Is mesh the best fit for me? I have a wire...

[sigpop]

Using cable co for my ISP. The drop is downstairs in the basement in my corner office. I have an Apple Airport Extreme. From there I branch off to a switch in my office for a few drops, and also branch off to another small switch up on the first floor for my TV.

Got a couple of kids on the second floor and they complain about both throughput and signal strength. Also some poor reception at far end of first floor. House is reasonably open, though. If I had an access point at the TV it would probably clear things up.

I read a few articles about the mesh products, and was going to grab an Orbi. But it seems like something with a wired backhaul would be ideal since I already have a wire strung (only CAT 5E I think) vs something with the wireless backhaul. Or do I need something more traditional like a simple extender?

I'm looking to move away from the Apple stuff since they don't make it anymore.

 

[degrub]

Gigabit ethernet over cat5e should be fine. Just place a AC AP or AC router in AP mode there.

 

[thiggins]

https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/bas...w-to-add-an-access-point-to-a-wireless-router

 

[sigpop]

Seems easy enough, thanks for the direction.

Looking through the router reviews, I was going to pick up DLink AC1900 DIR-878 for $100. Or is there a better option? One thing I note about that DIR-878 is it says "Cons No wireless bridge mode". Does that mean something different than AP mode?

I also don't mind replacing my main router if necessary. It's annoying that Apple doesn't make a proper Windows app to manage it.

Also meant to confirm, this doesn't create a separate network, right? Meaning I have two Wifi networks right now: WifiNet and WifiNetGuest. I want to avoid having something like WifiNet2 since I share a printer and QNAP for consumption.

 

[thiggins]

"Cons No wireless bridge mode". Does that mean something different than AP mode?

Any router can be converted to an Access point.

The Con refers to the fact that it can't be used as a wireless bridge to connect to another router wirelessly.