Meshtastic device role for a balcony node

[marek22k]

Hello,

I would like to operate a Meshtastic node on my balcony, but I am unsure which role I should use. I would like to use this node as an "extender" for the nodes that are in my apartment.
Judging by the documentation, CLIENT_BASE would be practical. However, according to the documentation, CLIENT_BASE only forwards packets that 1. come from my nodes or 2. are addressed to my nodes. However, I also want the balcony node to forward broadcast packets such as position, NodeInfo, telemetry, and channel messages to my nodes in the apartment.
Since CLIENT_BASE does not do this, ROUTER or ROUTER_LATE seems appropriate - but according to the documentation, these should not be used. In addition, these roles would also forward packets that have nothing to do with my nodes (for example, packets addressed to other nodes).
Is there a role that

1. forwards all received packets addressed to broadcast (!ffffffff) or my favorite nodes and
2. forwards all packets from my node
   in other words, a kind of CLIENT_BASE_EXTENDER?

[marek22k]

More informations:

• https://discord.com/channels/867578229534359593/871553024030556250/1450284953429479496
• https://discord.com/channels/867578229534359593/871553024030556250/1450940804255449100
• https://discord.com/channels/867578229534359593/871553168369148024/1458168680192933970
• https://discord.com/channels/867578229534359593/919642584480112750/1446103710710366278
• https://discord.com/channels/867578229534359593/871553168369148024/1458170596960506078

Accordingly, CLIENT_BASE appears to only assist in transporting information from the inside to the outside, but not from the outside to the inside (unless explicitly addressed to a favored node).

[marek22k]

However, if you also want to forward packets from the outside to the inside, ROUTER or ROUTER_LATE seems to be the only option. The disadvantage of this is that you also forward directly addressed packets to non-favored nodes.

[marek22k]

Related: meshtastic/firmware#9195

[synth-mania]

While it's true that router_late won't change the routing characteristics of your local mesh, it will consume air time and increase congestion, so unless it's serving others, using it just to blindly forward all packets into your apartment is rather selfish.

client_base behaves exactly like regular client nodes, unless a packet is coming from or addressed to one of your favorited nodes, in which case it acts like a router.

It's not that it only forwards packets addressed to or from your other nodes, because it will forward every other packet as well, in the same way that a client will. That is, it will by default forward a packet unless it hears another node forward it first. I'm sure you've already run up on managed flood and all the intricacies of how this works, so I won't get into the other details.

client_base is the best option for you.

Anything else will probably degrade network quality for others on the mesh.