TP-Link - Deco XE5300

I had TPLINK Deco Mesh - TP-Link Deco AXE5300 Wi-Fi 6E Tri-Band Whole-Home Mesh Wi-Fi System, 3-Pack Every time Spectrum went down, which is about once a month here on eastern NC, I had to call Spectrum and ask them to “reprovision” the modem. And then the TPLINK mesh would reconnect, I finally gave up and replaced it with Spectrum router Same equipment works flawlessly with Verizon FIOS 1GB in Northern Virginia, same stuff. Do not use TPLINK mesh with Spectrum, you will regret it. Also, you will get NO HELP from Spectrum. Their tech support is awful and worse than no support, they give the illusion of helping

I have the AXE5300 with an extra XE75 in the garage. Working great for me. All wireless back haul.

I have been using this for about two years. It works fine in AP mode, I game on it every night for two hours. In fact I just upgraded from x60 to xe5300 yesterday, which was a nice upgrade software and hardware wise. Modem speeds of 750mb was only hitting 120 at my WiFi desktop. Now it is 250, both speeds from not being connected to the main Deco.

I have set up a Deco system for someone, specifically the XE5300, was very easy to set up for them and was able to get them on custom DNS which is all that was really needed, I need to get back and check the app again for them, I know TP Link is added encrypted DNS to some units and would prefer to get them on my ControlD setup via DoH.

No not really, there just is not much you can really do to the devices in the app, just set it up and that is about it, there are some advanced features but nothing that would break anything. You can choose which band to have mesh over, you can also hardwire them to each other, or use them in AP only mode.

Ok, then you need a higher power cpu model. The M4 is single core — the newer units are quad core. They can’t handle higher speeds and the larger number of devices that are now connected in most homes. My M4s did what yours were doing when in router mode when I ditched my ISP router. So I initially put another router in front of them and put them in AP mode. I have since gotten some AXE5300s and changed my main Deco to one of them, but due to some other pressing matters, haven’t yet taken the other router out of the mix yet. I know I need to since the other router is about 7 years old and no longer getting security updates (not a TP-Link, just an old router I had on-hand).

Thanks. How much further distance did the 3 pack eero pro 6 mesh units worked in your case? I have tried the Deco AXE5300 mesh and it didn’t even work more than 30-40 ft away.

I have the TP-Link AXE5300 and it works flawlessly. We have 3 units in our 2300 sq ft two story house With the AT&T fiber 300 plan we get 360 up and down throughout the house.

As a counterpoint, I have a Deco XE5300 system that is rock solid. I recently decided to invest in moca adapters to let me move my server & hubs, as our cable comes into the house in a really weird place. I’ve found the Deco system really easy to use and configure and quite reliable. OP I don’t know if it’s your specific units, or if you have suboptimal placement, or not enough units, but I don’t think there’s some fundamental flaw with this product like which makes it useless.

I just installed the TP Link Deco AXE5300 from Costco in my townhouse. Works great. Is it the best? IDK, but it was only $200, so I'm happy.

First thing about a mesh system, any brand mesh router works better if it is back wired with a cat 6 or 6a Ethernet wire. (Using a cat 7 or cat 8 is a waste of money for the price difference.) Personally I have used two brands. Both have worked well. TP Link and Asus. I just returned by TP Link BE11000 from Costco which worked well. (Most box stores like Sam’s Club and Costco might have the same model number router, but there are differences. The Costco one has a 2.5 GB port for example). I had the TP Link AXE5300 before that which actually worked the best out of any mesh system I had. The reason I returned the TP Link is because of what I read about the potential TP Link ban in the United States. There are many reasons for this from geopolitical reasons to a possible backdoor that would allow hackers to use multiple US based routers to be used as a botnet. My main concern for returning it was if it was banned, there would be a chance there would not be any firmware updates. I could not find any firmware that I could flash onto it if that happened, (I checked OpenWrt, DD-WRT and a few others for alternative open source firmware.) i did not want to take that chance of losing out on that investment, if, the ban occurs. There is no guarantee it will happen. It was me being overly cautious. I was still within my 90 day return window and chose to return it. No one thing I want to be clear on, no brand mesh router is 100% secure, there are security issues that can happen and have happened with any of them. I decided to switch to Asus AIMesh routers for my home. I would have loved to keep WiFi 7, but the prices are higher than TP Link. (I got the TP Link routers on sale at Costco for $399, normally $499 for the price.) I would have loved to get a 3 pack of the Asus BT10, but that was way out of my budget. I ended up getting a three pack of the Asus ZeWiFi AXE7800. It is a 6e system. It works good enough for my home. With Asus there are more options that I like having. I have had some hiccups with it, but worked through them. (For example I have the AI Protection turn on with the malicious sites option turned off because it is too aggressive and there is no whitelist. AI Protection uses Trend Micro’s cybersecurity system at no extra charge. TP Link had a Home Shield Pro, but that is a monthly charge which I chose not to pay. A lot of other mesh routers have security but it comes with a paid subscription model. Part of the reason I chose Asus for no additional charge. I also liked Ubiquiti system the most, but was out of my budget. I would recommend that you check out dongknows.com. He reviews a lot of mesh routers and probably provides too much information. I also watched landpet on YouTube and used rtings.com ) Good luck. (Sorry for the long response. Too much coffee.)