle, the Deco no longer detects them, and flips all of its ports back to WAN. This results in your physically connected devices getting disconnected from your network every 15 minutes or so while the modem reboots, effectively rendering your home network useless.

im a fan of tplink deco. for the best speeds get wifi 6/7 capable, and buy a few nodes to increase their range.

best solution is to use ethernet cable, or coax with moca adapters and backhaul the AP. next best is wifi mesh.. eg tplink deco

better than mesh is to use ethernet cable with AP. mesh wise tplink deco are easy and quick to setup.

unifi is good, but ive had good results from tplink deco

I just set up a new deco connected to my ISP-supplied router (I did not put it in bridge or IP passthrough mode). The Deco set up did not prompt me with anything like the choice to put the Deco in "Access Point" mode, and prompted me to add a network name. Does this mean it's in router mode?

Thank you. I did later find the setting and switched the Deco to access point mode. I found it confusing because, starting the setup assuming the Deco is in router mode means that I specified an SSID name (I used the same name as I used for the wifi from the ISP's router) and later when I switched the Deco to access point mode, that 2nd duplicated SSID hung around for a bit looking like another wifi network with the same name.

Now I understand that both the router and the Deco access point have their own SSID. I have now turned off the wifi coming out of the ISP's modem+router, while leaving the main Deco in access mode.

Totalky agree, Orbs is garbage. I switched to Deco and I've never looked back.

I’d stay away from the nest pros. I “upgraded” from these and have Ethernet backhaul and was having issues all the time with drops and lagging. Since I got them from Costco was able to return them (after over a year) and switched to the deco system. With the way these systems are setup now it seems you need points in every room because signal can drop so much with the environment. Example- my kid had a Stanley water battle near the point on their desk and the cut down the signal strength by half while only standing 2 feet away.

Was happy I remembered I bought my set from Costco and returned them after about 15 months for a refund. Had the same issue and ran through so many hoops trying to get them to work properly even on wired backhul. Switched to decos and seem to be working well but may need to add a few more WiFi points.

I have this setup,no issues whatsoever.

I like your idea; however, I suggest buying a mesh system that supports AP mode and Ethernet backhaul. Then... 1. Move the AT&T gateway to the basement and disable the wireless radio. Use it as a router/firewall only. Run the mesh system in AP mode. 2. Run CAT5e or CAT6 (not older CAT5) where you can, but also to the first floor where a mesh node will be located. This will function like a wired AP for the first floor, and should leave only the second floor with a wireless mesh node. A good mesh system like TP-Link Deco will support both wireless and Ethernet backhaul nodes in the same installation. NOTE: When you are ready, find a pathway for getting Ethernet from the basement to the attic (assuming you have access) then down into second-floor wall(s) from there. This is how I wired two houses, one build circa 1905.

A mesh probably wouldn’t help with interference much. The only benefit they have is an ‘optimise’ feature where they move to different channels based on which has the lowest interference. I would keep your existing router in place, but disable wireless and operate it in modem mode. Mesh devices aren’t great running as a router. This also means you keep Ethernet ports and reduce the need for a switch. If you have an existing wired connecting from your router to your office you can use it as a wired backhaul from mesh to mesh. I’ve used the TP-Link deco system, it works fine and was significantly better than my ISP router alone, but I’m now looking at installing wired access points around my house and moving away from a mesh.

Deco has been good to us as well. I have no complaints. 5+ years

No, it will be fine. I like the tplink Deco range

I have 2 separate ISPs with one on deco and one on google. the only issue I have seen so far with Google is 1 mesh device will randomly go down and the doorbell feed never shows when someone rings the bell

So, coming from Apple airport extremes to TP link’s Wifi 7 devices I’ve found I could not remove the airport extremes due to the poor quality of the TP link devices. Features they say they support are half supported. The TP links randomly drop connections. They also have 3 product lines that can’t mesh with each other. It’s really hard to find the info you need before you buy. I bought the deco’s and had to return them, the kit arrived with one unit dead on arrival. The tplink’s I bought say they support mesh but once setup as a mesh they lose features. So the mesh isn’t worth using.

Yes, I added Omada since they are priced all similarly where I am. I have 2 of the BE550 pro v2 routers. The mesh setup is a half baked. You can’t use all the wifi features when setup as a mesh. Everything is hard wired (backplane). I wish I had gone with something else.

I recommend TP-Link Deco or Omada systems.

I’ve got arlo cameras on my deco mesh setup. Never a problem. And my network has a lot going on all the time.

I’ve had good luck with TP-Link Deco. I have a combined 5ghz and 2.4ghz main network, but I also have a separate IoT network that is 2.4ghz only. It’s worked well for a SwitchBot Hub Mini and a Lifx bulb. Another thing to consider is not using WiFi devices. Devices that use Thread or their own hubs are going to be more reliable. Zigbee devices are rock solid.

Another vote for Deco! I have a set of three that worked really well in a two story rental house and a two story townhome. They’re a little weaker now that we’re in a 2300sqft SFH, but I just may need to adjust placement or add another unit.

Yep! I have three TP-Link Decos. They worked really well in a 1200sqft two-story house and a 1500sqft two-story townhome. They’re also working fairly well in our 2300sqft California split we just moved into, but I think we’ll need to add a fourth unit in the longterm. I’ve never hardwired them as that hasn’t been an option so far. I’m looking into MoCA since my house has coax throughout, but I’m going to hold out for a bit and decide between that and saving up for whole home Ethernet.

I have a mix of these and a deco mesh. Some of my stuff is old and doesn’t take WiFi

Deco was OK until they started putting features behind a paywall. Things like "screen time" etc were all moved to be on their subscription service.

I tried this on our living room. The main deco's range is really small. The ISP's router reaches farther like up to our neighbor next door. Should I wall mount the main deco to increase its range? It is just set on the center table. This is why I didn't turn off the WiFi from the ISP's router. My other decos are in the 2nd floor and the 3rd floor. 3rd floor has really good range since there are lesser walls. 

Works great.  Been using it a year now. Everything connected seamlessly 

The main network is T-Mobile, my decos are connected to that,but the,decos are named a separate network. I can connect to the T-Mobile main or my deco All decos are one network name. I don’t know how to describe it but it works and I have signal all over the house.

Having 10GbE ports and actually being able to provide 10gbps throughput are very different things. I refuse to recommend TP-Link Deco. The system relies on TP-Link servers for management, has a dumbed-down admin interface with only basic config options, frequently fails to deliver advertised features or function reliably, and overstates their performance capabilities (of course the latter isn't unusual in the market). I have no experience with Netgear Orbi, but note they have only a single 10GbE port, so you can't do wireless backhaul at 10gbps across nodes or to wired devices (don't expect above 3-4gbps via WiFi). Asus has the BE996U meshable router with a pair of 10GBE ports and BE19000 support, so could support 10gbps wired backhaul and (with a 10GbE switch) wired devices. I'd rank Asus above TP-Link Deco but nowhere near a system like UniFi. Do you really want 10gbps or even 5gbps throughput? Do you even have any devices that could support 10GbE, or even 2.5GbE? Run lots of CAT6A cable and get a UniFi UCG-Fiber (5gbps), UDM-Pro-Max (5gbps), or EFG (12.5gbps), or a Firewalla Gold Pro (10gbps), or a TP-Link Omada ER8411 (5gbps) router and add a 10GbE switch. Use UniFi U7-Pro-XG or TP-Link Omada EAP773 access points connected via 10GbE to the switch. I could design you a network that, on paper, would be expected to provide up to 10gbps across the wire and probably around 3-4gbps via WiFi (to devices that support WiFi 7 and 6GHz). But you'll have to spend around $5K in equipment, at least $2K for professional cable installation, and my time to do the up-front site assessment and planing for a project this size wouldn't be free. And even then, at the end of the project you'll be able to run speed tests and smile at your network throughput, but it will make very little difference in your day-to-day experience vs 1gbps.

Love my TP-Link Deco mesh setup. We have 8 satellites spread throughout the house (long ranch) and two outdoor buildings. Some are wired backhaul and others are wireless. Works great.

Don’t have a recommendation as I’m using 2 Decos with wireless back haul now. While you’re still with it, and waiting on your next router just a recommendation if you haven’t already done it. I have mine configured and rarely ever have devices disconnect or go offline. I’m sure there are much better routers, but I’m actually considering expanding my Deco network because I’ve had so few issues with it and actually find the app to be helpful. Although I wish I could see network traffic and that’ll be the main consideration if I switch. I have 3 networks set up with different names: - Main: 2.4, 5, 6ghz bands - Laptops, Consoles, Apple TVs, HomePods - IOT: 2.4, 5ghz bands - Smart appliances and devices: lights, switches, tvs, monitors, cameras, locks, etc (set connection preference in the app to 2.4ghz and turn off mesh on devices that only support 2.4 (super important and what stopped the offline issue)) - MLO - iPhones

TP-Link Déco is cheap and simple to install. Other brands got more features, I don't need.

I don’t know if it would suit your needs, it’s kinda barebones, but I’m using TPlink Deco line for this. I have one of their outdoor units outside in Minnesota, and it sees up to 100 F in the summer and -20 F as extremes. It’s lasted fine for two years now. I have it attached PoE outdoor Ethernet I ran along my fence.

Mesh systems are great but you still aren’t going to get your full internet speeds via WiFi unless you only subscribe to sub 500mb service. Maybe if you’re standing in the exact right spot compared to the wireless routers. Depends on the capabilities of the d vices you’re connecting to WiFi as well as distance, height and interference. I run tp-link after finally ditching my slow ass eero mesh setup but WiFi is WiFi and it’s never as good as connecting directly to an Ethernet port.

I would get a deco mesh WiFi system and use a switch off of the main router for all of your wired needs(gaming, large file transfers internally, etc). The deco routers each have two Ethernet ports. The one that you designate as the main router will have both used(1 incoming from your cable or fiber modem/terminal and the other one out to a switch to feed Ethernet devices. You can run Ethernet from your switch to each of the other mesh devices as a faster backhaul or connect them wirelessly if there’s a strong signal. You will get some speed loss here, no doubt, but without a lot of interference or great distance the speed loss won’t be terrible. If you do run Ethernet to each one as a backhaul then you can use the other port on those mesh devices to connect a device via Ethernet as well. I have one sitting in my living room anyway that’s connected to the others via WiFi with a strong signal but my tv has a crappy WiFi card in it so it doesn’t always have the best connection so I just plugged the Ethernet port on my tv into my mesh device and it works like a champ. You may not even need to use a switch very much if you strategically place your mesh devices and backhaul then with Ethernet. You can attach two Ethernet devices to each one (other than the main one) if they’re open because you didn’t use any for backhaul if and chose WiFi as your backhaul instead

Another vote for deco, just works.

I went from Deco’s that had devices drop off regularly to Eeros supplied by my ISP. It’s like night and day. Eeros are rock solid and work perfectly with my Apple Home setup. I intended to go down the Unifi route until I realised just how reliable and well performing the Eero’s were. They are ‘plug and play’ and you can’t change much, but are pretty much ‘set up and forget’. Just my own experience and it may be different for someone else.

Nonesense. My simple TP-Link Deco setup works flawlessly with 4K 60hz streaming at 100mbps. Host is wired and client is wired or wireless depending on whether I use the TV. I can go fully wireless, but then I need to reduce the bitrate to sin 50 mpbs.

Yes, my large TP-Link Deco system performs well, but realistically I'm fairly low bandwidth on the wireless side. I do have a bunch of WiFi telemetry devices over a broad area and they seem happier since I put it in.

I concur that you need a mesh Network. There's a lot of options out there and for your building you could probably do it for under $1,000 easily. I myself have a deco and we have four modules through a long rambly ranch house and we have nearly 300 MB per second everywhere because we have about 1 GB per second fiber to the house.

Definitely get a mesh Network and you can actually make it use 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz and you can't tell the difference. I have The Deco and it works super well in this old thick plastered house

Can voich for Decos. I have a Deco Mesh(3 decos) running from the last 365 days. Non-stop. Not even a second.

I’ve been using TP-Link Deco for a couple of years and it’s been great.

I moved recently, and in my current situation, my PS5 is nowhere near my router and there is no way to plug an ethernet into it. This made it impossible for me to use my portal via the PS5 (it would not even connect), it would only work via streaming. Of course, this frustrated me a lot. This prompted me to go on a journey to upgrade my home network. I previously never even thought about improving my network setup, I just always used whatever router the internet company provided or a cheap / normal one. The first thing I tried was using powerline adapters. I read that this is hit or miss depending on your electrical wiring. It sucked a lot for me, so I returned them. The next step I took, and what worked for me, was buying a high end modem and building a mesh network using tp-link deco. I was expecting the wifi coverage at my home to improve, after all that is the goal of the mesh network. What I was not expecting and am blown away by is just how much faster my internet is overall. Probably because I’m using a good modem and good router vs what I had before. I just never knew the impact would be so high. I use two decos, a main and a satelite, and my PS5 is connected via the ethernet on the satelite. My Portal now connects and works amazing. Fast connection, zero lag. Just wanted to share this because I know a lot of people have connection issues - when connecting directly to your main router isn’t an option, a mesh might be just as good.

Have 2 as a easy mesh. Nice and fast, would buy again

You can also not use VLANs and use OPNSense as it was meant to be used, as a router, and route traffic at the IP layer. You'd be able to use your existing Deco WiFi in its own separate network. In fact, this is what I do. with my Deco.

Same. Plus all Decos are compatible with all other Decos, which makes upgrades easy.

More support for the deco mesh system, much better than other extenders I’ve used

Deco mesh works great in my old home

Tp-Link all he way. Either Deco (if you want ease of installation) or Omada (if you want configurability). You can run the Omada Controller locally as a HA Add-On and also there is an Omada Integration giving you control over all your Omada gear, including control over PoE management on switches.

I’ve had Deco for over 6 years now and it’s going strong I did have an issue about a year ago, I contacted tplink directly and they replaced the unit without any cost, awesome customer service I couldn’t contact the seller because I bought it on Amazon and they still did my replacement.

I got a Deco router and two mesh network extenders. My home is a 650 square foot shotgun

Take the Spectrum modem, get a TP-Link Deco Mesh system (don't listen to the nonsense about them being banned in the US). My house is about 2500 sq ft, I have over 60 devices connected to it, and have ZERO issues.

No love for TP-Link Deco? I swapped out from eero felt it had better parental controls. After that my wifi speed increased from wifi6 to 7. Obviously it was updated but runs so seamless.

Use Deco, a much better solution

I’d avoid the TP-Link deco, it’s horribly unreliable. It doesn’t last, I’d recommend spending more $ for a solution that will last

eero and tp link DECO units are gonna be the best options. i can’t believe no one has said this but orbi has very good options. i have tried tp links one mesh and it has a lot of problems. if your a gamer i wouldn’t buy one tp link router and then have wall access points. get a actual mesh set up as if you want best overall speeds EVERYWHERE then get mesh. deco have very nice, cheap and reliable options, eero is more expensive but has a lot more extensive security settings and parental controls which i do believe is included with the piece if you add there subscription. the biggest thing eero has is, SQM which basically takes network debloating and latency and somehow it fixes it. which is very good for wireless connectivity between mesh devices as if you connected to one satellite mesh network you’ll see a upload latency increase. i think in general the best bang for your buck is tp link. and best overall is orbi. the reason i love orbi is my parents bought the rbr750 or something but it was 6 years ago and it’s still giving the speeds they paid for and still is getting firmware updates. eero is the in between because there a little less than most of the orbi systems i would suggest but have just any the same amount of features. so to sum it up eero is middle ground, orbi is the best, tp link is best bang for buck. hope this helps!

I dunno about them but the tp link deco mesh system really works. My Internet is 12x faster than before having it. 

My day to day is installing Ethernet wiring in finished homes. I’m often addressing issues like poor wifi coverage, old cat5 cabling throttling fiber speeds, or modems installed in places other than where the existing Ethernet wiring is. Every job I’m hardwiring mesh nodes for backhaul, workstations, gaming consoles, or streaming TVs. My skill set is adding wiring to finished homes without cutting sheetrock or needing a painter. This skill comes in handy when a home doesn’t have a crawlspace, or needs wiring between multiple floors (2stories, 3stories, finished basements, and townhomes). I like tplink because of the performance, simple but informative app, and the nodes come with additional Ethernet ports(2 extra after doing hardwired backhaul). Also you can mix the different models seamlessly without having to upgrade the entire system (Google nest). Anyways I just wanted to share how I resolve common network issues and hate tplink gets a bad rep. I also install Unifi and the occasional Eero pro, but tplink just works and their switches have built in QOS for audio/video traffic. So if you are having network issues I recommend buying a pack of your favorite mesh gear, install them where heavy usage devices are, then hardwire them, and hardwire any nearby pc, tv, or game console. If planned correctly you will have the perfect network. Also I recommend mesh over in-ceiling access points because you get more for the Ethernet run, not just a cable for wifi, but a cable that can run a switch, mesh node, and more!

I hardwired a pc before I add wifi coverage. I don’t like to see a workstation on a dock using wifi 🥴🥴

I think you mixed in their enterprise stuff (Omada). Also they work 2x better hardwired, and I think you only have mesh issues if you set them up as access points or create multiple networks accidentally by plugging them into different routers. They have to have a main and the rest be satellites. Basically the topology for all mesh systems has to be hardwired, on the same network, and only one acting as the router. I guess I have had good luck with them and you got bad luck. What did you end up using instead?

The tapos are nibackhand. just work. I have them everywhere as well. Make sure you run ethernet to all the decos.. They are terrible without a hardwired backhaul.

After having the same issues I ended up doing the same. 0 issue since using my old Asus router with the Decos as APs.

Agreed, Deco changed my life! Well worth the outlay

Decos work

I own a bunch of Ubiquiti gear (but not any of their APs) and while it works great you do need to be a lot more comfortable managing your network than you do with consumer-oriented gear like Asus. I'd suggest looking at mesh Wi-Fi systems where you get multiple APs and can place them as needed for best performance/coverage. I bought a 3 AP TP-Link Deco mesh system for my wife's house (old row house full of brick and plaster+lathe, tons of neighbors' WiFi networks competing for airtime) and it has worked like a champ. I just looked and TP-Link is both the Wirecutter's budget pick (Deco S4) *and* upgrade pick (Deco BE63), but not their top pick, which is the Eero 7. Related: I'm still using an old Asus RT-AC68U in AP mode for WiFi, it covers all 2700 sq ft of my house from the roof to the basement and a huge chunk of my yard. It's connected to a Ubiquiti EdgeRouterX for actual routing.

I agree completely but I do have a tiny bit of experience with Deco systems and Asus XT8 systems. (I was happy with Deco systems for many years but decided to develop familiarity with another similar brand in case of any supply chain disruption when I needed to get my hands on a system.) I like both but the Deco app is nicer than Asus’. Otherwise I’ve been satisfied with both after having deployed a handful of each in the past few years.

Eventually will switch to unifi (when i have the money) however im very happy with my current deco system! Bought my current deco to replace a nighthawk mesh(stay away) and its been rock solid since the initial set up

I had these and they worked great, both for WiFi and wired. Not sure why others are saying the WiFi was rubbish. I even used one in my parents house on an extension lead to put WiFi in their rental cottage next door. The reason I have upgraded to Deco mesh is because each powerline creates its own WiFi hotspot, which is fine if you are connecting a stationary desktop/TV etc (although in which case ethernet cable to the TP Link is better), but I had 3 in the house and the original router, which means the WiFi connection on your phone/tablet wants to keep switching to a different source when you move from room to room, and dropping out every time, which was enormously annoying.

I’ve got the same setup. Works great, just make sure you set it up in access point mode instead of router mode, or you’ll get double NAT.

+1 for the Deco Mesh system. Very good WiFi throughout the house and better than a powerline connected to a WiFi extender in access point mode

You have both advertising the same ssid? Wifi devices transition fine between the 2 routers? I'm thinking of doing this. Tired of crappy mesh. First Nest mesh started getting jittery, then switched to tplink deco's and after 1 year, there was latency and packet drops all over the place. I might as well just get 2 nighthawks routers and do what you did.

Same. Moved to Deco instead.

Look at TP-Link Deco or Eero. Both are solid mesh options. With 2 floors and a basement, a mesh system with wired backhaul (if you can run Ethernet) will give you the best performance. You can always start wirelessly and run cables later if needed. Just make sure whatever you get supports Wi-Fi 6. It'll handle gaming, streaming, and working better than anything else.

It takes 3 decos to cover 5500 sq ft. That’s what I have. Took about 5 of the crappy Linksys ones. Got rid of those. Deco is so much faster setup and stronger signal

I've had my hands on a fist full of different mesh solutions. Cost to performance the Decos are winning for now. However given the issues your describing, I don't think a mesh solution is right for you. Look into a more traditional wireless access point solution. Downside is you need to run CAT5e or CAT6 from your router to the APs. My go to right now is the TP-Link EAP670 or the Mikrotik cAP ax. You can use the supplied POE bricks and just hook them directly to your ISPs router. (there are better ways to do this, but its the simplest/cheapest)

Depends on construction materials but assuming wood and drywall your issue won’t be area per floor it’s getting the signal between floors. Wired data to Wi-Fi per floor is best but if that’s not available a tp-link deco mesh system on floors 1-3 ought to do you may need a 4th node on the fourth floor it’s just hard to say. It’s relatively inexpensive and easy to set up. TP Link is getting a lot of news right now so you’ll see some opinions on it. All I can tell you is that if you’re looking for ease of set up and solid operation at a good price its a good fit.

The cheapest will be TP-Link but everyone will tell you to stay away from them because they're under fire by the US Government right now and might be banned from being sold in the US. I'm personally riding my Deco system out until that time comes though.

I’m using the deco system across 6 acres and 3 buildings. Works great! 1-2 indoor nodes per building and one outdoor node In the middle of the property. I do have a wired back all between the two furthest buildings, just ran an outdoor cat 6 in a wooded area. Cheers

Deco here as well and never have any Sonos issues, 160square metre house so I have 3 decos to cover it.

I'm using the unify mesh backhaul. It's not great / weaker then the tp link deco meshing setup i was using before. Lower connection speed and more frequent disconnects. Maybe with the dedicated meshing AP it works better, I'm just using i7 Lite Models.

"EastMesh" and Deco "AIMesh" seem to use different mesh platforms and likely won't be compatible. You need another "EastMesh" device if you want it to do what I assume you want it to do, be one house wide WiFi signal with fast roaming as you move around.

no worries, there's also one mesh but that only works with routers to extenders and is absolutely trash and I would not recommend it

If you want cheap and easy to set up mesh WiFi check out TP-Link. Get a decent router then a couple of their mesh wall plugs. It’s easy and reliable. But many love to bash on TP-Link for both good and bad reasons. I’ve used them a few times and they have been great.

You'll need one [OneMesh compatible router](https://www.tp-link.com/us/home-networking/wifi-router/?filterby=AND%7C5876), then you'll get however many [range extenders](https://www.tp-link.com/us/home-networking/range-extender/?filterby=AND%7C5876) you need to cover the area you need. But remember, less is more in this situation. You don't want to flood your home with these devices. Only get as many as you actually need. Start with just the router and figure out your dead zones, then buy the extenders or start with two extenders and buy them from somewhere you can easily return and refund one or both if you don't need them. This is all really easy to set up in my experience, and it just works. You can also skip the actual extenders and just use another OneMesh-compatible router. That may also work for your setup. Sometimes this is better since the routers normally have a stronger signal and longer range. The Deco series from TP-Link is also quite good in my experience.

You'll need one [OneMesh compatible router](https://www.tp-link.com/us/home-networking/wifi-router/?filterby=AND%7C5876), then you'll get however many [range extenders](https://www.tp-link.com/us/home-networking/range-extender/?filterby=AND%7C5876) you need to cover the area you need. But remember, less is more in this situation. You don't want to flood your home with these devices. Only get as many as you actually need. Start with just the router and figure out your dead zones, then buy the extenders or start with two extenders and buy them from somewhere you can easily return and refund one or both if you don't need them. This is all really easy to set up in my experience, and it just works. You can also skip the actual extenders and just use another OneMesh-compatible router. That may also work for your setup. Sometimes this is better since the routers normally have a stronger signal and longer range. The Deco series from TP-Link is also quite good in my experience.

I have a 2 pack TP Link Deco mesh system and it works great for me.

I have a 1gb connection and about 100 feet from the main unit through a brick wall I can get 25 megabits a second down.

if you want speed, you definitely need deco in each room. if you just want coverage, whatever I guess. get the one you can afford, just make sure that the deco your buying is gigabit capable, at least the main deco that is going to connect to your ISP provided CPE ONT, tapos you can go cheap with the satelite/slave devices to widen the coverage.

Agree, Deco mesh is very good, took a bit of adjusting in my flat - the walls seemed to be lined with lead.

7,299 right now on Amazon for 3 unit TP link deco.

I use a deco. I had disconnection problems when I was using the fast band and I saw someone recommended that Google home prioritize consistency over speed and that I should switch over to 2.4hz. I did that and my Google home has never had a disconnect since.

From a cost/quality/ease of setup TP Link Deco’s are definitely in the running. I have 3 in a 2600 sq/ft 1 floor house with no problems. Granted mine are all hardwired in AP mode but I imagine they would still work well in mesh.

I have tp link Delco each has ethernet back haul works great.

Eero (Amazon), tp link Deco, and Asus ZenWifi are all well-reviewed and perform well. If you've got to go mesh, look for a tri-band system with a dedicated backhaul channel (Eero, Deco, and ZenWifi all have models). Eero and Deco are a little more "plug and play". ZenWifi is also easy to set up, and some models give a few more config options/control than Eero or deco. The tricky part is that you don't know how well mesh will perform until you set it up in your place. Two nodes might be enough, but you might need three (or four). A 6 ghz backhaul channel might work, but, if the walls and floors in your place cause a lot of interference, you might see better perf with a 5 ghz backhaul. So buy from a place you can return it, maybe start with three nodes, test how coverage and speeds look, go from there. All three have 2.5 Gbps ports. 3 gig is a *lot* of bandwidth for a residential setup. Unless you're regularly downloading gigantic files (video, game updates), you probably won't exceed ~300-500 Mbps, and WiFi will de facto limit the perf on any device to ~200-600 Mbps. For most homes, 200 Mbps is plenty. If the 3 gig price isn't much different than ~300 Mbps (if you're in the US, it's hard to find service under ~300 Mbps), go for it, but if you're paying a premium for 3 gig, you can save some coin and you almost certainly won't notice a difference in performance. If you're in Europe, you rule!, fiber away because you're prob only paying like €40 for 3 gig.

TP Link Deco Mesh are great. Rarely stop working and can be monitored with the app. In the farthest corner of a new extension room, signal boosted significantly.

Wifi extender would reduce the speed considerably. Best option : Mesh network. You'll need two minimum and add on would be 2.5K per mesh router. TP link Deco is what I am use. Second best : buy another wifi router and connect it with the original through ethernet cable. You'll have a different wifi name for the network from the second router so you'll have to switch between connections.

Second for deco devices

Saw that too. I have TP Link Deco in my home. It’s been amazing but may look for another mesh alternative.

I'm using TP Link Deco's. Wish I'd gone for UniFi (which I've just installed at work - my word it's good)

Sadly, hard disagree. I literally have had 2 Deco units for a week now and its been a horrible experience, with performance worse than when I was just using a router. I really don't get it. It doesn't disconnect, through put just randomly drops to 1kbps. It's driving me nuts.

I was using decos until last week. Never been happy with them, random disconnects, rubbish app that won't let you change settings 9 times out of 10. Stuck with it since lockdown. Finally got fed up last week, ran some cat 5 cable from my router to an old router set up as an extender, more cat 5 from that to the next old router and now I have 4 daisy chained around the house and workshop. Rock solid wifi everywhere, and as a bonus, plenty of ethernet ports everywhere for pc's and tvs

A mid budget version is TP Link Deco, works fine for us.  Depends what your use case is. 

I had powerline adapters and recently changed to the deco Wi-Fi mesh system which have powerline backbone connectivity so they can bridge gaps and provide a unified Wi-Fi across the house Really good kit

Seriously, set it up at my parents too a couple of years ago. So easy to use and good price point and the security concerns are actually wildly overblown I find.

Lmao, I knew the minute I saw this that it was going to be someone with a tp-link deco. Same headaches here. I just manually restart them occasionally. One day I’ll switch to a different brand, just waiting on WiFi 7.

I'm with u/eternal_peril here wired is always better regardless of connections however a step down woulkd be mesh, I would stick with TP link deco.

You can get something like a tp link deco and set it up yourself using their app, I’ve done it at my house myself and it works reasonably well compared to our old extender

I'd go mesh, if you have a cable already running to the back use that as wired back haul. I've been happy with my decos

I used to use these and they do work but honestly I'd recommend TP Link Deco Mesh over these, I get 3x the speed as when I used these.

Honestly... If your budget is limited I might just keep running on your Deco's. They're decent units. Unless you have 5+ people streaming/working/gaming at once... You're probably more likely to saturate your uplink. Save you're $ until you can build a good Unifi system or just save it, pay off debt, etc.

TP Link Deco definitely requires an app and an account and although there is a web interface, it can't do much. Nice gear, but not acceptable under your policy. Netgear Orbi may have required me to install an app and get an account to get it setup (I didn't try to get around it.) But the web interface is full fat and I've never opened the app since installing.

I have the tp link Deco system. I get much better coverage and speed with that

I got the tp link deco setup like this. Using 2.5gb back haul. Works like a boss, I've got a fairly large double lot rectangular property and I can get damn near full speed at the water. Haven't had a single issue yet. Honestly not quite sure what the beef is with them.

I am running a tplink deco mesh system. you need to log into the att modem and set it to ip passthrough mode then point it to the main unit. it is pretty easy to do and there are youtube videos on passthrough mode.

Your internet speed (150 vs 600 Mbps) affects how fast stuff downloads/uploads, but not your WiFi signal inside the house. For better wifi coverage, I’d skip the “powerful modem/router” and go with a mesh system, like a TP-Link Deco series which will plug straight into the ONT/Modem depending on your ISP. Super easy to set up and reliable.

Only if you want Wi-Fi 6 and to go down the mesh route, it depends on your devices. With a mesh system like the Deco, you won't need the AC1900 anymore. However, if you really want to keep it, you could just add an access point to increase the wifi coverage. Who is your ISP? I would just look at something like the X50s; you can pick up a 3-pack for cheap, solid units.

With wired backhaul, any cheap mesh setup will work, such as the Decos. Any wifi 6 system will be fine. The expensive mesh nodes are for wireless backhaul as they have extra wifi streams and radios to handle the load. I just want to emphasize that wired backhaul is extremely beneficial in terms of stability and throughput, so it's worth making sure you're utilizing it.

I've had great luck with the TP-Link Deco mesh series at a reasonable cost. What may be more important for you is that if you have internal concrete walls (not just the exterior wall), you'll almost certainly be better off using an Ethernet backhaul to plug your mesh or AP units into.

TPLink Decco is a damn good mesh system and and much cheaper. Nonreason to buy those over priced things. $169 for my 3 Decco System.