It’s looking like the parents Airport Extreme is about to fail.
I have several TP-Link Ethernet routers and switches for work and have been impressed with their customer service over the years.
Was just wondering if any Tablo users were using TP-Link Wifi gear, and if anyone had experiences to share, positive or negative?
Current, reliable set-up I’d be trying to replace -
Airport Extreme (AC version) w/ Epson usb printer connected in home office with Cable modem
Airport Time Capsule (AC version) in opposite side of house (keeping the Time Machine backup in a separate room from the computers backing up to it)
Airport Express (802.11g version) in bedroom upstairs, Tablo connected via Ethernet. (Tablo assigned static IP in the router/Airport Extreme)
This setup has been reliable, stable, for all the family home office needs, streaming video and Tablo needs, over the years.
Would appreciate any thoughts. My main concern is maintaining a stable and reliable setup for the parents.
Gave the TP-Link WiFi 6 gear a try, and the experience with the TP-Link consumer Wifi 6 gear is a world apart from the routers and switches I’d worked with in the past.
At any given time at least one device in the home can’t connect to the internet, and at least one device can’t connect to the Tablo. Sometimes it’s one of their iPhones, sometimes it’s the Apple TV, etc.
Customer support? Ha! They said to call Apple for support. “It’s a problem with the iPhone, not the router.”
I had already updated the firmware before trying to connect any of the phones or AppleTV or Tablo, it’s the most current, and also reset to factory and tried setting everything up again from scratch … before contacting support…
Yup.
Will be doing another reset to factory the next time the family is out of the house and the work won’t interfere with anything they want to be doing.
Bottom line? The new hardware has not met the reliability and support standards set by the relatively ancient AirPort hardware. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I really wish Apple would get back into the WiFi hardware space…
*Edit - I’m not against troubleshooting networking issues, file sharing issues, etc., I do this for a living? It’s just a huge hit when you’re trying to provide your parents with something that should be reliable, at least as reliable as nearly 10yr old hardware, and have this kind of experience. And, because it’s the parents, fuses are short, and every inconvenience (including any downtime when I attempt to troubleshoot this) … well… fun times.
Why do your parents even need WiFi 6? Wireless AC should be more than enough for video streaming, web browsing, email, video conferencing via Zoom or FaceTime, etc.
WiFi 6 is so new, maybe stick with the tried and true Wireless AC (aka WiFi 5).
Because my family knows just enough to be dangerous re: tech. My own fault, I got them hooked on some tech podcasts back in the day, so now when the Wifi 6 gear ads pop on whatever youtube video they’ve watched, they know that, “That’s the new one”.
They know what they had was AC, and that’s the OLD one…
Trying to replace the old Apple gear with new… but THAT’S THE OLD ONE TP-Link gear would have not been an enjoyable experience either?
Again, if the Apple hardware hadn’t been failing, and if I had had enough spare components to prevent downtime while attempting to repair the failing pieces, I’d had never purchased anything?
And, considering WiFi 6 gear has been in production for over year now, I honestly felt that we should be long past a point where “It’s so new” should cause it to be less reliable that old failing equipment it’s replacing? You’re correct in pointing out that apparently, we aren’t past that point.
I’ll be doing another reset the next time everyone is out of the house, and I’m around/not working… have a few additional changes to try to troubleshoot the setup in mind.