Launch a range extender or upgrade to mesh network
Tado ticks many boxes but it's behind the competition in its lack of signal booster / wireless repeater. I'm unsure whether to take the risk and buy the system for my relatively large stone house given the risk of radio dropouts. If I knew I could add a range extender if required, I'd have the confidence to buy. Perhaps an extender is a better option than using a mesh network which might drain batteries more quickly.
Whichever you do Tado, it would be great if you could make a statement now that it will be backwards compatible with the hardware currently on sale.
Comments
-
People have been asking for that since I installed tado in 2017. I have one rad that is on the edge of the range (2 floors directly below the hub) that can flattens fresh batteries in less than a week as it's constantly trying to connect and only briefly manages it.
I like tado and think it's much better than not having it but the lack of movement since 2017 on a range extender makes me think it's not going to happen, so if you can work around it then go for it.
18 -
Needs a repeater/range extender.
Can't really be taken seriously while it's limited to the range of a single component.
Also needs to let users get at their own data.
{What is my extender currently telling my boiler to do? How many hours has my lounge radiator been on this year? What's the temperature history of all my rooms for the last month?}15 -
Please, please, please provide a range extender.
Ref https://community.tado.com/en-gb/discussion/comment/11960?
9 -
making a system work better for the many many many variations of houses/objects in the way! or even upgrade the current bridge
7 -
Please add a range extender as soon as possible as the current range only covers part of my house making the Tado a disappointing heating system at the moment - with an extender it will be brilliant
9 -
Totally agree on this. We have an old stone built house with thick walls, I am impressed that the tado internet bridge catches most of our TRV's. However we have two rooms at opposite ends of the house (with two radiators in each) that ALWAYS have at least one radiator unavailable.
This leads to some weird activity with radiators heating outside of schedule, calling for heat randomly.
It's super frustrating as we've tried to put the internet bridge in multiple locations, but it seems a pure distance limitation of the device (and I'm also not a fan that the internet bridge has to be ethernet wired) . An extender / mesh system would make such a difference for larger and more challenging designed properties.
We've been using tado for getting close to two years, and I do notice a lack of innovation / new features - updates seem to be all about bug fixes.
10 -
I echo all these comments, and I’m hugely frustrated to see that the request has been active for so long.
I’m about £1000 invested into the Tado system now, and having hit and then got past the 10 room limit and buying rad valves for all our radiators. I find myself in a situation where part of the house is not reachable. The absolute centre of the house is the staircase. But installing the bridge there is not a look I want for my house.
Tado is (for the most part) absolutely brilliant. Apart from one or two ABSOLUTE glaring omissions.
If I knew some of these limitations ahead of time I would not have gone with Tado.
Why oh why did I not check the forum first. Lesson learned.10 -
I’ve also been asking for this, why can’t Tado create an update where by multiple internet bridges be installed since this is what the stats are communicating with.9
-
@gazzrenn I've been thinking about your problem and iirc (it's over 3 yrs ago now) I remember reading that the bridge has a limit to the number of devices that can connect to it and I think you've hit the limit. you'll have to do some searching (and perhaps not on the forum but out on the web) but the number is small.
so it's possible that you need more than a range extender and the chances of a decent bridge are even smaller.
3 -
Definitely have this issue. Not a huge house but flat bungalow and as can only have one bridge just cannot get both ends to stay connected. Frustrating thing is it will work for 5 weeks then lose connection. Then never reconnects and have to fully remove and even then doesn’t connect. If you contact support they don’t read everything you tell them and give you repeated same answer. Given all Wi-fi providers now recognise and provide extenders to cover area. Tado should support same.8
-
I need a range extender too...
6 -
Same here. Long house where the signal can’t get from one end to the other. Bridge is as close to the centre of the house as it can be without dropping the boiler extender. Means the other end of the house can’t connect. Result is burning through batteries in a month or large portions of the day with no connection. A repeater like that of wiser products is a must for med > large houses!
I would be great if Tado could comment on this.6 -
Emphasising the obvious point to the Tado moderators that the upvote count on this issue grossly under-represents how much this is holding back an almost great product.
We have a large area stone house, with over 30 radiators and high heating bills. I have many friends with similar variations on that theme and we live in Scotland where a lot of heating is needed. Large houses obviously also benefit the most from the radiator valves, where specific rooms are only used at certain times of day. We would buy 20+ additional radiator valves and other items if it was possible to extend the range.
So when considering my one upvote on this feature (which is a deal-breaker rather than a nice to have), please add on at least 10 for people we would have wholeheartedly recommended Tado to, then add a similar number on for each other upvote, then imagine all the people in large houses who googled this issue before not buying Tado as a result, then multiply each of these by 2/3/4/5 times based on how much more a large house would need to spend on Tado than a small one.
On all else I love the product - taking the time to write this note because I want it to be a success and I want to buy more. I do think you owe users an update on plans for this.
13 -
I can only re-emphasise this point. I don’t understand why Tado is excluding itself from the larger home market which would benefit more from multi-room control?
I live in a modest home and I sporadically lose control of one room (our nursery). I therefore cannot recommend Tado to my friends and family with larger homes. Many of those are now looking to upgrade their heating controls and Tado will lose out if their hardware cannot cope. Once households upgrade their systems to a non-Tado product it is too late for Tado and any number of software upgrades will not help.
Simply allowing bridges to link together will resolve this issue. Surely it is a wise economic decision to invest in this capability before it is too late?9 -
This is the only problem with an otherwise good product. I live in a typical south London semi so not a huge house and on a daily basis radiator valves lose connection. I have moved the bridge around the house but just end up with different valves out of range. I couldn’t recommend Tado to anyone until a range extender is made available. Come on Tado this is urgently needed.9
-
I wired the tado boiler controller and fitted it in the middle of the house, its in the hallway. And my internet bridge off a wifi extender in the loft... All connect up fine and no issues with any firmware updates.
I live in a good size west london 3 bed semi0 -
There is a simple solution for Tado.
They just need to allow multiple bridges/accounts to be accessible from one app.
then people could run their homes with 2 bridges (each end of the house) and access them both from the app.
Simples.
9 -
I concur with most of the above. I am a huge fan of Tado and have invested considerably. I have 10 room control and have added Wireless Temperature Sensors to most rooms, which whilst expensive makes the system work so much better. However, I run a B&B and one of the bedrooms loses the signal from time to time, which is very embarrassing when we have guests and their room temperature cannot be properly controlled.Surely it must be possible to develop a range extender? Whilst a Mesh system would of course be better, I can’t see that ever being backwardly compatible? With a functional range extender (or 2 !) I would be entirely satisfied with my system. Come on Tado! - please.5
-
Hi I am new to this forum but like you team a big fan of Tado until now. I spent a lot of money on TRV's ( or SRT") but have had connectivity issues constantly. Connection dropping / heating kicking in in the middle of the night / awakening to heating house / loss of sleep / having to disconnect my boiler at 3am!
Help from Tado ... ZERO
Not a problem with the TRV's the best around just move them / change batteries / move the Bridge / longer cable / change the angle, etc. etc,
I have like you requested booster Bridge as my house quite big and old. Or connect to them MESH network. Tado say not possible.
Now. BELIEVE THIS. My system was accessed by Tado yesterday and they removed my ability to use the TRV's how I wished them to work. No consultation. No agreement to do so, It is as if they have entered my house and disabled the TRV's!! And then I was advised that I would get no more trouble shooting support! NICE!
2 -
I’m very close to ripping all this Tado equipment out and going with the Wiser system.
I’m so frustrated I’d rather bin it all and start again.
I’ve stopped recommending this system to people because it’s just unreliable when scaled up.
If there’s no movement on the range extender in the next 6 months. I’m done with Tado.7 -
@Elisabeth thanks for the suggestion. I’ll try anything at this point. I’m losing my mind with this system.
I’m not sure this will solve it. I’m able to literally move the internet bridge a small amount and the disconnected valve springs into life.0 -
@gazzrenn I'm not really surprised you're about to give up. I've spent over a grand so far as I still have another 3 rads planned for an extension I want to build but after having so many problems with my 9th rad not being able to stay connected, I've given up. It is what it is and tado don't care.
As part of my mitigations down the years I've moved the bridge and used a homeline plug (is that what they're called? I can't remember) to be able to move it from socket to socket to see if i could get better connectivity.
The homeline works well with the bridge but still no joy. Although I do have one last socket I need to try but I'm losing the will to live.
The other thing to consider is that the trv may be faulty - I have had one swapped out because of connection issues. Dealing with support was a nightmare as they wanted me to upload video but it can only be a few seconds because of their restrictions on uploads.
btw, you can't go wrong with wiser - schneider are excellent quality. they didn't have the heating system when I first flipped to a smart home or I would've gone with them as their home automation is expensive but top notch.
2 -
@Elisabeth yeah it’s tough. It feels so privileged to be complaining about it all but you’re right. It is what it is.
I tried your suggestion but it didn’t resolve the problem. Thank you though.
I’ve got one for you though now!
I don’t use the power line plugs. I have a little TPlink travel router. It acts as a Wi-Fi client (so it joins your home Wi-Fi) you then plug the bridge into that. That might free you from some of the challenges that come with those power line Ethernet adapters. I’ve used them over the years for various things with mixed results. - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00APZZ30W/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabc_4CFYFbA1T1CF7 (Any of those devices with ‘client mode’ will work)
I’ve also been using a PoE injector with a PoE splitter at the other end. Means I can test the bridge in all sorts of places without being constrained by the USB power cable length. Downside is I have 5433677 meters of Ethernet cable around the house while testing. Which my wife does not enjoy.
On the plus side, I’ve found a rogue plug socket in our kitchen that I forgot about, testing in that one now. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻0 -
Can only agree on this comment. It can certainly not be complicated from a technical perspective and likely profitable from commercial perspective (extender plus additional TRV1
-
Absolutely agree that needs an extender. The bridge can't reach all my devices on one floor and would love a way to boost the signal to reach the whole house.
5 -
I totally agree on this also, and have mentioned it in some other threads.
We have one radiator valve (that strangely is not the furthest from the internet bridge) that continues to drop out. It's one of two in a room and when disconnected the room cannot warm up enough.
It's hit and miss, sometimes we get a week it connected, other times 3-4 times a week the room is freezing in the morning because it's disconnected.
I have spent hours and hours testing bridge locations, the big problem being the smart thermostats don't "check in" regularly, so you have to move the bridge and wait. A "refresh" or "check connection" button on the app would be really helpful here for a manual refresh of device status.
Anyway, back to the point - I really, really like tado and it's capabilities. However, when it sucks, it really sucks.
Typical customers would (I'd guess) be those looking to manage their heating costs (=larger, older properties). So many smart systems (lighting, other heating systems) enable meshing or multiple hubs to coexist, providing coverage.
We have quite a lot of smart home, automation in our house (incl outbuildings) and Tado is the ONLY one that gives me connectivity issues.
After such an investment, is there a better solution out there without spending more money and reclaiming only some by selling one's current investment? When I get more time on my hands I'm going to look into it :)
2 -
This is ridiculous that tado aren't responding to these messages. They will lose existing customers and future business.
What is really stupid is that the communications standard that they use already supports mesh so it can't be so hard to implement.
If the existing hardware won't support it then develop new versions but offer it as a free exchange for existing customers with range issues6 -
Hi. I have had them respond but all I get is my fault move the Bridge and get it to do the hokey pokey! There is no problem with Tado connectivity. There is nothing that can be done! Customers know nothing and are expendable!
I cannot fathom it. The Community forum full of TRV issues , connectivity, lack of Support, amazingly disrespectful attitude, like it or lump it!
We want Tado to work. We want to help.Why are they alienating their customer base? Why Jurian are you doing this?!
To me some senior management need to get a grip! Reach out to customers! Get the Tado software engineers to work tirelessly BUT TELL US THEY ARE LISTENING AND WILL IMPROVE IT!
Keep posting. Keep complaining!
8 -
I tried moving my tado bridge many times. But still didn't work well.
Now I have one bridge that doesn't work 24/7. Especially in these times it gets cold as hell.
Too bad they don't listen to their costumers about the wireless repeater/ extension for the signal.
4 -
Absolutely agree, old stone built house, moved internet bridge to absolute centre of property and still intermittent connection to one difficult to reach radiator, drops in and out.I have mesh WiFi throughout the property... TADO, you need a range extender or mesh system in place OR YOU WILL LOSE OUT TO THE COMPETITION. We don’t all live in single story flats with paper thin walls, most people live in real houses, you need to make what is otherwise a great product a usable product in the real world.
5
