@usa1000,
Most of the products that you see on our site will be specific to routers and are designed to work with any modem it is connected to. If you are looking for a gateway device, you should attempt to get in contact with your ISP to see if they offer a model that can accomplish this.
When it comes to adding range extenders to a network; I would recommend avoiding adding Range Extenders to a Mesh Network; as this will provide a separate "network" that your devices may connect to rather than roaming between mesh nodes. With Deco Mesh, the only way to build onto the mesh network is to use more deco nodes. However, Range Extenders are relatively universal and work to simply repeat a wireless signal; that is why there can be relatively steep losses in Speed when connected through an RE.
Any TP-Link router that offers the Smart Connect Feature, most every model at this point, will be able to create a singular SSID with multiple bands. Even without the smart connect feature, this functionality could be achieved by passing the responsibility of changing bands to the end device, like your phone.
If you are looking to add mesh functionality to your home there are a few things to consider:
- The Deco Series has our Mesh Network nodes, while Archer Routers are our conventional routers;
- Wi-fi 7 archer routers will have EasyMesh compatibility, allowing you to create a Mesh Network with compatible routers and range extenders from other brands.
- Our Wi-Fi 7 series of products will be released very soon, as TP-Link is planning to be the first to bring Wi-fi 7 to home networks.