I have an 2860 that provides all of my connectivity, including WiFi. It works great, but the WiFi doesn't quite reach to the extremities of my house. My WiFi has a couple of SSIDs.

If a bought an AP802 and plugged it in somewhere relatively central, would this give me "mesh"-style functionality - i.e. the ability for my devices to intelligently roam between the 2860's and 802's WiFi, maintaining the existing SSIDs? I can't find any definitive information on this: the 2860 has "centralised management" of the APs, and also has WDS, but I can't figure out whether this is the simplest way to extend my WiFi whilst giving the best performance for the least cost. Any advice?

If you can connect the 802 via a wired connection (LAN cable or possibly mains/LAN adapters) that would be the best solution. In theory you can use Bridge mode on the router and the AP to connect via wireless (WDS) but I've never successfully achieved that for some reason (although doing it between APs is no problem). There is also "Repeater" mode. I suggest you search for the pros and cons of the various options. Any wireless connection between the two devices will have performance impacts. In any event, however you connect you can keep your existing SSIDs etc. As for roaming, again it will work, but persuading client devices to move from one device to another is a dark art....in general they are not intelligent :mrgreen:

fabwhack wrote:
My WiFi has a couple of SSIDs.

Note that the AP802 only supports TWO SSIDs (but you can have two on 2.4GHz and two different ones on 5GHz). Coverage is pretty good for such a small package, but by itself, would only cover a very small house. (Don't buy one from Amazon - you'll get one intended for the German market, which won't plug in to the wall socket!)

and he wrote: If I bought an AP802 and plugged it in somewhere relatively central, would this give me "mesh"-style functionality

No.

The main advantage of the 'mesh' part (as far as I can tell), is that Access Points can cooperate in shuffling their clients from one to the other. The 2860 doesn't support this, so the best you get is the "Assisted Roaming", where the client is booted-off when its signal strength drops. However, it may well come straight back . You would have to do a very careful Wifi survey, to find the optimum number to use. (The AP903/802 use a temporary 'block-list' to make sure the client can't return, having already agreed that it will move. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good)

If you want Mesh networking, note that the AP802 can't be the Mesh root, only a node. The AP903 can be the Mesh root or a node (and has enough performance to cover a pretty large area by itself). Only people living in Stately Homes, like @Pistebasher would need more than one of them :lol: .

Performance-wise, you want everything wired. Some Mesh systems (but not Draytek's ) have a dedicated radio for the 'backhaul'. Draytek present figures from a peculiar 'Mesh' test they did, saying if you got 80Mbps @ the root node, you'd get 49Mbps at the first node.
Universal Repeater mode halves the bandwidth (and apparently is some form of NAT).
WDS is faster - and a true bridge, but is still pretty slow. (I got 30Mbps between a 2860 and a 2830 - on 2.4GHz)

For non-mesh setups, you really need different SSIDs for the different AP ... it will make connection to the 'best' one hard to achieve otherwise.

I've travelled this road myself recently: https://forum.draytek.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=23344&p=95455#p95455

:lol: here at Schloss Pistebasher two of my AP903s are providing a link from the house to an external garage (root to node is this case). The distance is about 4 metres, the root is positioned at the kitchen window and the node is just behind the wooden garage door. The best backhaul connection strength I have been able to achieve is 62%. If I move the root away from the window it drops to below 30%, sometimes well below. But then my house is made of real bricks, not ticky-tacky :lol:

The other two mesh nodes are wired - one provides wired LAN connections via an additional switch to all of the "entertainment" devices in the lounge - TV, DVR, AV Receiver, BD player, Roon Core, hifi amp, Mac Mini, Sonos Port and also wifi to any devices around such as phones and iPads and Alexas. The other is also wired and is in an upstairs bedroom - it provides a couple of wired LAN connections and also wifi in the upper part of the house - I've disabled all my SSID's on the 2926ac as it could not participate in the mesh, but left the 5GHz channel active as it provides a failover WAN connection via an Android phone.

So you see, it's easy to get up to 4 devices once you start.....

Piste Basher wrote:
So you see, it's easy to get up to 4 devices once you start.....

Ah yes, well, now you come to mention it, I have got the 2860 and an old 2830 in use too :oops: