Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:08 pm
One of those difficult questions: what is the best here ... .
There is only one answer: It depends! Depends on how comfortable you are with an OS as RouterOS (as member since 2010), and what the intended use is in the next 5 years.
OP does not want double NAT, probably because gaming is important, or is it SIP needs?
What is the internet uplink, how will it evolve? Is there a mandatory ISP modem/router? What speeds should be handled?
One LAN network, many separated networks, .... ?
What has introduced the MESH solution? Is the cable from 2nd to 3th floor something complicated? MESH will be inferior to that cable. Gaming also needed on the 3th floor?
VPN's ending at any Mikrotik, one transparant L2 network over multiple AP, multiple VLAN for separation .... with RouterOS no problem at all.
ROS 6 has limited wifi performance something between 802.11n and 802.11ac. The real 802.11ac and acwave2 will only come with RouterOS 7 (currently only hAP ac3 , RB4011 5GHz, and Audience)
Depending on the RF environment (own and neighbors devices) 360 Mbps should be possible on each of the floors with ROS 6 , at least in the same room as the AP.
Additional AP could be needed, and are easy to split off from the first, on each floor, if you need the max speed everywhere. (Depending on the size of the home, and thickness of the walls)
And to compensate a bit on colleagues who find the grass greener on the other side. I have thrown all the Ruckus, Engenius, Ubiquiti, TP-link and Draytek in the trash, and replaced them with appropriate (but more) Mikrotik. Except for the main router, there are still too many application dependent settings that are too much to script Performance improvement is 20x. There were many mistakes against wifi fundamentals in the initial setup of those no-more-upgradable units, what could not be fixed. Is this MT setup good or even possible for another situation: it depends!