[dmonitor]

The average consumer doesn't want a router full stop. Their ISP hands them an all-in-one modem+router+switch+WAP box and they just accept that the internet lives inside of it.

I have roommates who are engineers and I had to explain to them the difference between Wi-fi access point and LAN when I replaces our wireless router with a router + 3 APs.

[ssl-3]

That's quite true. Most people don't know, and most people don't care. And of those who do care, many elect to rent/buy things like managed wifi mesh systems and/or faster service from their ISP to solve performance or coverage issues when a bit of SQM and another access point might do the trick in a once-and-done fashion.

And I don't mean to suggest, in any way, that this means that most people are stupid or anything like that. They can have ridiculously high intelligence while the nuts and bolts of networking remain completely beyond the scope of their thought processes.

But yet: Every-day consumer-oriented stores (including Wal-Mart) have routers (and mesh systems and...) in stock on the shelf for purchase in Anytown, USA right now. So while they may not be the majority, people are buying them.