re: Anybody know anything about wireless routers?

Nothing beats a wired connection. If you're building, add ethernet everywhere.

A single Wireless router is superior to Mesh *if* it provides the coverage you need. Wireless mesh requires one of the "bands" be be dedicated to the "backhaul" which allows each mesh point to communicate. Which for most people would be "fine."

But mesh is not as good as a wired house, with multiple access points as needed to service wireless devices.

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But I don’t really know what I’m talking about overall lol. Networking stuff is mostly over my head.

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You could hire someone that does know, or frustrate your way through it.

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Good luck, you sound like you have no idea what to do. I'll never understand people who go through the trouble of building a home, only to half-arse and redneck engineer their systems.

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Who said anything about half-assing? I’m not a novice when it comes to tech. I’ve set up my own modem and router several times. This mesh stuff is new to me. I came here for advice from people who know more about this particular aspect of tech than I do. I listened to what they said, and now will do my own research to increase my own knowledge and I’ll take it from there.

If I was half-assing it I would have just gone ahead and done something without asking for advice. The fact that I asked people with more knowledge than me what their thoughts were, in combination with my own research, should tell you I’m not the kind of person to just wing my way through it.

My current house is 25 years old. It was not wired for Ethernet. I’ve never had to deal with wired access points. Mesh is pretty new, so I’ve never dealt with that either. My ignorance on the topic is simply because I’ve never dealt with it before.. not that I’m incapable. My simplistic questions in this thread were me just wanting 100% clarification.

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This mesh stuff is new to me. I came here for advice from people who know more about this particular aspect of tech than I do. I listened to what they said, and now will do my own research to increase my own knowledge and I’ll take it from there.

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Well let's talk a little bit more about mesh wifi, because there's a lot of confusion about it.

Consumer "wifi routers" are multi-function devices. They are routers, firewalls, switches, wifi access points, etc. all in one box. Sometimes there's also a modem/gateway in the same box. That's a lot of stuff to do, and given they are rarely actively-cooled that's probably why they fail so often. Anyway...

Bigger networks separate most of these tasks across separate devices. Most crucially the wifi access point devices are spread across the facility, because rarely is the network closet the best place for it. Also, multiple low-powered access points perform better than a single high-powered one, because communications go both ways. No sense blasting wifi half a mile if the client device can't talk back to it.

So a wifi access point can be its own thing, and it can be anywhere on the network for devices to connect to it. My router at home does not do wifi. Instead, I have two Ubiquiti access points mounted to the ceiling, placed where they provide the best coverage. They are connected to my Ubiquiti PoE switch via ethernet cable, which supplies them with both data and power.

Many of the mesh wifi systems have network ports, so they can be connected to a switch in the same way as my access points (except they probably also need to be plugged into a power outlet as well). They might refer to this setup as "wired backhaul". The only thing "mesh" does is replace the wired backhaul connection with a wireless one, and it allows wireless "hopping" directly from one unit to another, and then maybe another...

The advantage of mesh is you can create a more ideal multiple access point configuration without having to run cable. The disadvantage is that a wireless connection will never be better than a wired one. Older/cheaper "range extenders" are typically crap, and they are basically just repeaters that re-broadcast everything they pick up. Mesh systems are typically smarter than this as they communicate directly with each other, typically over a different channel so as not to cut into wifi bandwidth. Still, a wireless connection can't beat the speed, latency, or reliability of a hard wire. Another limitation of mesh is that a wirelessly connected mesh point has to be within range of a strong signal from another unit. If it is placed at a location with a weak signal, the resulting slower speeds will impact all devices connected to that point. A wire overcomes this.



TL;DR: If the house "comes with" an Eero setup, assuming it is multiple units just go ahead and keep it. It will be better than any single access point. And assuming the house will be wired, plug those units in.

What I would do assuming you're getting both cat5/cat6 wired to every room and an eero system. This also assumes you will have a central switch to connected to all wall jacks. Put the eero router near your modem. Connect it to the wall. You no longer need to worry about the quality of your backhaul connection, so find the best wall jack locations for your satellites to blanket the rest of your house for WiFi coverage.

By hardwiring your satellites, you can simply place them in the best areas where WiFi coverage is weakest. You don't need to consider the wireless backhaul quality.

If you need an extra satellite, you may consider using your TP-LINK as your router near your modem with/without wifi, with your eero system as "satellite" access points.