TP-Link Deco S4 Whole Home Mesh WiFi System – Up to 3,800 Sq.ft. Coverage, AC1900 WiFi Router and Extender Replacement, Parental Controls, Deco S4(2-Pack)

Great WIFI mesh system –with some caveats
So this is going to be a lengthy review and how to in one — I purchased this because I have a 4000 sq ft house and my; ISP provided ,panoramic WIFI router was spotty at best and barely making it across the house. Once up and running the mesh system delivers a full 2.4/5G signal anywhere I needed it. However, the system itself is set up to be used with a cable or fiber modem. In most cases though, most people have an ISP provided all in one router and modem of some sort. So here is my experience with this system:——First off I have been in the networking/IT field for 20+ years. This system and the walk through instructions are set up to help a person with next to no IT experience. this is good and bad. I figured Id share my experience to help someone out there that may be struggling to get this working.——In my house I am currently using the COX com panoramic router. While the routing works decent, the WIFI on it is terrible! To make matters worse, I was on the newest version of the router the PW8 and the cox WIFI extenders that were available for purchase for about 150 that work with the unit are not available for the new model. My only option was to downgrade to a slower device and buy their mesh pods which was laughable.——If you happen to have a cox panoramic router, your options will be either send it back and purchase your own DOCsis 3.1 modem or find a way to utilize the mesh and circumvent the terrible WIFI————————————————————————————————————————-Now the somewhat tricky part. This next part applies to connecting the TP-link mesh to the cox panoramic router, the latest release pw8 version. I am sure it will work for other versions as well—————————————————————————————————————————1. Doing a little Googling, you will see many websites that tell you “just put your router in bridge mode” . Bridge mode shuts off all the routing and WIFI and makes your router act as if it were just a modem. This would probably work for most routers in most cases but In my case the TP-link mesh would not connect to the internet when my panoramic router was bridged, I will say this again I tried all the ports on it and it WILL NOT connect to the cox pano router in bridge mode.——2. Solution! Do not worry about putting it in bridge mode. Download the DECO app and create an account, take one TP-link node and connect it VIA an ethernet cable to your pano router on an open port. Go through the instructions normally. make sure you select DYNAMIC when it asks you if your ISP provides access to the internet. For me this option was greyed out at first but playing around in the menu fixed it. With DYNAMIC selected hit done or next—3. walk through the rest of the instructions until it tells you to add another DECO. STOP!!! DO NOT ADD THE DECO AT THIS POINT!!! I cannot stress this enough. just “next” through the remaining instructions until you get to the end then go into the main DECO screen on your phone—4. On the DECO main screen, lower right select “more” then “advanced settings” select Access Point mode and let the DECO fully reboot and down load firmware if it needs too. once in AP mode, go connect the second and third DECO(one at a time) and wait for them to flash blue. in the upper right corner of the DECO main screen click on the + button and go to add another DECO5. follow the instructions and then repeat for the third one. –if done correctly the second and third DECO will appear on the home screen and have a solid green light on them.——6. Go into the cox pano wifi router VIA a browser and turn off the WIFI (you can do this first or just name your SSID for the DECO network a different name) I didn’t notice much interference at all having both up but turned the pano router ones off anyhow.—-In this instance you will still be using the cox pano router as your link to the internet and your DHCP an NAT services. Your DECOs will act as access points which will not route or have ant of the QoS functions but they will still be available on the cox router. The reason you did not hook up all of them back to back before putting the first one in AP mode is because if you do, the AI for the DECOs will put the other two DECOs on a different network (as to prevent something called double NATing) and effectively cut them off from the master and since bridge mode wouldn’t work for me this was a very good work around.———overall I am very pleased with the results –hope this helps some of you

Great purchase and performance at a great price!
I had low expectations for this device, but it completely exceeded them. It comes packed with features you’d normally find on enterprise equipment: scanning, blocklists, customizable alerts, LAN IP configuration, address reservation, and multiple wifi modes (router/access point).Setup was quick and easy, and the interface makes customization actually enjoyable. If you’re not tech-savvy, don’t worry—it ships with smart pre-configured settings that work great right out of the box. No network specialist needed.For the price point, this is an exceptional value. Highly recommend for both beginners and advanced users.I purchased the 2 system unit as we have a town home next to power lines. I may purchase a 3rd set to address one more room that may need it. As of now, 2 units are getting the job done. Moving from room to room is much better and adding to my already crowded network did not impact it.Great reach and hand-off between the points made this a winner in my book.

Al principio me decepcionó un poco porque después de haber configurado los DECOs y crear la red, los dispositivos cliente se conectaban intermitentemente, es decir, se salían de la red y después volvían a conectarse, ésto pasaba con televisiones, computadoras, celulares y cámaras. La red mesh tampoco servía bien, si me movía de un lugar conectado a un DECO y me movia a otro junto a otro DECO, mi celular seguía conectado al 1ero, después perdía conexión y por ultimo tardaba un par de minutos en conectarse al otro DECO (aunque estuviera junto a él). Ésto resultaba increíblemente molesto porque el objetivo de la red mesh es precisamente perder conexión de un lugar a otro. Estaba a punto de devolver el producto hasta que revisé unos foros de TP-Link y recomiendan deshabilitar la función de “Fast-Roaming” en las configuraciones avanzadas de app para resolverlo. Al parecer es un protocolo algo nuevo y no todos los dispositivos lo soportan (aunque soporten wi-fi 6) y esto puede provocar intermitencia y que la red no funcione bien. Les dejo la configuración que me funcionó perfectamente a mí y ahora de los 100MB que tengo contratados me llegan entre 98 y 100MB en toda la casa:- Fast roaming deshabilitado (configuraciones avanzadas)- Beamforming activado (esto es para que la esfera de difusión de los radios se enfoque a done se encuentran los DECOs)- Modo de operación: Access Point (no router). Ésto es mera preferencia, pero si tu proveedor de servicio de internet te da un modem con router. Lo mejor es que ese modem siga administrando las conexiones y seguridad y que los DECOs sólo te proveean del servicio de wifi. Si los DECOs los dejas en modo router, tanto tu modem como los DECOs van a querer administrar las conexiones y eso puede provocar problemas de doble NAT o ruteo de puertos (básicamente problemas con servicios de streaming, videollamadas o juegos en linea). Lo mejor es tener un sólo router, ya sea que desactives el del proveedor o los DECOs los cambies a punto de acceso.- Correr el proceso de optimización de la red que provee la applicacion.- Si conectaron algún cliente a la red antes de desactivar el fast roaming, entonces saquen al cliente de la red (olvidar) y vuelvanse a conectar.Cuando dejas las configuraciones adecuadas, los DECOs funcionan execlente. En mi casa con 2 routers inalambricos difícilmente conseguia 30MB de los 100 que tengo y con muchísimas zonas muertas. Con éstos aparatos lo solucioné, pero de nuevo, tienes que estar muy atento con las configuraciones.

El Deco TP link funciona perfecto para crear una red estable en casa. Gran cobertura