@zim2dive Regarding Access Point vs Mesh:  The best analogy I can give is landline/payphone vs cellphone.  If you make a call at a payphone on your route, but want to continue your call at your destination, you have to hang up, and redial when you reach the next payphone.  This is like an Access Point, when you jump from node to node the connection has to be cut off from one node, then reestablished with another node.  A cellphone allows you to continue your call while you drive down the road as the cellphone connection hops from tower to tower without the need to hang up and redail every time.  Mesh provides this, termed as "seamless roaming".  You can continue whatever you are doing as you move around the household and the device is hopping from node to node in a mesh.

User is walking from Office to BonusRoom.. ie. one "satellite" to another "satellite".. at some point the connection should switch to the stronger/closer node

you are saying that the "handoff" experience willl be better if the "router" was a Deco in router mode ?

(I thought all of the APs have the same SSID and handoff would be seamless even in AP mode otherwise why even bother with same SSID ? )

  @zim2dive I'm afraid the TP-Link Deco reference material is confusing.  It is required to setup the Deco Mesh in Router Mode first when removed from the box.  Then simply make the change for the primary Deco (one connected to the other brand router) to Access Point mode in the app.  At this point the other Decos are still part of Deco Mesh, but TP-Link slopily calls them APs.  Technically they are still Deco Mesh Nodes, whether wired or WiFi backhauled.  And yes in this case there is no loss of Mesh function.  If you separately set up each Deco to Access Point mode then I belive the Mesh function is in fact disabled...

  @jzchen Ah!  ok

yes, I had seen enough articles that you START in router mode.. set everything up and then change the router node over to Access Point.

so my questions would be

a) I could then mix wired/wireless backhaul within the Deco mesh?  

b) is there still a "main" node which all of the other nodes need to be able to reach directly, or can they daisy chain wirelessly thru each other ?

c) I *should* be able to test this within my existing Orbi setup without impacting my running system

      1. attach Deco-Main to the LAN port of one of my Orbi satellites

      2. pick a different SSID vs. my Orbi SSID

      3. set up the satellite Deco's

      4. change the Deco-Router to Access Point mode

      5.  Boom, I've created a separate wirelss network in my house with a different SSID, but it will get DHCP thru my existing Orbi router (for now)

      6. I can test the combination of wired/wireless backhaul on the Deco mesh and verify it works like I hope

      7. I could then remove all of my Orbi stuff, replace with a simple router and be ready to go with Deco serving all wireless in the house

Please correct any mistakes in my thought process.

thanks

Mike

EDIT: I had my network down for 6+ hours over the weekend trying to replace the Orbi with Deco, but ran in to the backhaul issue... my testing approach (above) is an attempt to avoid taking everything down if/until I am sure it will work around the backhaul issue I saw.

  @zim2dive 

a) I could then mix wired/wireless backhaul within the Deco mesh?  

Short answer is Yes.  There is a little more flexibility in connections when the primary Deco is switched to Access Point mode.

b) is there still a "main" node which all of the other nodes need to be able to reach directly, or can they daisy chain wirelessly thru each other ?

There is still a main Access Point, but in both Acess Point with mesh and Router with mesh, they can be daisy chained wirelessly thru each other.  In Router mode, the main Deco needs to connect exclusively to your other router, and the other Decos behind the Deco Router, whereas in Access Point mode, even the other Decos can be directy connected to the (other brand) router in your diagram.  (This is the added flexibility I refer to in a).

c) I *should* be able to test this within my existing Orbi setup without impacting my running system

      1. attach Deco-Main to the LAN port of one of my Orbi satellites

      2. pick a different SSID vs. my Orbi SSID

      3. set up the satellite Deco's

      4. change the Deco-Router to Access Point mode

      5.  Boom, I've created a separate wirelss network in my house with a different SSID, but it will get DHCP thru my existing Orbi router (for now)

      6. I can test the combination of wired/wireless backhaul on the Deco mesh and verify it works like I hope

      7. I could then remove all of my Orbi stuff, replace with a simple router and be ready to go with Deco serving all wireless in the house

Response to #7 (EDIT- Alternatively)  You could switch the (primary) Access Point Deco from Access Point Mode to Router mode, AND replace the non-Deco Router in your diagram with that Deco as router...

  @jzchen 

if I keep a Deco in router mode, I'd be back to my original problem... ie. my 3rd floor Deco was turning red and going "offline" (according to the app) even tho it had wired backhaul.

For me, that is a non-starter and I'll return the units if I can't find a work-around.

Using them in AP mode (plus the non-Deco router), is one possible work-around I can easily(?) test and if it works, a relatively cheap long term solution (ie. simple gigibit router) allowing me to move on from my RBR50 setup (which has served me well, but seems to require more and more frequent resets)

  @zim2dive My apologies for coming full circle to the original problem...

TP-Link should fix the problem you experienced which should not require you to use that 3rd party router.  That said if you are willing to "work with it" like you've asked yes it should work that way too, barring any bugs in Access Point Mode with Deco Mesh....

  @jzchen Agreed.

This would get me 90% (?) of the way to what I had wanted. If/when wired backhaul is truly decoupled from a wireless connection, I could revert the Deco node to Router mode and remove the router.  OTOH, it buys me a few extra ports and maybe removes the need for a switch, so it's not so bad in practice.... if it works as I hope.  Will test in the next few days.

But yes, would be great it wired backhaul was fixed.  Not just for me, but I think that would enable many use cases (ie. string a cable to a detached garage/shed/etc to add a node which is well beyond the wifi range from Deco-Main/Router.

Will report back in a few days.