Mesh network vs Wireless AP

Question

I am interested if there is any practical difference between a mesh network, and setting the router to Access Point mode as described here: https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Wireless_access_point Basically having two routers connected by wire with the main router as DHCP server.

What will happen if I set the same SSID/password on both and set each network on different channel? Will that be the same or similar to having a mesh network? Any undesired consequences or disadvantages?

I have an old router gathering dust, and I thought I could use it to extend my wireless network to my yard, without having to switch the networks every time I am outside.

Answer 1

Your intuition is correct. Wired access points are always better.

Wired with the exact same SSID, & encryption settings will allow you to roam between the two. You disable the wan connections and put it in a bridge setup to avoid double NAT issues.

Mesh won't be better then a wired AP setup, mainly because most if not all mesh products put each mesh device on the same channel, so it could be much worse than a 50% loss of bandwidth depending on environment. (Co-channel interference)

If you can get 802.11r FT working on all access points it would make the roaming much better than without it. (802.11r is only available on the past year or so dd-wrt firmware updates) so if the "dusty" router is old, you may want to consider picking up a used router on ebay for a couple bucks if you find that the dusty router doesn't have support for it. (I wouldn't recommend trying this with any pre-wireless-N device... The user experience still pretty decent without 802.11r, but your milage will vary with VoIP/video chats while transitioning from Ap to Ap.

If you need help setting it up in the firmware let me know.

This may also help: actual repeater vs router-as-repeater

Answer 2

tldr: Given an option, A dedicated AP with a management backend is likely to have better features and functionality. A mesh router is good for larger areas where you can't really lay out wired backhaul. A repurposed router in AP mode, or with DHCP functionality turned off and the port in the lan part of the router is the cheapest option.

A good mesh device is an AP, that uses a dedicated/separate wireless (or wired) backhaul to communicate between APs. The secret sauce in most cases is in the software and set up.

I find a 'regular' AP gives you more flexibility if you have a wired backhaul (and there's good 'prosumer' grade APs like the unifi models that are going to be significantly easier to manage than a repurposed consumer router)

Your mileage may vary with mesh routers. They tend to be pricer so there's not significant price savings and tend to be app controlled, which is great, when it works, but sometimes, you have issues. On the other hand, you set one up, they're preconfigured and any changes happen without the need to set up multiple devices. Its worth finding a model that does triband (using a 5ghz channel for backhaul) or ethernet. There's also a few companies (like ASUS) who have models that do both mesh functionality and regular APs. Also with a mesh router, to get full advantage of its functionality, you're constrained to units in the same ecosystem, so you can't really mix and match hardware. Wired backhaul is also uncommon, and mostly found in more premium units.