Did you even read my posts? Every Google Wifi device I have uses wired Backhaul. My setup is an example of a Mesh system using Wired Backhaul.
I have one of the Google Wifi Pucks acting as the router which connects to my ISP Provided Fiber Gateway. The other two connect via ethernet back to switch which talks to the main Puck.
The benefits are as follows
I have one name for my wireless network that works through my entire house on all 3 pucks.
Because I have one wireless network I have one password to manage.
If one of the sattelite pucks goes offline my whole network stays up and clients just switch to the nearest puck
The devices get dynamically allocated between the Google Wifi Pucks.
All management is centralized and the devices adjust themselves to the environment
If i need to I can hook a wired only device directly to a puck or switch connected to a puck and use wireless backhaul from the Puck if needed.( i have dones this as well
Google wifi doesn't use the same channel for each of it's pucks and it suppose to adjust power to prevent stepping on each other. There is also a 802.xx spec(I don't know which) is related to how mesh network devices perform mesh tasks. If the Nodes in a mesh are truely mesh aware it shouldn't be a issue, but it is certainly a problem to put the same SSID on devices in the same network that are not mesh aware.
doesnt matter here.. there is not enough channel room with all the neighbors so it probably wouldnt work cell. since i dont have room for have nodes on varioius channels.. that is why i use dfs channel for the downstairs router. i tried earlier mesh systems and did not have good results. dont really want ot outlay more cash now.
Yes, of course I have read your posts and you are clearly partial to Google since that is what you have. As you can see from my posts, TP-Link defines Mesh to be something different than Google, TP-Link Definition of Mesh From the link, the TP-Link definition is as follows: "Mesh is used to establish a wireless network or expand a wired network through a wireless connection on the 5GHz radio band"
I am not saying TP-Link is correct and Google is wrong. I am just pointing out that Mesh means different things to different companies.
Omada or UniFi both easily do all the things you listed plus a whole lot more. Your Google system is consumer grade networking equipment, while UniFi or Omada is prosumer/commercial grade.
Not a single one of the features you listed are exclusive to "Mesh". If you want those features while exclusively using Google products you might need to buy the products Google markets as "Mesh". But by no means do these networking features require "Mesh", if you are willing to go outside of Google.
This has got to be, the most incorrect information on this forum, I have ever seen.
I have an Airport Time Capsule and 5 Airport Express. All Expresses are wired backhaul to the Time Capsule that is providing DHCP and is connected to internet modem. All Expresses use the same SSID. Three of them are in out buildings, 2 are in the home as is the TC. Roaming works fine. No wireless issues. Why is the above quote true?
I think "You are clearly partial" is a bit heavy handed. It is what I have personal experience with so I can speak to how it works. I have also looked into Velop, and Orbi in the past. I have no delusions that Google Wifi isn't the best choice.
I also agree Mesh is a word thrown around allot in a marketing perspective and it just confuses people. This is why we need to educate ourselves as to what all this stuff really means. From the definition you provided for TP-Link it looks like they are saying wireless AP bridging is providing a Mesh network.
Yea.. that wording was a little bit strong. The problem is that allot of devices will be sticky to access points and the work load can be unbalanced and cause performance issues. It would probably fail over fine though if one AP dropped completely.
Sorry, I may have been a bit "heavy handed". Its obvious we both want to help the OP and are coming at it from different angles. Cheers and have a great weekend.
Cheers guys. I haven't caught up with this fully due to being away on hols but I wanted to post in here in order to hopefully have some direction for when I return.
I initially purchased the extra c3200 due to reading the link above, saying it supported Ap mode.
As advised by someone above, the manual doesn't seem to mention this at all.
Ill have to have another go when I'm home.
I'm sure the advice for verious access point hardware is brilliant. However for my use, it seemed that so long as the additional 3200 supported Ap, job done (for my use).
Should this fail, looks like Ill need to check this thread for more suggestions.
If the archer can not be configured as an access point, simply do not use the WAN port. Plug in your upstream connection (I see you are using MoCA) to one of the LAN ports. This will just use the lan switch in the archer. This is the way I had an older TPlink set up.
Sorry I am not helpful. Is your archer the C3200 V1 model? Just trying to look for a manual.
Did you plug into the WAN port or a LAN port for the upstream connection. I’ve reread your posts but I can not see that detail. There must be some NAT feature or security still in play between the wifi and the LAN switch. You should be able to get this to work by disabling all security related options.
Sounds like a great solution and certainly worth the price. Here's what I built... definitely designed to suit a different set of needs and not necessarily cost-effective but it works really well, especially in a house that is basically a giant series of Faraday cages.
I'm envious of your setup. I just started with the Unifi with a Pi running the controller, my existing router with WiFi disabled and a couple of U6 Lite's (which are surprisingly good). I definitely want a U6 Mesh (or even an older AC version) for the garden and when funds allow I want to swap out my current switches so everything is visible with the Unifi system. It looks like you've gone to town with the AP's - I think I could cover the entire street with 8.
Yeah 8 is a little excessive but it’s really only 6 in the house - 4 floors with one each on the bottom and top floors and 2 each in the main living areas. . When I was running Linksys Velop it took 5 and I had dead spots. The U6 mesh ones are nice. I don’t use them in mesh mode but they can be used outside so they’re ideal for the deck and porch.
I was not able to mount the others on the ceiling. I ended up mounting them on the walls. That’s not ideal.
The controller does a rebalance of power and channel every night, which really helps manage interference between the APs.
