I'm looking into options for improving my wifi (obviously) but I'm having issues understanding the Orbi options (also looking at Google, Amplifi and other vendors but let's focus on Orbi right now).
My home is relatively small (2 floors + basement, 600sq ft per floor) but it's old and walls are lath and plaster. Wifi coverage sucks.
WAN (1 gig) comes into the back room of the basement. I currently have 3 access points:
TP-Link Archer C7 (AC1750) as router connected to the modem covering the basement and part of the main floor. TP-LINK Archer A6 (ac1200) in the back porch covering the back yard and part of the main floor. Linksys EA6100 in the middle of the top floor covering bedrooms (Netflix and chill zone plus kid work areas). All routers (plus TV and ancillary servers (Plex, web, files, etc)) are connected gigabit wired (cat 5e running along the outside of the house). The Linksys has only 100MB ethernet ports so it's limited.
This setup, though years of trial and error, gives decent coverage in both 2.4 and 5gHz bands.
Problem is handoff. If my device connects to the basement router then I go to the back yard, it doesn't hand over the connection to the strongest AP, it just sticks with the weak connection as long as it's available so manual switching is required.
I presume mesh addresses this. I'm wondering what sorts of Orbi options exists to deal with this handoff issue. Ethernet backhaul is an option for me and given my experience trying to get 5gHz signal from the basement to the top floor it's a necessity (I can't imagine that the 5gHz backhaul channel in the RBK50 would cut it any better than the C7 does)
Our usage is typical for pandemic: up to 4 simultaneous zoom/google meet calls, Netflix, etc.
What would you recommend?
