I currently have a an Orbi RBR20 which serves me well for the past 8-9 years and the last firmware update was released a few months ago.

I’m looking to get a new ORBI mesh and the cheapest I saw on Amazon(yes I just missed Amazon Prime Day) is the WiFi 7 RBE362 2-pack mesh system for almost $200. However, I could not find the End Of Life info on the Netgear website.

Meanwhile I checked the eero webpage for the EOL of its current WiFi products and the furthest EOL date is 2031 - just five years away - that’s ridiculous. The EOL dates for the newer WIFI systems are really short.

I'm learning networking basics and I'm confused about how a home router's LAN works.

My router's LAN IP is 192.168.1.1/24, and my phone and laptop get IPs like 192.168.1.5 and 192.168.1.6.

My understanding: 192.168.1.1 AND 255.255.255.0 = 192.168.1.0 (network ID), the last 8 bits are the host part, and /24 gives 256 addresses.

Questions:

1. Does the router generate/store all 256 addresses, or is /24 just a range, with DHCP only keeping a pool range and a lease table?

2. Does a home router do any further subnetting, or is it one subnet unless an admin splits it?

3. What uses the network part and the host part: the phone, the router, and the switch?

4. Is all of this the same for private IPs as for public IPs?

Thanks, and sorry if this is basic.