“How does this mesh network differ from an AirPort Extreme with a hard wired Airport Express access point?”
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From my experience coming from a similar setup, the tri-band really helps by moving slower devices to 2.4ghz or the other 5ghz network, but I also have a lot of wifi devices. Each of the Linksys nodes has an ethernet port so you could hardwire them if you wanted to do so, but the speed seems to be quite fast using the mesh networking.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.Probably the same but isn't airport express ant an ac router?
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.I had the same setup prior - one Extreme and one Express. The Express was much slower, typically getting half the speed (or worse) of the main Extreme unit. The Velop will allow the full bandwidth from each node, which vastly improved speeds to my upstairs rooms (that previously were served by the Express).
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.In the vast majority of cases a hard wired remote access point will be superior to any sort of WiFi mesh or range extender (the only one I can think of that does not have this limitation is the Netgear Orbi because it has a dedicated backhaul). It remains true in this case. Migrating from an AirPort you'll be limiting your physical connectivity at the base location (there are only 2 ports on the bottom of any Velop node, at the base location you'll have to use one of those ports to connect to your modem, leaving only 1 more for any physical devices you may need to connect). In addition, the connectivity from the remote nodes back to the primary node is done via the radio that has the least traffic on it at the time (IE: if your device is connected to the node at 2.4GHz, it'll transmit that data back to the primary node over the 5GHz radio... this does not have a dedicated backhaul like the Netgear Orbi). That said, if you have devices on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz of the same node, then you'll run into the same issues that a traditional range extender has where it has to split its time between communicating with the client devices and transmitting that data back to the primary node.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.Depending how you are hardwired to your Airport Express (if you have ethernet wiring setup in your house hold, or you have run the long ethernet wiring to your Airport Express), the mess network allows you to expand your wireless signal to parts of your house that normally wouldn't be able to gain wireless signal by just a single router. Most house holds do not have a built-in wired ethernet network, nor do most people want to/know how to run wiring for a wired setup in their house. These unit(s) provide a relatively easy to setup network of wireless to blanket a large area or areas that may be hard to reach without running any additional wiring. These unit(s) also have "dedicated" signal band that sends information packets back to the source so as not to slow down the wireless signal going to and from the units to your device.
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