mesh network suggestions and thier respective privacy policies

FWIW. Trying to help you towards a solution will be a tad difficult as what would work best for you would require a lot more information ... and, better still, running a wireless site survey. Something that you may want to hire a networking consultant for.

In my case, I replaced my Apple networking ecosystem with that from Ubiquiti. I went with the UniFi line as I wanted to use my home's Ethernet backbone to its full advantage. I have yet to regret that decision, but if you want all wireless connections, that would not be the right solution for you. Ubiquiti also has mesh options.

... and, if mesh is the way you want to go, then I suggest that you look at mesh systems that support a independent wireless backhaul. That means, each wireless access node would use a separate radio for network interconnectivity. Systems that have those are by: Asus (one you seem to have already decided against), Linksys, Netgear, & Ubiquiti's Amplify Alien line.

As I mentioned in an earlier reply, I replaced my Apple networking ecosystem with the Ubiquiti UniFi line.

FWIW, I also understand that some of the Ubiquiti founders came from Apple ... so you may find some similarities between products.

Phillyman wrote:

I've ordered the homekit router from Linksys. The model number escapes me but it was an Atlas Pro. How can I tell if it has a wireless backhaul?

One method would be if the wireless router is identified as "Tri-Band." That would mean it would have three separate wireless radios ... one, specifically for communicating between mesh points. That one would be the "backhaul." The Atlas Pro appears only to provide two radios. However, there are other Linksys "mesh" systems that are Tri-Band.

One great source for when you are comparing routers is the SmallNetBuilder site.

Phillyman wrote:

In the specs it has tri band but doesn't use "4800" (frequency).

FWIW. The numbers after "AC," like AC4800, refers to the sum of all the bandwidth that can theoretically be delivered by each band/frequency that the router provides ... not the radio frequency. So, for example, if you have a router that has a maximum bandwidth of 450 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band, and 1300 Mbps on the 5 GHz band, it would be "rated" as AC1750.

There is a catch though. A wireless client typically can only connect to one of those bands and in that case the other band's bandwidth goes unused. So, in the above example, it would get either a total bandwidth of either 450 or 1300, depending on which radio it connects to ... NOT 1750 on either.