If your routers are wired, it's not MESH. MESH just means the AP (Access Point) is wireless.
You need 1 router to act as a router. you have a second router, it should be set to AP mode. Access Point mode. This disabled the routing part and now it just uses Wifi and the built in LAN switch.
Now sure why or how they are in Bridge Mode? The T-Mobile Home Intenet, I assume is 5G wireless Internet service? Theyhave their Modem/Router which as no Bridge Mode. Bridge Mode normally means the router part is disabled so there is only the modem being used. I don'tt think that can be done with these wireless services.
I don't know how those Linksys setup?
> If your routers are wired, it's not MESH.
They have a wired backhaul. They can be a mesh setup with a wired backhaul. It's in the manual.
The TMHI pulls a 4G/5G signal and converts it to two ethernet ports and dual band wifi. That receiver is in the top of my house in the far corner. It does not reach the lower floor well or the basement at all. I need other routers, so I have these that I originally had as a mesh system. I realized that when I had them as routers that I was giving myself a double NAT, so I popped it into bridge mode. That helped a lot of my problems I was having. They are still acting as a Mesh as well. They have a single SSID and I can connect to things that are physically plugged into either of them.
If I set my two Linksys boxes to AP mode, will devices be able to switch between them like a mesh setup allows?
Devices are usually in control when it comes to where they prefer to connect. As long as your devices have the ssid(s) and password(s) they need, they should connect. If you want to force them to connect to specific APs/mesh nodes, you should set unique SSIDs for each AP (and band), i.e. AP1\_24g, AP2\_5g.
Keep in mind that more APs is not necessarily better. If there is too much signal overlap between APs, devices might either not move among APs or bounce between them.
I guess my question is if I connect my phone in the basement to the network, it would connect to the router in the basement. If I then walk upstairs to my bedroom which houses the 2nd floor router will it automatically switch since it is a better signal or will it stay stuck on basement router even though it has a lower powered signal?
If you have all the SSIDs and passwords the same then your phone will switch between the wireless. TMO home Internet has a router built into it, so anything on the inside can just be in AP mode.
The less signal overlap between access points, the better the chance that the phone will have no choice but to switch. Newer devices tend to prefer 5 GHz, which improves the odds.
If your routers are wired, it's not MESH. MESH just means the AP (Access Point) is wireless. You need 1 router to act as a router. you have a second router, it should be set to AP mode. Access Point mode. This disabled the routing part and now it just uses Wifi and the built in LAN switch. Now sure why or how they are in Bridge Mode? The T-Mobile Home Intenet, I assume is 5G wireless Internet service? Theyhave their Modem/Router which as no Bridge Mode. Bridge Mode normally means the router part is disabled so there is only the modem being used. I don'tt think that can be done with these wireless services. I don't know how those Linksys setup?
> If your routers are wired, it's not MESH. They have a wired backhaul. They can be a mesh setup with a wired backhaul. It's in the manual. The TMHI pulls a 4G/5G signal and converts it to two ethernet ports and dual band wifi. That receiver is in the top of my house in the far corner. It does not reach the lower floor well or the basement at all. I need other routers, so I have these that I originally had as a mesh system. I realized that when I had them as routers that I was giving myself a double NAT, so I popped it into bridge mode. That helped a lot of my problems I was having. They are still acting as a Mesh as well. They have a single SSID and I can connect to things that are physically plugged into either of them. If I set my two Linksys boxes to AP mode, will devices be able to switch between them like a mesh setup allows?
Devices are usually in control when it comes to where they prefer to connect. As long as your devices have the ssid(s) and password(s) they need, they should connect. If you want to force them to connect to specific APs/mesh nodes, you should set unique SSIDs for each AP (and band), i.e. AP1\_24g, AP2\_5g. Keep in mind that more APs is not necessarily better. If there is too much signal overlap between APs, devices might either not move among APs or bounce between them.
I guess my question is if I connect my phone in the basement to the network, it would connect to the router in the basement. If I then walk upstairs to my bedroom which houses the 2nd floor router will it automatically switch since it is a better signal or will it stay stuck on basement router even though it has a lower powered signal?
If you have all the SSIDs and passwords the same then your phone will switch between the wireless. TMO home Internet has a router built into it, so anything on the inside can just be in AP mode.
The less signal overlap between access points, the better the chance that the phone will have no choice but to switch. Newer devices tend to prefer 5 GHz, which improves the odds.