TP Link routers not working with my macs

[MacInWin]

Lisa, I agree. I have a mesh network (Orbi, from Netgear) where the main router "talks" to the two repeaters by a backchannel to coordinate transfer. Kind of like the backchannel talk for cellular. My ISP Router is in bridge mode, so the Orbi main is the DHCP server for the LAN.

 

[wolf1025]

Hi all, I played around with it some more, and I was able to connect with it via wifi, after a couple of factory resets, which is weird. No, just one router, no extender. I have basic internet service with Spectrum. The previous refurb TP link I bought I couldn't get to work reliably. This was one is new.

It seems to be working well on all devices and is very fast and has more than adequate range. I guess we'll see how it goes. I won't keep it on the timer for now, hopefully it will work fine. Thanks everyone for your advice!

 

[krs]

@Lisa, I think one of his devices might be a router, but the other should be a repeater. No reason to get two routers, as they could conflict unless one was put in a bridge mode only. TP-LINK reuses model numbers for both routers and extenders/repeaters, so it's not easy to tell from what Wolf 1025 has given us. I tried TP-Link extenders but stopped using the because if the repeater ever lost connection, it had to be completely setup again to get back working. That seems to be what Wolf is seeing, so I jumped to a conclusion.

Wolf, can you describe the network a bit? Are you using two routers with one in bridge mode, or is it one router and one repeater/extender? Is the router connecting to your ISP directly, or did the ISP provide a router, and if so, is that router in bridge mode?

Sounded to me that the OP bought a TP-Link router from ebay that was refurbished - it didn't work so he/she bought a second TP-Link router, different model and a new one this time; all the lights are on that are supposed to be on, but the Mac doesn't detect any WiFi signal from either of the TP-Link routers (not used at the same time) but the Macs do detect neighbour's WiFi.
If there are repeaters involved, well that is a total different kettle of fish but it's not something I even considered based on the info provided.