School me on mesh wifi

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Does each mesh router need to be plugged into an ethernet port, or just an outlet?

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The only thing that "mesh" really means is that the units can connect to each other wirelessly. So the main unit will connect via ethernet cable to your modem, then the other units connect to the main and each other wirelessly, needing to only be plugged into power. Some systems include ethernet ports on all the units, so they can of course connect back to the main unit via cable. This kind of bypasses the "mesh" functionality, but it is better.

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Why exactly are these better than just using an extender?

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Depends on the extender in question, but typically an extender is just a dumb repeater. It listens to signals, then shouts them back out again. They don't do any routing or processing or anything smart at all. Devices don't connect to extenders, but rather the extender just hears what is said and blasts it out again so that the device can talk to the actual router. They mostly work, but they pretty much cut speeds in half, and introduce noise and latency.

Mesh systems are different in that the "satellite" units connect wirelessly on a different channel. Your device will actually connect directly to the unit, and it differentiates between the signals coming from your device and the ones from the main router unit. It passes signals along the right channels instead of just blasting them out again. Connections are more solid, and speeds and latency are better.

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We currently have cox panoramic. Any system you'd recommend that would be compatible with it, or would I need to buy an entirely new router/modem?

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If you stick with the cox panoramic, I think cox will sell (or rent) you what they call "wifi pods" or some shite which I think makes it a real mesh system. I don't have any experience with them, so they may work great or they may be shite. In general though ISP gear is shite.

If you want to use a different mesh system, then yeah the cox stuff goes away and you just need a plain modem to hook to. I would say check your bill and if cox is charging you monthly for their gear, send it back and buy a mesh system. It'll save you a lot in the long run and probably work better.

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I would say check your bill and if cox is charging you monthly for their gear, send it back and buy a mesh system. It'll save you a lot in the long run and probably work better.

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Yeah, we're paying $10/month equipment rental fee. My hangup is that I found eatel actually does fiber in our area, but I'm already under contract with Cox, and plant to switch to eatel after the year is up.

Is there a router that would work with box my current cox setup and future eatel fiber? Sorry for all the questions. ISP concerns are where my tech knowledge is sorely lacking

I have the Orbi mesh router. One (the primary) has to be plugged into the modem. The others (the satellites) do not have to be and can communicate with the primary wirelessly.

With the Orbi system, you can have the satellites wired directly to the primary if you want. This is called the 'backhaul' feature. Its the feature that caused me to buy Orbi over the other systems. When I bought my Orbi, I think Orbi was the only consumer brand mesh router that supported backhaul.

The advantages are that a wired connection will always generally be faster than wireless, and, your wireless band no longer is shared between network traffic communicating between the primary/satellites and other device traffic.

As for whether a mesh system is better tech than extenders.. absolutely. Its nice having the same network ID across the whole of the house regardless of how many satellites you use.