Eero can indeed replace your router, but it doesn't have to. I have the Eero 6+ mesh and have used it in both router and non-router modes - I am currently using it in non-router mode.

The gotcha with Eero is that if you want the advanced features around logging and the likes then you have to pay a subscription. I paid for the first year and then decided paying nearly £100 a year for the features was just not worth it. Dynamic DNS is only available under the subscription as well which is very annoying (this is the reason I moved back to using the EE router and when I switched it found out that the EE routers don't do dynamic DNS either now!).

In Router mode the Eero doesn't need the ISP router at all, if you are on FTTP then it will just connect directly to the FTTP ONT.

EDIT: Just remembered you are FTTC and so you would still need a modem for the Eero, other mesh routers might have FTTC capabilities built in. Personally I wouldn't buy an Eero again, they are fairly basic routers even with the subscription - the main benefit is that if you have fairly recent Echo devices they can also act as part of the mesh network (although I am not sure how much benefit they give).

Edited by ian72 (Fri 12-Sep-25 08:46:27)

Keep your existing router and set to bridge mode.

The get a Ubiquiti Cloud gateway - will work with FTTC today and FTTP when it arrives. Add several of their Access Points - ceiling, on wall, in-wall, desk, mounted. They will all support meshing.

UniFi GPT

All UniFi access points support wireless meshing to extend wireless coverage without physical cables. This includes models across WiFi 5, WiFi 6, and WiFi 7 technologies, such as:

WiFi 5 APs: AC HD, AC In-Wall, AC Lite, AC Long-Range, AC Mesh, AC Mesh Pro, AC Pro, AC SHD, BeaconHD, FlexHD, In-Wall HD, nanoHD, WiFi BaseStation XG.
WiFi 6 APs: U6 Enterprise, U6 Enterprise In-Wall, U6 Extender, U6 In-Wall, U6 Lite, U6 Long-Range, U6 Mesh, U6 Mesh Pro, U6 Pro, U6 Plus.
WiFi 7 APs: E7, E7 Audience, E7 Campus, U7 In-Wall, U7 Lite, U7 Long-Range, U7 Outdoor, U7 Pro, U7 Pro Max, U7 Pro Outdoor, U7 Pro Wall, U7 Pro XG, U7 Pro XGS.

Have a read of: https://help.ui.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002262328-C...

You then have full control, no annual licence fees, updates regularly, Guest WiFi easily set up, ...

In reply to a post by haggis999:

I'm getting a bit confused here. I thought an Access Point solution was different from a Mesh solution, but you are referring to "a 4 or 5 AP mesh system". Does this mean that the nodes of a Mesh system are just ordinary APs with some special mesh software. If so, can you switch the APs in or out of mesh mode with a simple software configuration change?

I'm also puzzled as to why you don't appear to like using wired Ethernet backhaul. Is that not always faster and more reliable than wifi backhaul?

A lot of confusion here with APs and mesh systems.

There is something called WDS .. wireless distribution system, which allows you connect units together wirelessly. its rather pants as theres no dedicated channel for communication between units.

You can also traditionally wire APs to a router. You have 5 aps, you have 6 units to maintain and configure.

Mesh system, brings AP unit management together on the router. A mesh system is still a mesh system if its wired. But mesh system allows you have a mixture of wireless and wired connections. If you connect them, they typically will use one of the radios for communication with the router. so if both your router and ap has 3x5ghz radios - under mesh conditions it will be 2x5ghz usable radios.

You can also system wide ssids and local ones - again set up on the router.

In reply to a post by Pipexer:

An access point is an access point - it may be a traditional access point, or it might be a mesh system. It's still an access point. Some systems allow the APs (access points) to operate in a Mesh configuration, or just "normal" AP mode. But that depends on the vendor. Most mesh systems, last time I checked, are designed only to work in a mesh configuration and with APs of exactly same model, you can't change them to run as standalone APs.

Theres nothing stopping you having a mesh config and a separate ap, either from the same vendor, or another on the same network. Not really sure how you managed to think that.

Mesh is about easy configuration of multiple units working as one - ie a mesh, with a flexibility of adding new units without messing everything up and not having to deal 2,3,4,5, etc UIs.

Get a poe switch

In reply to a post by haggis999:

I see that some mesh solutions, such as the Eero and Orbi, are described as wifi routers. Do they take the place of your existing router, which is then just used as a modem?

routers are typically a bundle of multiple functions.

Traditionally you had wifi modem routers or cable routers.

Wifi modems do not have any modems.

if you want to use an Eero or orbi systems with you have 4 choices

1. buy a vdsl modem and ditch your exisitng modem router
2. see if your modem router can go into ip passthru/bridge mode.
3. give your your modem router a static ip and turn off dhcp and have routing via eero/orbi
4. use the dhcp server in your modem router and turn the eero/orbi dhcp server off.

3 and 4 has advantages and disadvantages for each solution, and you may loose some functions. The ideal is 1 or 2.

Why would you have separate solutions running in the same household/property - all that will do is cause interference and channel overlapping, etc. Would you then give them the same SSID? How will clients then seamlessly roam between 2 completely different solutions? How would you handle differences in how the security implementation is handled across those solutions? What happens with multicasting? Do you leave both solutions on auto channel selection or should you then manually configure each ones on a particular channel to stop them switching?

Short answer - at best you'll have degraded performance, at worst things won't work properly or you'll overlook something.

By all means if you are clued up and understand things like subnets, VLANs, concepts like intra-BSS isolation, etc, then by all means, mix and match and have a home hodge podge. If you just want things to work, then rely on the old KISS (keep it simple, stupid) approach.

As for mixing different models - that's never been a good practice mesh or not. In an enterprise wireless environment you don't randomly mix APs in the same building - you may have a few different APs for specific purposes like directional or in venue halls but on the offlice floors where you want roaming to work and for things to play nice, you use the same model across the entire floor with the same firmware with the same config. You may get away with different models placed randomly, but it's simply not recommended and no competent network engineer would sanction that sort of approach.

I'm no stranger to technology, but the world of access points, mesh or otherwise, is not familiar territory for me. I always try to adhere to the KISS principle and have already been persuaded that sticking with a single AP vendor is the best approach.

EDIT: My ISP router is a FritzBox 7530 AX, which doesn't support bridge mode. If I continue to use this router, would its wifi signal interfere with a non-FritxBox mesh system?

Edited by haggis999 (Fri 12-Sep-25 23:06:49)

It does not matter that the 7530AX does not support bridge mode, as long as you can turn off the on board wireless, which will allow you to apply KISS to your eventual wireless set up.

Would I also have to turn off DHCP in my FritzBox router, so that it doesn't conflict with DHCP in a wifi router?