Nighthawk R7900 2.4 ghz

Ah! I think as soon as I reach more than 32 on 2.4ghz, it starts behaving crazy! No new connections, existing connections drop etc!!

This is mainly because I have a bunch of Feit Ceiling Smart fixtures that ONLY works on 2.4 ghz (about 20 of them - large house - about 4700 sqft).

I am ready to upgrade!!!!!

Any recommendations of Netgear product for a larger size home (Mesh is absolutely ok) that can satisfy more than 32 devices? Wifi 6 or 6E? I really prefer a mesh as I can have my Ring cameras (moved them out from 2.4ghz to Chime Pro Network. Chime pro itself is connected to 5ghz) connect directly to home wifi instead of to Chime Pro Network.

If its mainly on the 2.4ghz (not high bandwidth) a simple basic access point that has 2.4ghz would work. Even if you have an old router sitting around. They don't require much speed/bandwidth so even old equipment will work as well. (just make sure if its a router, you put it in AP mode). I haven't ran into the issue in a while because I've been on a mesh system for quite a while but its just to add something so you can split the load so you're not maxing out that 32 devices. 

with a 4700sqft home, if you upgrade, a mesh system would be a good option. Plenty more coverage and works great. If you have the option of hardwiring in access points, I'd even look at the business grade stuff like the SXK30 or SXK50 (support more connected devices than consumer). They're dual band but can run off a hardwired backhaul to preserve speeds. If you don't have that option, then I'd look at the triband stuff. 

You potentially won't get the same peak speeds but much higher speeds at the peripheral. 

Please let me know if I understood the concept correctly here.

I saw SXK30B3 - 3 satellite extender at Amazon. Gives me 6000 sqft, 40 devices. If I use my existing R7900 as an AP (wired into the SXK30B3), I will have a bunch of wifi devices connect into R7900 AP (32 max). The wifi extenders (2) will be strategically located to cater to 2.4 and 2 other 5ghz channels. I cannot connect through wired for the extenders (I believe you used the term backhaul). They will connect wirelessly with the main router.

Who does the DHCP? R7900 or SXK30B3 or both?

What I like about the above is I can potentially get 2 more extenders at a later date to increase coverage to 10,000 sq ft - if I move to a bigger home.

PS: I am also looking at Costco website and they have quite expensive Netgear Routers. $850 can handle 100 devices! The above setup if it works - is much cheaper- I can reuse R7900. Not sure in what way the more expensive routers would be better. I have 1gbps upload/download FIOS.

The SXK system isn't extenders. Its a router and 2 satellites (SXR30=router, SXS30=satellites). And its a dual band system. Again, its not an extender its own router/satellite ecosystem. Just want to make that clear so you're not trying to add satellites to the r7900 as it won't work. The satellites (SXS30) have to connect to the router (SXR30)

The biggest downfall to dual band mesh systems is that they have to share the bandwidth between front haul/backhaul. That means they only have roughly half the available bandwidth. If you're not needing the peak speeds at the peripheral of your home, they'll work great. But if you're wanting the best possible, then either hardwiring them in or going with a triband (and its dedicated backhaul) will make a difference. 

You can go R7900--->SXK30---->Satellites

You'd want the SXK30 system in access point mode to prevent a double nat. 

the R7900 wouldn't work as a satellite but it could be its own wifi. You'd just want to make sure it was using a different ssid and on different wifi channels to prevent interference. 

plemans, you are more than just a GURU - you are a GOD in this!  😀

• I saw your another message https://community.netgear.com/t5/Nighthawk-WiFi-Routers/R7900-Is-there-a-limit-to-the-number-of-connected-devices-on-2-4/td-p/2184909 where you had mentioned that you hardwired for high bandwidth devices. I cannot do it for ALL the devices because they are scattered from room to room. Will do that for a few devices soon.
• Also, I didn't like the fact that mesh systems "share the bandwidth between front haul/backhaul".

Till then, thinking of the following setup temporarily. Trying to follow on the cues that I understood. It won't get me the best reach but right now I am not having any problems with wifi dead spots in the home. Please let me know if I am on the right track here.

Wall -> R7900 -> Frontier Router (dual band - ARRIS NVG468MQ - want to use only a modem) to be set up as AP. Since this is near Kitchen, Living Room, Walkway etc, I can connect many of the Smartlights to ARRIS 2.4ghz and the remaining to R7900 2.4ghz.

Next project:

• Wired connections to as many places as I can
• I have had very good success with Netgear products for past 2 decades! https://kb.netgear.com/24043/How-many-WiFi-client-devices-can-my-NETGEAR-router-support recommends some Nighthawk Wifi6 routers.

If I start the Guest Wifi at 2.4ghz, will that help in adding another 32 devices OR is it a total of 32 devices spanning both the main SSID and Guest SSID?

doesn't matter if you use guest or not, its a band limitation so if you move some over to guest, you're still limited to that 32. 

If you have the frontier gateway (that has its own wifi), simple leave it in router mode with its wifi on and put the netgear in AP (access point mode). 

Then you can put some devices on the frontier gateway's wifi and some on the netgear to share the wifi load. That should allow you to run plenty of devices. 

Would it still be Wall -> R7900 -> Frontier Modem? If so, can you please share the reason why not as AP for frontier modem?

I'm not sure exactly is coming from "the wall". 

Usually that modem is a modem/gateway device so I assumed (my bad) that it was acting as the gateway. 

If its not and running in router only mode, then you could use either device as the AP. Then its more of what features either router offers as AP mode disables some features. (and some routers have better built in features)

https://kb.netgear.com/26765/Which-features-are-disabled-on-my-NETGEAR-router-when-it-is-set-to-AP-Mode