Mesh network versus a simple Wi-Fi extender

@mitch2 

I assume if you only had one device you could run the hardwired output directly from the satellite into that one device for the same result?

Thats what I do.  Main rig has a SGC Sonic Transport hard wired to a satalite node. Works great.  The base node in my office has about a 20 foot run to a switch with various devices attached. 

The new Asus ZenWifi comes with 3 ethernet ports but not sure if that is on each node or just the base.  

There is a lot of incorrect information in this talk. Let me see if I can clear a few of these things up because most people think all you have to do is buy a router, turn it on, use the default ssid’s and you are good to go, which is far from actual experience. I have setup enterprise networks starting back in the late 80’s.

Somebody commented about wifi speeds (internal network) and then internet speeds, 2 different networks. Either 1 can be a bottleneck. You can buy a 1G internet network speed but only see 100Mb throughput because your internal network sucks, or you can have a 1Gb internal network (or faster) but your network speed tests show 100Mb because you only have a 100Mb internet. I have a 1.2Gb internet and have a 1Gb wired internal network with a 800-900Mb wifi network anywhere in the house except for the garage and the outside patio. Some people think 100Mb internal network speed is ok, but it’s far too slow for my house. The whole house is automated (from refrigerator, stove, to doorbell, all locks, garage doors, grill, lights/switches, thermostat, and more), along with streaming music, streaming HD tv to multiple TV’s plus now using Roon ARC in the cars. 

Some discussion about using wifi instead of wired from a router, even if the router is using wifi to connect to the mesh network. Most of the devices using wifi use the 2.4ghz network so if you use a switch connected to a router, these devices now will use the 1Gb Ethernet network, so then it helps to create a quality internal wifi network, and that’s where the newer wifi 6e mesh equipment comes into play.

Not all mesh networks are the same and the backhaul and fronthaul configurations can make a big difference. Look up the differences between a wifi 6 mesh network capability’s vs the wifi 6e mesh network capability’s. 
 

If you are 15 ft from the router using wifi, you should be getting 800Mb wifi speeds when using the current computers/iPhones/tablets. If not, you got issues. Every time you go thru a walk, a floor, any obstruction, wifi speeds will degrade, that’s why you want to use a wired connection to each router and if you must use wifi, then get a 6e mesh network so you can get a private backhaul between the routers.

Sorry, the statement above “Every time you go thru a walk,” should say “Every time you go thru a wall”. 

Having been in the IT infrastructure industry for far too many decades, I'll drop a nugget of data. WiFi is wonderful and solves many problems. However, be it commercial or residential, WiFi has limitations. Mesh vs Extenders have pros and cons, but will have similar limitations. The more wifi devices connected to your network the greater the challenge. So if you have wifi devices like lights, speakers, TVs, appliances, etc. connected, they are all competing for bandwidth. Add to the mix laptops, phones, etc, which can have multiple connections, your bandwidth can quickly degrade to say 3 Mb per device. This all flows into your ISP gateway router which in most places will be sufficient. There will always be a bottleneck there but not a huge factor for WiFi. The more wifi devices the greater collisions of packets and reduced bandwidth. You will see drops, latency, interruptions of data. I run copper connections to the devices I demand the highest quality of. If you opt for Mesh, as long as you have copper connecting it to the gateway, you will see less issues. Similar to an access point connected to an AP controller and then the core network devices in a commercial space.

In short, if you want to avoid music drops completely, and you have lots of WiFi devices in your home, go with a copper connection. If you don't want or can not pull cable, Go with Mesh. If you have a small number of WiFi devices, say less than 25 devices, that are not big uses of bandwidth (say gaming consoles, TVs, etc.) Mesh or extenders are going to provide adequate bandwidth.