On Tue, 1 Oct 2019 at 12:09, Bob Goodwin <bobgoodwin@fastmail.us> wrote:
.
Does anyone have experience with the so called "mesh wifi" systems. My
daughter suggested that I need one after reading a review. All I can
find is a lot of hype devoid of the things I would like to know, mainly
how are the units interconnected? It occurs to me that they might use
Ethernet via the ac power line.

I would appreciate anything anyone might have to share on the subject.

The Apple Airport Extreme allowed you to configure one unit as
the router and others as range extenders.   This gave one network with
multiple access points and a single login with DHCP assigned IP that
worked as you moved in and around the house.  My previous house had 
cable internet that came into the basement.    The was a massive brick 
chimney in the center of the house which created a large dead zone 
opposite the router.  My wife's office was on the 2nd foor and could not 
connect to a wifi router located near the cable connection.  With 2 Airport
Extremes we had very robust wifi throughout the house with all sorts of devices, but 
the household generally consisted of 2 adults, no internet gaming but sometimes a 
couple video streams going to laptop or tablet screens.   

Now I live in a modular house with metal siding, and have a Pakedge system with an 
access point (connected back to the router by cat 6) in each module.   This gives us
robust access throughout the house.   I chose Pakedge because they had a record 
of supporting their dealers well.   The TV's each have cat 6 to the
router.   I did try using one TV on wifi but it sometimes had problems.

https://www.stereo.net.au/forums/topic/231645-best-whole-home-wifi-solutions/  

Some of my colleages live in more urban settings where there are many wifi routers
competing.  Since wifi came into existence I have lived in rural settings with low 
density of wifi routers.

The two main thnigs to consider are your bandwidth requirements and the 
RF environment (stuff that blocks or reflects the signal and number of
other routers within range).

--  
George N. White III