In article , Paul
wrote:

So it's a router with four antennas, that can't reach your
entire house. Unit costs $250 in local currency. You're
supposed to buy multiple of them, using the mesh support it
has, to extend coverage to the whole house.

Seems like a conflict of interest in there somehow :-/

Like buying a car with 3 wheels and needing to pay $2000
for the 4th wheel.

nothing like that at all.

covering a large area with a good wifi signal using a single wifi
access point is difficult to impossible and setting up multiple access
points where users can seamlessly roam among them is non-trivial for
most people and usually requires cabling each one.

mesh solves that problem, and more.

If the "meshness" is such a deal, a second plastic box and
power supply should be included right in the box, with the second
plastic box "dumbed down" and there purely to extend reach.

and that's exactly what some mesh routers do.

however, that's not ideal for every situation.

example, eero:
https://ad3d98360fa0de008220-e893b89...8245.ssl.cf5.r
ackcdn.com/eero-wifi-2nd-generation-router-review-49-hp.jpg

main unit:
https://d2vw57jh8139vw.cloudfront.ne...8b392d4af7c0c6.
jpg
beacon unit:
https://d2vw57jh8139vw.cloudfront.ne...9a9a0e542e27d4.
jpg
and it's even a nightlight:
https://d2vw57jh8139vw.cloudfront.ne...505bebd15a4e54.
jpg