Amazon eero Wireless Devices: Master Thread

[xiaofan]

1) I can not find any good info about whether Amazon eero TrueMesh supports any of the standard 802.11 k/v/r standards or not.
https://eero.com/en-GB/technology

2) Typically consumer mesh technology like Asus AIMesh and TP-Link Deco will be based on 802.11 k/v (sometimes also 802.11r), then adding proprietary mesh technology. 802.11s is mentioned to be used by Google's Mesh solution.

OpenWRT mesh guide, mainly using 802.11s
https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/mesh/start

OpenWRT Wi-Fi Roaming using 802.11 k/v/r
https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/roaming

3) Some experts are saying as long as the nodes support 802.11 k/v, then the roaming performance will not be bad even if mixing different nodes (all nodes in AP mode, or except the main node).

4) Then some experts like to DIY, changing the placement, transmission power and frequency band, to try to achieve seamless roaming. They do not care about 802.11 k/v/t or 802.11s.

5) To layman, I think it is better to use the same vendor's same mesh technology.

For example, TP-Link has different mesh technologies and they do not recommend users to mix different mesh technology.
https://www.tp-link.com/sg/support/faq/3749/

 

[BBCWatcher]

1) I can not find any good info about whether Amazon eero TrueMesh supports any of the standard 802.11 k/v/r standards or not.
https://eero.com/en-GB/technology

Yes, they do. Check eero's release notes. For example, they introduced 802.11k and 802.11v support in October, 2021. They started supporting 802.11r in June, 2017.

2) Typically consumer mesh technology like Asus AIMesh and TP-Link Deco will be based on 802.11 k/v (sometimes also 802.11r), then adding proprietary mesh technology. 802.11s is mentioned to be used by Google's Mesh solution.

No single vendor controls wireless clients. You have to support at least 802.11r if you want wireless clients to hop from radio to radio more quickly. (802.11k and 802.11v are less important, and some clients don't support those protocols.)

3) Some experts are saying as long as the nodes support 802.11 k/v, then the roaming performance will not be bad even if mixing different nodes (all nodes in AP mode, or except the main node).

The OpenWrt community consensus is that 802.11r is the most important protocol for roaming, and I think I agree with that. I've never seen 802.11k/v supported without 802.11r, but maybe I haven't looked hard enough.

802.11s is an attempt to get some multi-vendor standardization, but it doesn't seem to have caught on.

4) Then some experts like to DIY, changing the placement, transmission power and frequency band, to try to achieve seamless roaming. They do not care about 802.11 k/v/t or 802.11s.

That's really a different thing, albeit related. You can have a wireless network with 802.11r/k/v — with some protocol such as 802.11s providing coordination between access points — and still manually tweak aspects of your network (channel widths, transmission power outputs, channel selections including possible DFS channel rescans and resets, etc.) I do that, actually. Eero devices specifically won't let you do that. They try to optimize for the local environment automatically and don't include many manual overrides.

5) To layman, I think it is better to use the same vendor's same mesh technology.

Yes, absolutely. With wired backhauls if at all possible. (Use MoCA 2.5 adapters if you have coax ports and don't want to run new wires.)

For example, TP-Link has different mesh technologies and they do not recommend users to mix different mesh technology.
https://www.tp-link.com/sg/support/faq/3749/

I suppose a notable exception is OpenWrt. That is, it's the firmware that matters, not the actual manufacturer of the device itself. And I suppose MikroTik's RouterOS is another exception since it can run on some non-MikroTik equipment such as a mini PC.