{{{HUGS}}}

I know exactly how you feel, granny.  I tell my techie DS who always wants to install stuff that all technology must pass my toaster test:  is it as easy to operate as my toaster?  Lol.

I can absolutely sympathize!  I also have had a decent amount of experience with tech.. took my first coding class in 1983.. so.. have been using computers/tech for a very very long time.  And.. you know what gets me most times?  You call the help line.. and it takes a couple of "factory reboots" to actually get the thing up and running... stuff comes from the factory not actually ready to set up!

I actually had my most recent issue with my brand new samsung cell phone.. top of the line model and all.  So, I also have a samsung smart watch.. like to track things like steps.. and sleep etc.  Well... I got the new phone.. activated.. and paired devices etc... transferred data.. passwords.. accounts.. apps.. all the fun stuff that takes a good amount of time.

All was good.  But.. I realized after about a month.. that when I looked at my health data on my watch...and tried to click the "open on phone for more info button".. that when the samsung health app tried to open.. I got a weird error.. I tried.. rebooted.. unpaired.. repaired.. etc.. 

Finally gave up and contacted tech support with samsung.. I mean.. it WAS a samsung phone.. paired with a samsung device using samsung app.. and if anything would work well together.. you would expect THAT to work.  But it wasn't... and I did everything the online chat tech said.. did not fix it.  So.. I called in (which I hate to do.. takes so much time).. and the guy walked me through many cache clearing.. memory clearing steps.. and still was not fixed.  I was told to go to an auth retailer to get it looked at... Took it to TWO retailers..at Best Buy and another auth retailer in our area.. was told that the problem I had was not fixable by me.. it was something re security loaded at the factory.. that basically I was going to need a new phone.

Keep in mind.. the ONLY issue I was having was not able to open the Health App on the phone.  

So.. I contact samsung CS again.. explain that Auth Ret.. said new phone to fix.. and they want me to send phone in.  I explained.. I was not going to go without a phone.. so why not send me a new phone to replace.. then I will send old back.. "no.. can't do that.. we want to look at phone to see what is wrong".. because.. after hours and hours with tech support.. online.. on the phone and in person.. I am an idiot that doesn't know how to open an app. (not what they said.. but that's what that means..haha).  So.. I was faced with being without a phone for some unknown time.. or just accept my watch etc.. wouldn't work.. one of the reasons I stayed with samsung was because I liked the way their tech (used to) worked together.

This all gets complicated because there is no verizon or any tech store where I live 2 hours from my work.. and driving 4 hours alone three days a week? yeah.. I don't want to not have a way to call someone if I have an emergency.. I also do all the coordination and take care of all my 93 yo dad's bills.. and caregiving.. so I need to be able to be contacted if they have an issue.. plus I pay all my own bills etc.. online.. my own email.. amazon.. being without a phone even for a day is a big problem.

So... at this point.. my solution?  I went and purchased for 300 dollars a PIXEL watch.. (google).. got it and paired it up.. and guess what.. the fitbit app DOES work with my phone.. so Samsung never fixed my issue.. but I figured out a work around.. Next time I need a new phone.. I may not be so inclined to stay with them.

But.. the broken or needing resets right out of the box.. it's frustrating.. time consuming.. and you think you are just doing it wrong.. when there is no hope of fixing it.

(don't get me started on the time my DH told me to hook up his wifi printer to my computer.. when I realized that his printer was NOT wifi capable.. oof.. I don't know how he got that confused.. I was wondering why it wasn't showing up in my devices.. haha)

I know it was frustrating but your story gave me a good laugh.  I work with computers all day, but at home I defer to my BS23 to take care of all the tech stuff because I don't want to break my own stuff lol.

When it first came out because I have MANY devices.  Damn thing blew up in 13 months .  It lost its ability to maintain the routing table.  You may have gotten a returned bad-out-of-the-box unit.

I now have an Asus wifi6 router.  I stay one firmware update behind bc I don't want to be a beta tester.

As you well know. Try again today and it'll connect like a charm first go..... or 270 tries later. I'm sure you considered a factory reset and possibly being blocked by the firewall? 
 

Sincerely, "the geek who didn't pursue a CS/IT degree because she thought the market was over saturated a decade ago" 

And you can disable QOS  something I couldn't do in the tplink.  They may have fixed that by now with new firmware but I like this Asus model.  I also have Netgear access points.

I used to have a Netgear nighthawk.  I don't know what possessed me to get a tplink other than the wifi6 feature.

Whenever I need to figure out tech challenges (mobile devices/printers/car gps/etc, I smoke several blunts and I kid you not.....problem solved 15 min or less 90% of the time like I'm some Geek Squad guru. 

I probably should have gotten a degree in this field but oh well  

In all actuality I think these routers are harder than mobile device tech setup and would not do it without a walkthrough from a more experienced tech person (Unless I had time on my hands to tinker around with it)