re: Wired access points vs mesh system

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Is it possible that a recent firmware update (or new router) would disable the bought versions to force the rental option?

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I dont think so. I think if you get your hands on an Airtie, it will just work regardless of how you procured it. You might try resetting the airtie and going through the whole "new" installation process.

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Have fun with the ATT router. I was just made to upgarde to the newer bgw 320. luckily passthrough works for my ubiquity system. I was never able to get it to work onthe bgw 210. The firmware they a have on this is horrible, but i will say the 320 is faster. every other gateway had it was like a 90s internet getting to different pages in the firmware.

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While I have read horror stories, my bgw320 has been fine. I use one at my office for failover internet. Perhaps the firmware on the business models is different or easier, but after configuration it has been fine. I use an old USG with it in WAN2, a different ISP in WAN1. I had a computer with the controller software working fine but eventually upgraded to a cloud key to add VOIP and a single camera.

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I just WISH ATT would allow direct fiber into my UDMPro and manually approve the security certificate.

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Have you visited DSLreports.com? they have a thread on how to do this, I believe.

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then no reason not to do APs. mesh is just wire APs. some have dedicated back haul, some dont.

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This is my main question. Does mesh offer anything APs don’t have?

It was sounding like mesh had some advantages like more seamless transition between nodes when walking throughout the house. There seem to be mixed opinions on this.

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This is my main question. Does mesh offer anything APs don’t have?

It was sounding like mesh had some advantages like more seamless transition between nodes when walking throughout the house. There seem to be mixed opinions on this.

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You can get all that with APs too if you have the appropriate WiFi network controller.

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It was sounding like mesh had some advantages like more seamless transition between nodes when walking throughout the house. There seem to be mixed opinions on this.

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i had eero at my last house which was 4,900sf on a single level. this meant i had huge gaps in coverage with only single router in the center. i put eero nodes 3/4 of the way to the ends of the house.

i initially hard-wired them but then ran into weird issues and ended up removing the ethernet and let them run wirelessly.

my experience was they worked very well and hand-off was seamless; occasional hiccup but for the most part worked as advertised.

having said that, i left them at that house for the new owner and i'm in a smaller 2-story house right now with a single fiber router and it can get annoying if i'm outside and its fighting to be on the 5ghz or data connection but so far i haven't needed to deal w/ setting up a mesh.

i also wouldn't go with eero this time around. i started my mesh experiment with ASUS 86 router & flashed older routers for nodes but that became a real time consuming pain in the arse to keep it running and updated. Do not recommend asus or eero.

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This is my main question. Does mesh offer anything APs don’t have?

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Just ease of installation.

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It was sounding like mesh had some advantages like more seamless transition between nodes when walking throughout the house. There seem to be mixed opinions on this.

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How seamless wifi roaming is depends on both the APs and the roaming device(s). There are a few industry standards (like 802.11k, r, & v) pertaining to wifi handoffs/roaming, and a given AP/controller may support one, all, or none of them. Same goes for client devices. These standards describe ways for APs and devices to exchange information, including information about the network like which AP might be best to connect to, authorization information, and other stuff. It takes time for a device to drop a connection and then connect to another AP, so these standards just attempt to minimize the downtime as that happens. Perfectly seamless might not quite be achievable, but it's close enough.

None of these standards are specific to "mesh" systems, and I don't believe there are any additional standards or techniques that mesh systems use. The only requirement is that the several APs can communicate with each other directly or via an intermediary like controller software on a separate device.

Still, it's ultimately the client device's decision which AP to connect to, so a given device has to not only support these standards but also use the information it gathers to make a good decision *and* execute it well.

Really, though, the internet was designed around failure. Failures are expected, and the protocols were designed with this in mind. So even without any of the "fast roaming" features, when a device drops a connection and makes a new one most things still feel pretty seamless. Maybe something like a wifi call will be noticeably affected, but streaming video and basic browsing and such I wouldn't expect many people to notice if it takes a few seconds to switch over.