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access point benefits over router?

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access point benefits over router?

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access point benefits over router?
access point benefits over router?
2019-07-08 10:41:02
Model: Deco M4  
Hardware Version:
Firmware Version:

hello all;

I am looking for benefits of defining a slave deco as an access point vs as a router.

I have a star ocnfiguration with the main deco as a router and I assume the salve is also router (i dont remember if the app even asked for the slave).

I have seen a note fomr the docs as follows:

Note: In AP mode, any router features will be non-configurable (including Parental Controls, Antivirus, Port Forwarding, Address Reservation and QoS, etc), as all the IP addresses are assigned and controlled by the root router (not Deco).

 

and so, I can see draw backs of using AP due to some lack of features but are there benefits?

thanks.

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Re:access point benefits over router?
2019-07-08 12:16:38

@gkatz 

 

Do you use 2 Deco as AP mode or one as router mode and the other one as AP mode. 

 

If so, the current network diagram should be fine. 

 

If you set both as AP mode, the advanced features you mentioned won't be supported anymore, while with main router existed, there is no double NAT issue, and you can use the mesh wifi network. 

 

If you set them as router and AP both, then you can use the mesh network and advanced features, in this way, to avoid double NAT, you can configure the main router as bridge. 

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Re:Re:access point benefits over router?
2019-07-08 12:40:56
@Kevin_Z I am not sure if the setup app asked me but I think I went with one main deco and one slave deco with the defaults. I will check later thanks.
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#3
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Re:access point benefits over router?
2019-07-08 22:48:00

The slave Deco in Router mode does not really act as a seaperate router, the group as a whole does.  In fact, in networking terms it may be simpler to think of the main Deco as a router, and the slaves as access points. 

 

If you have one as a router and the other as an AP, there will be two seperate Masters on two seperate Deco systems, no slave.  You would also lose all the benefits of being a Mesh network (easy roaming and handoff between the Wifi points, acting as a seamless network, mesh reliability [that is, failback from Wired to Wireless backhaul] etc)  I can't really think of any benefits, after all the mesh mode is the main reason for Deco over, say, three seperate wireless routers.

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Re:Re:access point benefits over router?
2019-07-10 15:42:57

@gkatz  You can take some time to check it, any updates, just let us know.

 

@ajharvey With one Deco works in router mode and other slave Decos work in AP mode, we can enjoy the mesh wifi system, meanwhile, cause there is still one Deco works in router mode, so we still can enjoy the advanced features of Deco, like parental control, anti-virus and so on. 

 

While if we have 2 Decos work in router mode, then there will be 2 separate network managed by the 2 Decos. 

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