PSA: Turn off TP-Link's "Smart Connect" if you have issues connecting to other 2.4GHz local devices

Home Tech Networking & Telecom
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This took an embarrassingly long time to figure out.

I have multiple access points with the same SSID but I could not access local devices on a different subnet (like tasmota or pihole) when I was connected to a TP-Link Archer AX53 configured as an access point.

Access was fine when I connected to a different access point (mi or linksys) on the same bridged network.

Pinging those devices from the TP-Link WebUI worked, that’s what clued me in to the possibility it was Wi-Fi related.

Whatever “Smart Connect” is (someone please explain), it messes with other 2.4G devices and/or subnets.

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I have the same router and I disabled smart connect on day 1. I didn’t have any issues but smart connect basically creates both 2.4 and 5 networks with the same ssid and password so it’s bound to cause issues with devices that don’t support 5ghz.

Also I wanted more control over switching to 5ghz and 2.4ghz. Almost everything that says smart or AI for household devices is a bunch of broken if else conditions.

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Yeah, I thought it was just a setting to have the same SSID for both networks. But nope, it does something else that confuses some 2.4G-only clients.

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I had smart-connect on, maybe this could be the reason that my phone gets disconnected from wifi after some time. I have disabled smart-connect now and will keep on monitoring.

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I currently have four C80, all connected via easymesh (3 wired, 1 wireless). I’ve had smart connect disabled since it was available. Every once in a while, I try it out and it ends up being more problem than it’s worth. I felt my devices would stay connected on 2.4 rather than 5. It would be great if it worked properly.