@Gravoren 

Any one of these will work, but each has its own caveats and requirements.

You need to provide more info to get better answer:

Do you have switch already? If yes, what is its brand and model number?

Have you bought Deco mesh already or only plan to? If you did, are these indeed Deco X10 or different Deco model?

What is ISP router brand name and model number?

What is the speed of your Internet link?

Does your ISP offer more than gigabit Internet and if yes, do you plan upgrade to above gigabit Internet speeds in the next few years?

Do you need to run Deco mesh in Router mode, or you can run it in Access Point mode? See What’s the difference between Access Point mode and Router mode on the Deco?

  @Alexandre. 

Hi Alexandre, I appreciate your response, thanks!

I had a hunch it wouldn't be so straight forward, I'll get right on to making a map of the premises and list of hardware :)

Be right back!

  @Alexandre. 

Hi again Alex,

I don't have my work computer with me so had to make a dodgy drawing in paint, sorry! :D

I have already bought 6 pcs of Deco X10 (yes they are X10's ;) and I have already installed 4 of them set up as router directly to my 1000mbps fiber connection box with Wi-Fi backhaul to test them out. (see schematics of main house)

They work well but have 80% loss at the furthest node, I get 6-700mbps wirelessly on cellphone from first and 250mbps from second and 150mbps from third node outside of peak hour (third node connects directly to main node and performs best this way without the extra hop)

My ISP will provide me with the below router next month (I'm changing provider at the moment):

Kaon AP2400 TN WiFi6

    VDSL2+ & Fiber Ethernet
    WiFi 802.11b/g/n 2,4Ghz 3x3
    WiFi 802.11a/n/ac 5Ghz 4x4
    WPA/WPA2/WEP WiFi encryption
    4 x 1000Mbit LAN Ethernet
    1x 1000Mbit WAN Ethernet
    WPS Parring
    Easy setup of: NAT, DNS, DHCP etc

I can not find any documentation online on the router other than the above listed info, but I'm sure I can acquire it if I ask.

I currently do not have any intentions of a faster connection (it's the fastest available at the moment) but maybe it'll be necessary in the future.

The switch I intended to buy is this one:
https://www.tp-link.com/us/home-networking/8-port-switch/tl-sg108/v3/
which tp-link recommends.

The cables I intend to install are cat6 utp.

I don't know if the Deco router or access point mode is preferable?

As long as it meshes I'm happy, we just need stable internet and none of all the fancy stuff :)

When looking at the layout of my house, the main house is already installed with 4 nodes which seems to cover it fine (when cabled it'll suffice surely) we're 10 people living in the house and my workshop is off to the side, I wanted to backhaul with Wi-Fi from one building to the other and then daisy-chain to the point where I need the connection in the workshop, when measuring the connection through Wi-Fi, from one building to the other, it measures -70dbm which is dodgy but in my workshop the internet usage is not intensive, and I'll run an Ethernet cable to where I need the WiFi.

I was thinking maybe the router would have a stronger signal, so if I place the router at the end of the house, possibly it could beam the signal better to the other building?

If so, can the 2 nodes in the workshop be connected to the mesh through the routers Wi-Fi, or would it be another network? (is it even possible to connect without an Ethernet cable)

Usage:
In the evening we are 10 people in the house with 10-20 devices connected and in the daytime I need the WiFi in the workshop and there's only a couple of people home, I have no intentions of expanding the network to the garden or courtyard as we all have more or less unlimited data on our phones.

Hope that covers everything :)

Here's a shotty approximate schematic of the house.

I forgot to mention, the Router can be placed at either the blue or green node in the right end of the house.

  @Gravoren 

Thanks for detailed info, it is very helpful. Drawing is fine, too. 

I want to ask you one more thing, and this will be it: I'd like to know firmware version of your Deco X10s. You can find that in Update Deco page in Deco app, example:

In this example I have Deco M9 Plus on firmware 1.6.2 and Deco M5 on firmware 1.7.3.

You can make screenshot of that page and share it here or just write down firmware version number and reply with it.

When I have that info I am going to take timeout to think about options I'll be recommending, but I promise to reply by the end of my day today, which is in 10 hours from now.

  @Alexandre. 

  @Gravoren 

If this post gets too long, I'll split it.

What you have:

Gigabit Internet

Kaon AP2400 router with gigabit LAN and WAN ports

Deco X10 with two gigabit ports

General recommendations regardless of how you will wire Satellite Deco:

1. Turn off Kaon router WiFi. Deco mesh does not share its WiFi network with ISP router. Having WiFi from Kaon router will only create unnecessary WiFi interference with Deco mesh.

2. I am assuming you will be connecting Kaon AP2400 router to fiber connection box. If this is correct, make sure they are near each other and connect with short Ethernet cable. If Kaon AP2400 router arrived with its own Ethernet cable, use it.

This will help if you ever have issues with Internet connectivity and need to engage ISP Tech Support. If you connect ISP router to fiber connection box with long cable, you'll be told to undo that first. So, this defines placement of your Kaon AP2400 router: near fiber connection box.

3. Run Deco mesh in Access Point mode. You can't do that now, but when you get ISP router: have it online, connect Main Deco to one of its Ethernet ports and switch Deco mesh to AP mode: Switching a Deco to Access Point (AP) Mode

This will offload or disable a lot of activities Main Deco does in Router mode. By delegating network management (such as IP address allocation) to ISP router and disabling content management in Main Deco, you'll improve Deco mesh performance. CPU and memory in Deco units will be allocated to WiFi support only. Right now your Main Deco could be your WiFi mesh bottleneck during times of heavy network utilization, what I recommend here will remove that bottleneck.

How I would recommend to wire four Deco nodes in the main house:

The best option would be to wire all four Decos directly to Kaon AP2400 router. With that, each Deco unit gets dedicated gigabit link to router. 

With that, you are using all four Ethernet ports on router - but each Deco will have one free Ethernet port and you can use it to extend your wired network: either connect device such as PC to free X10 port, or gigabit switch and multiple wired devices to that switch.

If users on one of Deco manage to overutilize it, that will not impact other Deco and their clients. With daisy chain, when one of units is under heavy load the rest above the chain will have degraded performance.

All four Deco will share gigabit Internet link. If in the future you sign for faster Internet, for example 4 gigabit, in theory each Deco can utilize its gigabit port up to the max and you could get combined 4 gigabit utilization on Internet link. With daisy chaining you are always limited to 1 gigabit. Meaning, that wiring I suggest is future proof.

--------------------

There is just one issue: some models of ISP routers do not support Deco mesh Ethernet backhaul. That does not happen often, so chances are high yours will. If not, wiring Deco to ISP router directly will not be possible. 

That would be easy to test when you get your Kaon AP2400 router: configure Deco mesh to run in AP mode, bring all four Deco units to Kaon AP2400 router and connect them to router with short Ethernet cables. Give it 30 minutes max - if all units stay healthy and report Ethernet backhaul in Deco app, it should be OK to wire the house for that setup: all four Deco directly connected to Kaon router.

If not, second best option would be to try this: connect TP-Link switch to Kaon AP2400 router, connect all four Deco nodes to the switch and see if they can establish Ethernet backhaul. If they will, again wire house to have all four Deco connected directly to the switch.

By the way, you could even get extra cheap 5-port gigabit switch for Decos specifically, place it side by side with Kaon AP2400 router.

----------------------

Questions?

----------------------

In my next post I'll discuss options you might have in how to connect workshop to main house. 

  @Gravoren 

Connecting workshop to main house, starting with best options.

1. If you have TV cable (coax) coming from house to workshop, there are Ethernet over coax adapters available. Let me know and I'll share more info on that topic.

2. Ethernet cable - but make sure it is underground or properly shielded. Lightning strike hitting unprotected outdoor Ethernet cable could fry all wired devices at your place.

3. Does your workshop get electrical power from main house? If yes, does main house have (or you can make it) and electric outlet on same circuit breaker that serves workshop? If both are yes - consider powerline adapters from TP-Link. You will need pair of adapters: one goes to workshop and connects to Ethernet port of either of two Deco there. Another goes to main house and connects to any available Ethernet port - it could be on Deco, on switch, on ISP router if router has free port (as long as router supports Deco Ethernet backhaul). 

I would recommend either TL-PA7017 KIT or if you need pass-through power socket: TL-PA7017P KIT

4. WiFi link as you've shown on your drawing.

Here is what you should know about Deco mesh with wirelessly connected Satellite Deco. By default, Satellite Deco on WiFi backhaul strongly prefers to connect to Main Deco, even if signal between them is extremely weak. TP-Link provided means to override that and feature is called "Connection Preference:"  Connection Preference: Customize Your Preferred Signal Source. Deco X10 with firmware 1.0.4 is not on the list of supported models, this feature should come with firmware 1.1.*. 

Because of that, you should place Main Deco where your green dot is in the main house. With Deco mesh running in AP mode it does not matter much which Ethernet wired Deco will be Main Deco. By placing Main Deco where green dot is, you'll ensure Satellite Deco from workshop (also green dot) will always connect to Main Deco which will be the nearest Deco unit.

------------------

Questions or comments on that topic?

  @Alexandre

Dear Aleksandre,

thank you brother your knowledge is greatly appreciated!

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

When running in AP mode the connection won't mesh right, it will be like single access points?

Will it rather jump from one to the other, I've experienced before that even though moving close to a different connection with a strong signal the phone will stick to the other connection even when the signal is very weak!

Due to this, if true, would it be better to keep them in router mode, or have I misunderstood how they work?

Will AP mode void the meshing and treat the nodes as 4 different networks?

Or will they mesh as before jumping to the closest preferred unit?

Since the X10 can handle the Gigabit connection it shouldn't bottleneck at the moment if set up as mesh, and if I get a 4 Gig connection in the future I'm sure TP-Link will have a product I can set as the main Deco instead then, right! ;)

Does that make sense and are my assumptions correct?

Regarding the workshop connection, Wi-Fi backhaul is the only possibility.

I measured the signal again, and it's around -67dbm, and I managed to download with 100mbps from the future location of the 5th Deco, which is sufficient and that was from the main Deco not even the closest satellite so I'll make sure the closest satellite will be the main Deco.

If all my assumptions are correct, I'd expect 300 mbps minimum and then hardwire to the workshop, I really don't need much juice there anyway.

The assigned main Deco should always be the one connected to the router/modem, is that correct?

Again, thank you for your knowledge, it is deeply appreciated!

Kind regards Stefan

. 

  @Gravoren 

It seems to me you would prefer to daisy chain your Deco units. This will work. Not the best option, but workable. 4 gigabit Internet might not have been the best example why it is not the best option, but listing all reasons could take a lot of time and space in my replies.

As a short summary, daisy chain is probably the easiest you can do with what you have now. Today, it will deliver you about same performance as any other option.  You can even do that wiring without waiting for ISP router arrival - daisy chain works in both Deco router and AP modes. That will work even if ISP router does not support Deco mesh Ethernet protocol.

Still, it is the option with most constrains in the future.

>When running in AP mode the connection won't mesh right, it will be like single access points?

When running Deco mesh in AP mode, you will have WiFi mesh. When you walk through your house, device will seamlessly roam between Deco units, without interruption.

>Will it rather jump from one to the other, I've experienced before that even though moving close to a different connection with a strong signal the phone will stick to the other connection even when the signal is very weak!

Mobile device will not instantly roam to the nearest WiFi node (Deco or any other brand) when you walk through the house. Every time mobile device must roam it'll have to rescan WiFi networks and that drains battery. There will be compromise between how soon mobile device will roam to the nearest WiFi node and speed of battery depletion.

This is mistaken assumption many people make and vendor marketing materials don't clarify. What WiFi mesh promises is if WiFi nodes are placed correctly, mobile device will roam between nodes without dropping Internet connection.

>would it be better to keep them in router mode, or have I misunderstood how they work?

You have misunderstood how they work. It would be better to keep Deco mesh in Access Point mode, when you have ISP router and all you need from Deco is good WiFi coverage and performance. 

Also, if you have people at your household who use gaming consoles, XBox for example, you may not have a choice. Google "double NAT and XBox" to find what issues there may be.

Deco X10 is one of the least powerful WiFi6 Deco models on the market. Nothing wrong with that, for WiFi mesh with wired nodes it makes sense to have more smaller units than few bigger and powerful ones. You've made the right choice, if you plan to hardwire Satellite Deco.

Still, it makes sense to offload Main Deco X10 from the work that ISP router can do (and will do anyway). This will be achieved by switching Deco mesh to AP mode. Otherwise, especially with that many people connected to your WiFi network, Main Deco may become a bottleneck.

>Or will they mesh as before jumping to the closest preferred unit?

You will have the same WiFi mesh behavior regardless if you run Deco in Router or AP mode. Don't worry about that.

>The assigned main Deco should always be the one connected to the router/modem, is that correct?

For Deco in AP mode that should not be necessary, but still very much preferred. This might not be an issue for you: if signal between two Green dots is weak already, it is unlikely Workshop Satellite Deco can connect to anything else but nearest to it Satellite Deco in main house.

  @Alexandre. 

Thank you so much for clarifying, Alexandre!
It really is a jungle out there when you're starting with zero knowledge! :)

Just to recap.
It's the same trouble for me to daisy-chain as to do dedicated wiring.
If I hard-wire the main house Deco's set to AP mode directly to the router with cat6 FTP cables it will be the most efficient, future proof and it will still be a single network (If the router won't support it I'll just get another one, if I recall correctly from another thread, it should support IEEE 1905.1 standard right?)

And to the workshop I'll do Wi-Fi backhaul to the other building and then Ethernet backhaul to the last node.

Good thing I have a month to do the preparations :)