[grow2grow]

This advice checks out: at home, I have the WiFi 5 Google-pods "mesh network" with five pods (this is a larger house).

Economy of scale does take a generation or two to get behind in general. Wifi, EV's, heck even apple refurbished macbooks are cheaper because there are more of them (as they are from an older generation).

So "being N generations behind latest tech" is solid advice in general is my point. Thanks.

[lxgr]

Multiple access points supporting the same SSID, i.e. ESSIDs, have been supported since the very beginning in 802.11, and definitely much earlier than in 802.11ac.

[flemhans]

I thought you could just have the same SSID on the same LAN in 802.11n (WiFi 4), too.

[vetinari]

You could, 802.11r/k/v just provides some nice hints for faster transitions, but ultimately it is up to the client, whether it is used or not.

Mesh, however, it is not about roaming (i.e. multiple APs with same ssid, clients connects to preferred one). Mesh is a topology thing (nodes come and go), wireless mesh also means wireless uplink (i.e. the AP you are connected to itself talks to its uplink wirelessly). These are things you use only if you cannot avoid them; metalic connection to each AP is way more reliable.