Hi Mike,
I understand that every situation is different, and, one of my key points on versatility ot good tools is that even your situation is different today than it might be five years from now (where you can repurpose stuff you bought if it's versatile).
Understood. The beauty of the switch (or router) being separate from the access point is that you can place the access point anywhere you like.
One thing you might consider, Mike, which works GREAT for me because I don't want to 'climb through walls' is you can position the access point OUTSIDE the house pointing back at the house!
This idea works GREAT for me!
I'm nestled into the side of a hill, which helps, as I can see the roof from my back yard, where every instance is different topographically, but even on a flat yard, you can still paint the entire house with WiFi simply by snaking a cat5 cable to the clotheslines pole, so to speak.
The geometry works out such that one side of the house only has a wall and windows to penetrate (out here, windows are solar reflective/absorptive by code).
Understood, Mike, where it's refreshing to converse with someone like you who has real needs and thinks of real solutions instead of having to deal with the too many trolls who outnumber us 20:1 who simply post on Usenet for their own amusement.
Given your needs are simply that the antenna needs to be in a different location from the router/switch, I'm curious of you've looked at those routers where the antenna itself is easily detachable and relocatable?