Mesh by using Ethernet backhaul

Hi,

Amazing how the false consumer marketing repeated and reflected by many consumer technology sites does lead to wrong conclusions. And no, I'm not talking about the ability of converting consumer routers to (very, very, ...) basic wireless access points. 

What you are looking for is infrastructure support for Radio Resource Management (RRM, IEEE 802.11k [Wikipedia]), Fast Roaming (Fast Basic Service Set Transition (FT), IEEE 802.11r [Wikipedia], and Opportunistic Key Caching (OKC, IEEE 802.11i).

These are features (selected, rarely all!) commonly implemented on what is sold and promoted as Mesh systems for the consumer - but have nothing to do with the effective mesh technology to link the access points together.

As you are in the lucky situation having network cables, all you need are some GbE Ethernet ports (I'd go for PoE+ if there is cabling available exclusively for the WiFi extension, like some Netgear Insight GC110P, GC510PP, ...), and some affordable wireless access points (like the Netgear WAC505 or the new WAC540), ideally paired with an Insight Pro subscription (comparable inexpensive for what you get!). Avoid buying into routers with AP mode (often limited), Mesh Extenders, or an Orbi system (you don't need a WiFI radio reserved for the backhaul as all wired! And then, Orbi can't use an existing switched network for it's backhaul - sigh!).

Don't forget to enable RRM and OKC for your wireless networkin the Insight management system. This is it.