Infrastructure Roles: Router and Repeater
Infrastructure Roles: Router and Repeater
Infrastructure roles are for fixed, well-placed nodes that genuinely improve mesh coverage for others. They should only be assigned to nodes that meet strict criteria. Misuse of these roles is a common cause of network congestion and poor performance.
Prerequisites for Any Infrastructure Role
- Excellent placement — hilltop, tower, rooftop, or other elevated location with line-of-sight coverage over a wide area
- Reliable continuous power — mains power, solar with battery backup, or other reliable source. An infrastructure node that goes offline unpredictably is worse than no node at all.
- Genuine improvement — the node must provide coverage that no other node provides, not just duplicate existing relay coverage
Router
Behavior: Aggressively and early rebroadcasts packets. Visible in the node list and broadcasts its own position. Because it rebroadcasts quickly, it tends to “win” the relay competition against other nodes.
Use for: Primary hilltop/tower relays with the best possible placement. There should be few Router nodes on a regional network — one or two per coverage area at most.
Do not use for: Personal devices, nodes at ground level, nodes with intermittent power.
Router Late
Behavior: Deliberately waits before rebroadcasting. If another node has already relayed the packet, Router Late stays silent. If no other relay has forwarded the packet, Router Late steps in as backup coverage.
Use for: Secondary or backup relay nodes that should only fill gaps. Useful in areas where primary coverage exists but is occasionally blocked or offline.
Repeater
Behavior: Silent relay. Does not appear in node lists and does not broadcast its own position. Solely forwards packets. Maximally efficient — no overhead from presence or telemetry.
Use for: Infrastructure relays where you want maximum forwarding efficiency with zero network overhead. Ideal for rooftop nodes in a managed deployment where you know the node is working from external monitoring rather than node-list visibility.
Caution: Because a Repeater is invisible in node lists, it can be difficult to diagnose remotely. Use an admin channel for remote configuration if deploying Repeater-role nodes.
Router vs. Repeater: Which to Choose?
| Attribute | Router | Router Late | Repeater |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visible in node list | Yes | Yes | No |
| Broadcasts position | Yes | Yes | No |
| Relay timing | Early (aggressive) | Late (backup) | Standard |
| Network overhead | Moderate | Moderate | Minimal |
| Best for | Primary hilltop relay | Backup coverage | High-efficiency fixed relay |
Setting the Role via CLI
meshtastic --set device.role ROUTER_ROLE
meshtastic --set device.role ROUTER_LATE_ROLE
meshtastic --set device.role REPEATER_ROLE