this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2024
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"mesh" is a buzzword that doesn't make much sense (to me at least) if we are talking about wired and routers... what do you mean by it? can you describe your setup?
edit:
Let me clarify :)
Unless I'm mistaken, mesh means that one a bunch of devices, usually wireless access points, connected with each other (in a mesh) with possibly low-quality connections that automatically switch traffic for each other.
If you have ethernet running from the router to the APs, you always want to use that and so you don't want a mesh at all.
“Mesh routers” just refers to having multiple wireless APs generally with auto roaming capability
To most people, it also implies wireless backhaul.
Yeah mesh to me means you talk to one AP wirelessly and that AP talks to another AP also wirelessly to eventually get to a wired connection to the internet. Of course that can also be wireless (SpaceLink, Verizon, etc) but out to the internet. I much prefer each AP has its own ethernet backhaul because both latency and throughput are significantly better. Of course it’s not as convenient since you have to have wired connections at each AP location.
Mesh in this case means one wifi network visible to wireless devices with multiple nodes broadcasting it. In my case both nodes are connected via ethernet.
If all nodes are connected through ethernet to each other (or at least one common node) you could go for OpenWRT's 'Dumb AP' setup as well
Edit: Already mentioned here; https://feditown.com/comment/1980836
in my understanding that won't handle roaming between APs as good as a mesh setup. OpenWRT has a special wifi setup for that
Not OP but usually mash means that there is one SSID shared across multiple routers and access points
You can easily do that manually. The "mesh" part is either awareness of other routers for using 802.11k or awareness with wireless backhaul.
If you don't need 802.11k or easy wireless backhaul, you don't need mesh routers.
Yeah, this is how I understand it too. From the end user's point of view, there's just one wifi network throughout the building or property. It doesn't matter if there's a cable running between the access points, that's all invisible to the user.
It’s probably not relevant to the question in the OP, but a mesh between routers makes sense in a dynamic routing scenario. If you have a mesh of routers running iBGP for example, you will always have a path to other routers in the network even if you lose one and the routing protocol will select the best path to the destination network based on what’s available. Also, if we’re talking about devices on the same broadcast domain (like multiple APs serving one SSID), you don’t need a router to forward that traffic. Everyone on the same layer 2 segment can ARP for each other, so it’s not a bad idea to just let your L3 devices L3 and let your L2 devices L2. If there is an issue with connection quality, solve that :)