@voltronic so the additional network is there to pair new network devices or new devices on the network? Also odd .11s doesn’t do SSIDs.

@Smersh @voltronic

it's the inter-AP link...the wireless connection between the APs in a "mesh"

@opie @voltronic I take it, not on true mesh routers. Doesn’t TP-Link let you connect all kind of routers to their Deco mesh systems to expand the mesh network?

@Smersh
Yes, we were basically typing the same thing at the same time.

@opie

@voltronic @opie gotcha! Which would be nifty it was an opt-in instead of on by default.

@Smersh
That's exactly the point. Consumer router firmware typically has all kinds of stuff enabled by default which might make connectivity to your other stuff quick and easy, but are potential security risks. uPnP is a typical example.

@opie

@Smersh
It's the first one, new network devices. My understanding is that if you were to buy any TP-Link mesh routers, your existing router that has this (previously unused) pre-configured network would immediately become integrated into the mesh network.

(We are mesh. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.)

I didn't know that about 802.11s either, never having owned any mesh routers.

@voltronic @Smersh I think you'd still need to manually "pair" a new mesh node, it wouldn't connect automatically.

Or at least that's how it works with all the mesh gear I've used. You power on the second node and tell the first "hey look for the new guy", and then have to confirm that it found the right one.

Or in the case of Google Wifi, you scan the new node's QR code in the app to tell the primary node specifically which device to look for.

@john_b
I shouldn't have said "automatically". I was just trying to say with no manual configuration needed.

@Smersh