[RKDinOKC]

I have Apple wifi routers. They are all on the same channel and are the same network name. The "extenders" are in wireless bridge mode. That means they are setup to get their internet from the base router over wifi and use their wifi to connect devices to the base. To the devices it is all the same network and devices use the strongest signal available. It works like what they now call mesh.

The way I have it set up I have an Airport Extreme as my base in the middle of my house and 2 Airport Express routers in rooms at either end of the house. The Airport Express are just plugged into AC for power and are configured as bridged with the Airport Extreme set as the internet connection. This way I get full signal in every room in the house, 300mbps over wireless backing up to my server, and the full 50-60mbps of my cable internet connection.

Did the same thing in my brother's two story house.

An Airport Extreme is under $100 on ebay and an Airport Express is $50 on ebay.

Most all wifi routers let you set them up in bridge mode to extend the network of the base router and on the same channel and network of the base router. There are web sites that tell how to setup bridge mode using old wifi routers to extend your network. Any cheap wifi router that can be set to bridge mode should work to extend your network.

With the "mesh" they are basically selling all you need to setup a new bridged wifi network with a base and two bridges out of the box.