Anyone using Deco S7 AC1900 or similar?

valve90210 · 23 Nov 2022 at 13:11

My partner is having a few issues with the wifi round her house with it often losing the 5ghz connection and dropping down to 2.4ghz.

This is a rough floor plan of her house:

At present she just has the standard BT FTTP modem/router in the lounge and gets reasonable coverage downstairs, dropping off at the furthest corner away from the router.

Upstairs Bedroom 1 gets good 5ghz connection, Bedroom 3 is generally ok though can drop off, Bedroom 2 is struggling and often drops down to the 2.4ghz.

She' looking at someway of improving the wifi coverage without spending a huge amount of money and was considering the TP-Link Deco S7 AC1900 mesh system.

From what I've read it seems like it would be a decent option but has anyone got any experience of this or similar? In particular when used purely with wifi? I know it would be better to be able to run ethernet leads to the devices but that's not an option in the house she's in at the moment.

I'm thinking if there was one connected to the router, one above in Bedroom1 and another in bedroom 3 that should give decent coverage shouldn't it?

Scuzi · 23 Nov 2022 at 13:19

I haven’t tried the S7 but I bought the Deco P9 a while ago. Long story short, after weeks of constant connection drops I switched to the M5. It continued to give constant headaches so I switched to a Netgear mesh setup and it has been rock solid since. I wouldn’t touch TP Link mesh after that experience but YMMV.

valve90210 · 23 Nov 2022 at 13:20

Useful to hear that, what Netgear kit do you have?

Scuzi · 23 Nov 2022 at 14:01

Netgear MK63 nighthawk. Significantly cheaper than their Wi-Fi 6 options but still more than adequate.

Orcvader · 23 Nov 2022 at 14:16

I have the much more expensive Deco X60 and the only issues I had with it was trying to use it in router mode. It was an absolute mess in terms of stability. Sticking it in access point mode was much better. Have a couple of friends with the M5 and it works for them, but I've set it to access point mode so no idea if @Scuzi 's issues was possibly due to using router mode.

I know you said running cables around the house is not an option, but what about one just going round the lounge right by the door? The current router placement at the corner of the house is very inefficient, even if you had a mesh setup the other nodes will struggle to connect to the main node if placed poorly. I would try run a cable like this and then have an access point around here:

valve90210 · 23 Nov 2022 at 15:15

Hmmm, that might be possible, though not sure how high up it would be possible to get it. Might be worth a try though. Good to hear the Deco is ok in access point mode, which is most likely how I would set it up.

Jim99 · 23 Nov 2022 at 15:29

EDITED: turned out I was wrong and it wasn't to blame at all

Orcvader · 23 Nov 2022 at 15:43

valve90210 said:
Hmmm, that might be possible, though not sure how high up it would be possible to get it. Might be worth a try though. Good to hear the Deco is ok in access point mode, which is most likely how I would set it up.

Doesn't even have to be high up. I just mean running on the edge of the floor and maybe onto a little side table or something. The position alone will be better than being in the corner of the house.

valve90210 · 30 Nov 2022 at 09:16

Sorry for the late replying, I 've been so busy I completely forgot about this thread. A small side table might be a possibility, I shall have a play when I have a bit of time over the xmas period...