Time Capsule + 2 Airport Express as my home wifi

The bottom line is that, at some point in time, you will need to replace your AirPort base stations. With the fact that Apple has gone out of the networking hardware business almost two years ago does not bode well that they are planning on re-entering it again any time soon.

With that said, if you are happy with your current setup, keep using it. Just be prepared to replace it. What you replace it with will be based on, at least, three things:

1. Your networking goals, and
2. your networking expertise, and
3. your budget limit.

"Mesh" is the current trend, but like fashion trends, it's not always best for all situations. Where mesh works best is if you need all wireless connections between wireless nodes. For example if you are currently using your Express base stations to extend the range of your Time Capsule, and those base stations are using a wireless connection, then a mesh system will be a good match with much improved performance.

On the other hand, if you connect your Express base stations back to the Time Capsule by Ethernet or your home is pre-wired for Ethernet, a mesh system would not be the ideal solution.

What kind of features I could be missing?

Main issue is just age .. at 4 to 5 years the TC is due replacement. As they age they get more unreliable. Wifi signal seems to fade.. and with later Mac OS time machine backups less reliable.

The Express are NOT great router.. which is fine because you are using them as wireless AP.. unfortunately they are not great AP either. Slow and low range N wireless .. which is now two generations behind.. they are great for airplay.. so if you use them that way fine.. they still have a place but there are superior wireless these days.

It is also what speed your internet is capable of and if your devices are making full use of it. For people on internet below 100mbps the TC is still ok but the express is really only suitable for 50Mbps. Once you go above those sorts of speeds you might really do better with faster router and wireless.

Having wired house is great. That does keep things running longer and more reliably than wireless could ever do. As Tesserax commented you do NOT want mesh but proper AP class products.

How much you want to spend and prepared to learn is important for us to figure out what you are going to be happy with. Also if the present system still matches your needs there is no rush.. there might be better time in the future.. even if you buy online now getting help might be more difficult.

You have a couple of tracks here.

How much do you want to learn?

Honestly you do need to be proficient with networks to install something like Ubiquiti system. If you need help are you prepared to go through lots of forums and dig out answers for yourself or would you throw in the towel. Are there local companies that do installs of Ubiquiti for small business that would do your house for a reasonable price? That will still triple the cost up front or more.. but installation by experts it will be done in a flash and you have direct help if ever needed.

If you want something simpler to configure (hardware is not a lot cheaper) then top level domestic is still a good option. Asus and Synology stand out to me.

There is some learning still as this is totally different to your previous setup. But these products tend to have simple setups and excellent coverage for wireless. They are well supported at least in terms of firmware updates etc. Far better than lower end of domestic routers where product lines are changed every year or two and you are never supposed to ask a question about earlier products. The products have proper AP mode selection and work well in system with products of the same type.

What would you recommend? what is a proper AP system?

One size fits all does not exist. Certainly some of the mesh equipment does come preconfigured to a large degree. Mesh is popular mainly because you setup using a phone app. Manufacturers love it because you are forced to sign into their cloud based remote access and they get to pretty much own your system. Meat for the ad campaigns for the next product and upgrade and add on. That is unacceptable to me.

Proper AP systems offer the qualities of mesh like roaming, while being packaged in self contained systems with Setup GUI that anyone can follow (with a bit of reading of the manual).

DrTKT wrote:

I do have Ethernet wiring across the house. That’s why I am thinking of 2 units

Sorry I am getting old and lose track of all the details. LOL.. you need to not wait a week between posts.

You already stated that express all run on ethernet.

You can indeed buy two routers. And that is good way to go. Stop reading now if you don't want to be even more confused when you finish reading the post.

There are advantages and disadvantages.

I think running two routers is great way to do it. This particular TP-Link unlike a lot of earlier models does have AP mode as option. AP mode is much preferred cf. merely configuring a normal router to behave as AP. (AP or WAP means Access Point, since Wireless is obvious it is often left off). The Airport has Access Point mode which is called bridged. So it is exactly equivalent to your Express in Extend by wired connection. It does also work as a switch so you can use all the ethernet ports minus the one used by the connection.

What it misses out on is mesh or PROPER AP ability to handle roaming. There has been lots of work done in recent years on getting phones and pads you carry around the house swapping from one AP to another seamlessly. This is far more difficult than it sounds.. and even the best products are far from perfect. IMHO it is not a great issue.. but I am not dependent on portable devices in the way your average junkie needs his fix. So more expensive AP systems like Ubiquiti, TP-Link Omada series or mesh products running wired backhaul are better. (And worse). Most mesh is 2 stream only meaning wireless is limited to 866Mbps. The standard AC router is 3 stream which provides 1300 or even 1766 on newer 4 stream.

AX wireless will also increase those speeds.. eventually.

A couple of other points..

Cost.

Clearly buying two full routers when only using one seems somewhat wasteful. AP do not need the power of a router to handle dumb AP duties.

I actually use old AC routers for the job in WAN Bypass. These are available for just a few dollars second hand. I have found a few that are generally hated as routers but work great as mere AP.

Controls.

Any time you put a router in AP mode including the C2300 you do lose a lot of functionality .. some of which I like having.. but proper AP are far superior.. e.g. TP-Link sell a fairly cheap pro level AP EAP225 or EAP245. They only have one or two ethernet ports depending on the model you buy but the built in GUI is simply way beyond good.

Anyhow with ethernet.. you have loads of options.. and I personally would go either the cheap old router which I can buy for $5 or the pro AP for its superior controls.

"Top of the line" would be networking systems from Cisco or Ubiquiti. Both are extremely full-featured over basic consumer-grade networking gear. However, both come with a "learning curve." Whether you would consider that curve to be significant or not, will depend on your networking skill level. Cisco equipment tends to be command-line interface (CLI) only, whereas certain Ubiquiti lines, like UniFi, use both CLI and web-based administration.

FWIW, I replaced my Apple-based networking infrastructure with Ubiquiti UniFi gear over the last year and have not regretted it one bit. Although I still maintain a single Time Capsule, I use it primarily for file storage and to help folks with questions here at the ASC. I use a Synology NAS for Time Machine for my Macs and an equivalent backup solution for my Windows-based PCs.

I listed the synology and Asus as being as simple as you will get decent equipment to be.

But you can also try a TP-Link if you want to save some money. I find the C2300 a really good unit.. if you need more wireless buy another one.

No, they are not mesh. You will need ethernet run between the different levels in your house.

If you want to have units you simply place around the house without too much effort then mesh is the way to go.

About how old is the Time Capsule?

Is the Time Capsule being used only for WiFi, or is it being used for WiFi and Time Machine backups from your Mac(s).

Is there some feature that you are missing now that you need?