Hi!
I have a TP Link Deco XE75 Wifi Mesh. I also have 2 C7 hubs, one connected via cable to my main router, and one connected with cable to one of the mesh hubs.
I setup a Zigbee mesh, and it works great most of the time, say for 2-3 weeks. Then suddenly the mesh is not to be seen in the settings, and nothing works.
If i restart the distant Deco hub, the mesh gets up and running in 5-10 minutes. But other devices has not problem communicating via this hub, only the Hubitat hub.
My main hub has all the control devices, the one connected to the distant deco hub has all my light bulbs. I read somewhere this would be a good setup.
So.. my question is, is there something I can do to improve this, to make the connection stable? I set the Hubitat mesh to sync every 5 minutes.
My next step would be to drag a long cable through the house.
You can lock them down though. That is what I do. I do not use them for my router. But they are quite good as an AP mesh as long as you lock down a few things.
Must be a new firmware update, because last I checked, TP-Link's Deco routers did not support locking down the 2.4 GHz channel. TP-Link's other routers do support this.
I can lock any of the frequencies in the main wifi settings under advanced (Wifi Settings - > Click the frequency -> Click Advanced -> Channel Settings -> Click the frequency again🤷‍♂️: You can specify both channel and width). The IOT and guest networks follow the main. So, I temporarily allow the main wireless to have 2.4 on, then choose channel 1, then disable 2.4 on the main. I have different SSID's for my 2.4 devices. But leaving 2.4 on in the main wireless causes issues when I have 2.4 only enabled for the IOT devices - which in AP mode is just a way to have a separate 2.4 GHZ only network. In any case, no, you cannot specifically change the channel on the IOT or Guest networks. But, they will follow what you do on the main. Once disabled on the main, the 2.4 on IOT will stay at the setting you had in the main UNTIL you run the optimization again (which I never do).
Verified this by scanning periodically for several months after installing the mesh.
Should be noted, I am running the BE65's and this has been available since I bought them. If I could not have done this, I would have taken them back. I have a 3D printer that WILL NOT connect on a mixed network and I keep my 2.4 at channel 1 and HE at 20 to keep them apart. Might be different for the XE 75's that OP is using.
PS - The OP might consider a MOCA backhaul instead of a wireless backhaul so that they do not have to run cables throughout the house. I do this and maintain a 2.5 Gbps backhaul and can get full speeds from my ISP (around 1.5 Gbps) with latency that matches what my router gets directly from the modem.
I wish - 2.4 fixed.
I run the XE75's and they don't allow this.
I remember reading in the forums about users complaining they have no control over the "Auto" crap.
This was true of the XE75s that I had before I switched away to Unifi.
However, as @tray_e points out, the BE65 does permit setting the 2.4 GHz channel, so perhaps TP-Link will provide this facility to other Deco models in a future update.
I read an official community response from Deco in 2024 after I bought them about the 2.4 control.
It was a polite, "Our engineers know better that you do".
Thank you for all your replies. I checked the settings of my XE75's, and there is no direct setting to turn the switching off. However, in the TP Link forums, they state that if you just set it to 80MHz, it will no longer do the auto switching. I think that is true, because i have not seen the channel switch message for a long time, and mine is set to 80 MHZ.
Since the problem is fixed if i restart the TP Link unit, i still suspect it is the network that is unreliable or it is the intereference. I have a LOT of wireless devices, so that is a probable cause.
So i guess I'll just drag some cables through the house, so both Hubitat hubs gets connected to the same switch. A bit annoying that this is necessary, but that's networking for ya.
Unfortunately I found that the new smart meters/receivers, at least the ones in use where I live, all communicate on 25 so the top end of the spectrum is off limits for me.
Our smart meters are on CH 25 as well, And very loud. Why I went for CH 26. CH 26 limits to about 3/4 the power of the other channels. But I have mine turned down to 1/2 power anyway. So why not?
Perfectly fine. I was just staying away as I had other routers in the area on ch11.
With the hydro meters and the ch11 sidebands it was best to stay away.
I just checked and I only see one AP there now so looking better than where I sit now.
I also have a few older Smartthings device that will not work on 11; I have a feeling I tried 26 once and had issues too.
I might move to the end of the spectrum if the weather brightens up one day.
When I change channels I find 50% of the devices follow and I have to spend a good part of the day rejoining my lost friends.
