TP-Link Deco Mesh WiFi System(Deco M5) –Up to 5,500 sq. ft. Whole Home Coverage and 100+ Devices,WiFi Router/Extender Replacement, Anitivirus, 3-pack

I 100% recommend this for an internet router option. It does great covering our house with the three hubs(disc) whatever you call them. It was freeing to not have to baby sit a crappy router the cable/phone company gives you. The tech support and the app along with it is very good. The set up takes a bit of time but the directions are easy enough to follow. If you are working from home this is a must! I recommend a to-link 5 port gigiabit desktop switch along with it

Im a novice tech guy. Dont need anything fancy. We have a cable modem and 2 routers and had a ton of dead spots and weak signals. Was looking at adding another router and came across mesh wifi. Never heard of it before. Set up was a breeze. Less than 10 minutes to up and running. 1 firmware update. No issues installing. Our speed went from 30-60 mbps to 110-130. Time will tell how it holds up but I am more than pleased with the performance.

Works as it should

We live in a brick house with an “L” shaped floor plan and a full basement. We used a highly rated router located to reach as much of the house as possible, but we were plagued with dead spots. Our ISP is fiber optic and delivers high speed internet, but we weren’t really getting full use. I did a morning of research and decided to give the to-link a try. The set up was extremely easy and having 3 units to spread the WiFi around the corners and into the basement worked very well. No more dead spots, dropped calls, and our speed increased on all the various devices. Better still, since I used the same network name and password every device in the house was able to reconnect to the internet automatically. I am very happy with the purchase.

I bought this to replace multiple wireless access points throughout my home. I do not like the app interface because its entirely too simplistic and lacks many of the more technical functionality that I need. I am using these in access point mode (my existing router is a better router and has better firewall options/controls) with a Cat 5e Ethernet backhauls to my router. I was very surprised by the excellent performance of these devices and the speed delivered on the 5ghz band. Performance (speed) of the 2.4ghz band is a bit of a disappointment though. I also wish the units gave me control of programming the aggressiveness of roaming (at what threshold they hand you off to another access point) because they occasionally hold the connection too long before switching to a different access point. Update: IF YOU REBOOT YOUR ROUTER, BE READY TO FIGHT WITH THESE TO RESTORE CORRECT IP ADDRESSING ON THE NETWORK! I found a massive issue with TP Link mesh units this morning. When used in Access Point mode, the internal DHCP server should be disabled (just like every other piece of network equipment ever made). That is true unless your router reboots and the M5 units do not hear from the routers DHCP server, or do not hear from it within the time they want. In this case, the access points will set their own unusable IP addresses and gateway addresses that do not exist and are unusable on the network. This in turn ends up crashing the entire network. Example: my router/gateway is 192.168.1.1 and it assignes IP addresses in the 192.168.1.xxx range for the local network. When the M5s units lose communication with the router/DHCP server/gateway, the M5s reprogram themselves with a gateway of 192.168.68.xxx, a local address of 192.168.68.xxx, and assign all clients to 192.168.68.xxx. This means that absolutely nothing works on the network! Whoever thought is was a good idea to automatically turn on the M5s DHCP server automatically is an idiot!!! What part of OFF do their engineers not understand??? To fix this, you must change the M5 back to router mode, connect directly to the modem and reboot, then switch back to AP mode and unplug the units from the network, power down everything (router, switches, Deco units, etc), power up the modem and router, then after the modem and router are fully booted, power the Deco units back up. It turns out that this issue has well documented on TP Links website with multiple product for a few years, and they are doing nothing to fix the problem. Actual Performance details: 240Mb/s cable modem connection Hardwired clients: 235Mb/s average 5Ghz wireless clients: 225-235Mb/s average 2.4Ghz wireless clients (at very close range): 25-30Mb/s average

After three weeks of back and forth with their technical support regarding speed issues with the device, I have to give up and find a new system. Their support responses always come late in the evening to middle of the night. TP link has TeamViewer and used putty to attempt to diagnose from 8pm to 11pm with no success. Issues were the speed difference when using a wired connection that my fiber connection was receiving about 200mbps less in download speed vs the ISP supplied router (which I prefer not to use) and of several Asus routers. TP-Link looked to find any reason to not replace under warranty because I had to give up after 3 (entering 4) weeks of lets try _____ Im sure there is something wrong with my unit but Im saying to be aware of their support / warranty replacement system may take a month+.

I had three TP-Link 450 Mbps Wireless N access points, which I used to bridge to various rooms in the house and connect into wired devices/networks. I decided to upgrade and replace them with these Deco mesh routers. The installation and setup was incredibly easy, the app walked me through it. I explicitly set up my old access points as wireless links that acted as a bridge between the wired networks on either side. I was not totally sure the Deco would work this way, but from what I read thought it would, and after installation, found that it does the same thing (and without the setup I had to do previously). One thing other people have said is that they have problems connecting from wired devices connected to the home router (such as directly into the cable modem wired LAN ports) to wireless devices connected to the Deco mesh (such as between a desktop plugged into the cable modem and a wireless printer). That is because by default, the Deco runs in Router mode and acts like a firewall/DHCP server/NAT device and changing the IP addresses of devices connected to the Deco. If you change the operating mode to Access Point mode, then everything should work, though you will lose certain capabilities such as restricting access, which requires router mode. To change the Deco to Access Point mode, go to Settings->Advanced->Operating Mode and change to Access Point. Overall, works great so far.

Before purchasing this product I had a WiFi extender plugged into a wall outlet so Id receive wifi signal in my bedroom. It was a cheap route with cheap results. Sure, my wifi was extended, but not at its full speed. My internet goes up to around 200Mb/s, my bedroom only reached up to 8Mb/s. Everything changed once I recieved this product. With the user friendly Deco app, I was able to seamlessly setup the mesh routers in my living room and bedroom. Setup took about 15 minutes, but it is all very simple. Once setup was complete, my room was getting speeds up to around 150 MB/s. AMAZING. From 8 to 150 is a big gap, I didnt even think it was possible. Overall I am extremely content with this product.

I got one with 3 modules. One upstairs one downstairs and one in detached garage about 25’ from house. Seamless internet throughout. Even works out to my barn about 75’. Setup took a bit of work but it’s been working great for 2 weeks now.

Looks like TP-Link sell you a 3 pack by overstating the coverage size, so that you can buy another pack to be able to properly cover that size. Also, if you have sheetrock walls, it will work better, but if you have concrete walls, you need about 6 of these to cover 3100 sq ft and about 10 of these to cover 5100 sq ft as it claims to do. I bought this pack for my house which is a 1 floor 3100 sq ft aparment, with concrete walls. I put the main Deco one beside the modem in the living room, second Deco in the kitchen which is roughly 17 steps away, and I put the third Deco in my master bedroom which is another 17-20 steps away. My internet speed from the ISP is 250 Mbps, which I get completely at the main deco. At the second one, I have less than 50 Mbps, and the third Deco gives me less than 10 Mbps. From the Main router to the second one in the mesh, I lose about 200 Mbps of speed, and from the second to the third and last router, I loose 190 Mbps of speed. I have dozens of routers installed in my office, and another home where my mom lives (2 story house) and Ive never seen such a drastic loss of speed. In my opinion, this router doesnt even work to cover a complete 2000 sq ft with full speed. PROS: -Setup is easy and fast with the deco app. CONS: -Doesnt cover the area it claims on the box. - There is a temporary signal loss as your device switches to receive Wifi from one router to another in the mesh. Its the same system as setting up repeaters/access points/extenders, but its just called Mesh and has a simplified setup which makes you think that Mesh is some other technology. The temporary signal loss/slowdown is identical of places where access points/extenders are used. So basically what youd pay to lay ethernet cables inside walls, spending on switches, and additional routers, you may need to invest it in additional routers. Now, Im forced to buy an additional 3 pack to set up across the house, plus extra surge protectors (to protect your investment) for each because now Ill have an expensive investment of approx $400 USD in just wifi routers & surge protectors.