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I'd like to ask a quick question and see what folks think. I have a RAX120 that is really performing exceptionally well in my house. I have the RAX120 centrally located on the main floor. When I moved in to this 115 year old house, I had ethernet (CAT6a) run to the second story, and to the finished basement to give me wired coverage (a backbone). I've got my hands on two (2) WAX610s and am planning on placing one on the second floor, and one in the finished basement. Now my questions;
Since I know the RAX120 won't act as an Insight Instant Mesh Root, will having it as the router and the WAX610s setup as access points all using the same SSDI (2Ghz and 5Ghz) work properly,do I basically get the same experience? Will access devices (iPhones, Laptops, etc...) disconnect from one and join the other as we move around the house? Does the Root device need to support Mesh in-order to allow for the network to be "Roam-able"?
Lastly should I ditch the RAX120 and purchase an Orbi SXR80 and use it as the router / root and the two (2) WAX610 as the satellites?
Re: RAX120 as Base, and two (2) WAX610s as remotes
When it comes to having multiple APs connected to a basic consumer router, functions like client roaming will still work if all of the units have the same SSID and password.
For example, assuming the APs can get power if it needs PoE (hey do not include a 12V 2.5A adapter, thus you will need either some PoE injectors, or a 12V 2.5A or higher adapter to power them), then once they are set up there will be a number of roaming functions that are part of the WiFi standards. For example, clients will get benefits from 802.11k and other assistive functions. With any WiFi system, including enterprise level systems, the client device is ultimately in primary control of roaming, thus in cases of a sticky client even more robust roaming technologies can have trouble.
With modern client devices, they have a number of roaming behaviors that they will do on their own. For example, looking for another stronger AP or utilizing the data provides via 802.11k to choose another stronger AP when the AP it is currently connected to drops below a set signal strength or SNR. With a mixed setup, you will likely get a few additional roaming assists between the 2 business level APs, and a few less AP side roaming assists helping you when moving from the WAX610 to the RAX120, though the real world experience in those cases is typically your client device waiting a few seconds longer before trying to switch to the stronger AP, or waiting for traffic to be idle for a moment before switching in cases when you are not below the minimum SNR or signal strength in the WiFi drivers for its self directed roaming decisions.
Overall for roaming, any reasonably modern
Wanted to also add that the orbi system you referenced, while good, will be quite pricey, and for many devices, and depending on what you do on your network, you may not notice the improved throughput capability over the WAX610. For example, if you are not regularly doing large transfers to your NAS over WiFi, and your Internet connection is in the 400Mbps or lower range, an AX1800 access point will be unlikely to bottleneck you.
If you do not have many clients but have a gigabit Internet connection, then any AP that will allow for at least 802.11ax on 2 streams at 160MHz channel width will allow for real world throughput capabilities in excess of 1 gigabit, even when 1-2 rooms away from the AP for mostly wood construction homes.
Devices like modern iphones, laptops with WiFi adapters from around the past 8 years, and even some modern IOT devices, will handle roaming in the setup you described, as long as the SSID, password, and security type are the same.
Re: RAX120 as Base, and two (2) WAX610s as remotes
When it comes to having multiple APs connected to a basic consumer router, functions like client roaming will still work if all of the units have the same SSID and password.
For example, assuming the APs can get power if it needs PoE (hey do not include a 12V 2.5A adapter, thus you will need either some PoE injectors, or a 12V 2.5A or higher adapter to power them), then once they are set up there will be a number of roaming functions that are part of the WiFi standards. For example, clients will get benefits from 802.11k and other assistive functions. With any WiFi system, including enterprise level systems, the client device is ultimately in primary control of roaming, thus in cases of a sticky client even more robust roaming technologies can have trouble.
With modern client devices, they have a number of roaming behaviors that they will do on their own. For example, looking for another stronger AP or utilizing the data provides via 802.11k to choose another stronger AP when the AP it is currently connected to drops below a set signal strength or SNR. With a mixed setup, you will likely get a few additional roaming assists between the 2 business level APs, and a few less AP side roaming assists helping you when moving from the WAX610 to the RAX120, though the real world experience in those cases is typically your client device waiting a few seconds longer before trying to switch to the stronger AP, or waiting for traffic to be idle for a moment before switching in cases when you are not below the minimum SNR or signal strength in the WiFi drivers for its self directed roaming decisions.
Overall for roaming, any reasonably modern
Wanted to also add that the orbi system you referenced, while good, will be quite pricey, and for many devices, and depending on what you do on your network, you may not notice the improved throughput capability over the WAX610. For example, if you are not regularly doing large transfers to your NAS over WiFi, and your Internet connection is in the 400Mbps or lower range, an AX1800 access point will be unlikely to bottleneck you.
If you do not have many clients but have a gigabit Internet connection, then any AP that will allow for at least 802.11ax on 2 streams at 160MHz channel width will allow for real world throughput capabilities in excess of 1 gigabit, even when 1-2 rooms away from the AP for mostly wood construction homes.
Devices like modern iphones, laptops with WiFi adapters from around the past 8 years, and even some modern IOT devices, will handle roaming in the setup you described, as long as the SSID, password, and security type are the same.
