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Background

We have a flat that is (almost) covered quite well by one WIFI router. One of my children now moves to another flat in the same house, that is not covered by our WIFI. I'd now like to extend the WIFI with two or more mesh repeaters, so that our own flat and the new flat is well covered, and we don't need so switch WIFI when we move between the two flats.

Problem

Of course, the easiest thing would be to buy mesh repeaters with from the manufacturer of the existing router. The drawback is

  • WIFI repeaters from this manufacturer have quite bad reviews on the internet; WIFI mesh repeaters from other manufacturers seem to have better reviews and are cheaper.
  • I'd not like to change the router, as these would be additional hardware costs, and as the current router has a programmable interface (API), and I can centrally switch on and off the network access for individual devices by our (small) smart home solution (eg. block internet for children between midnight and 6 a.m.).

Specifications

Existing router

Nighthawk R7000 Wifi 5 (IEEE® 802.11 b/g/n 2.4GHz, IEEE® 802.11 a/n/ac 5GHz)

Disclaimer: I'm quite satisfied with the router. I only put the manufacturer/model here to make sure enough information is provided for answering the question. I'm not saying that any specific manufacturer or it's products are 'good' or 'not so good'.

Wifi mesh repeaters

Should already support Wifi 6

Question

What do I have to take into account to make sure, that I can combine a router vom manufacturer A and WIFI mesh repeaters from manufacturer B, so that they build up a good working mesh networh? (Thought: Would it help to overwrite the firmware of the existing router with DD-WRT or OpenWrt in order to make this possible?)

Any hint is highly appreciated!

If the question seems inappropriate or improveable, I'd highly appreciate if you leave a comment so that I can improve the question, instead of simply downvoting it, especially if you downvote it without telling me why. Thank you very much in advance!

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    If the devices support shared protocols for a mesh then you'll be able to do this. I'm not familiar with the open protocols for building mesh, and so cannot give a specific answer, but it seems this answer should be found relatively easily by looking into the protocol devices support (or can support when using another router OS).
    – music2myear
    Mar 20, 2022 at 20:41
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    Further, questions asking us to suggest package solutions are off topic here on GuG. Please edit your question to remove this aspect and focus on your specific problem.
    – music2myear
    Mar 20, 2022 at 20:43
  • Thank you for both comments! I've updated the question, and hope, it is more suitable now. I've also read articles about mesh protocols in the meantime. What protocol types do I have to take into account (eg. Autoconfiguration protocols, Routing protocols (like HWMP), both of them, other types of protocols)?
    – BogisW
    Mar 21, 2022 at 0:28

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