Hello everyone!
I’m trying to figure out what is wifi mesh exactly and can’t really find answers.
I’m wondering if it’s a real tech or just a nomination, example: if I’m setting up multiple old wifi routers on the same local network with DHCP turned off (except on the main of course) and just put the same SSID and passphrase on all of them: could we call it a mesh wifi or does the technology really add something to it?
I made my parents buy some TP-LINK Deco wifi mesh routers for their property ^(which I regret now because openwrt is not compatible but that’s a other story) and I don’t really see any difference from them and the basic wifi repeater(cable) I’ve put in a last dead zone.
Here’s what android sees
Short answer, the answer is no.
The deco’s are a mesh because of how they forward packets to eachother directly. Meshing is to do with how the APs talk to eachother to forward ethernet frame data.
I think you’re confusing the mesh topology of backbone communications between access points with ‘Internal Roaming’, which is how the wireless client devices jump from one ssid to another.
All the decisions of internal roaming are handled by the client, not the AP, and it’s not really that smart.
Not all devices roam exactly the same, but Apple has a clear ruleset they follow how for iOS devices roam. They also details some info about supporting technologies that the APs can provide, 802.11k and v.
802.11r is not required unless you’re doing EAP, 802.1X radius authentication for each client on your network.
So. If you connect the deco’s via ethernet to the same network, they’re technically not a mesh anymore - but they will make for a decent roaming domain. Same goes for your old wifi access points.
They’re only a mesh if they communicate directly.