Roaming network mixing brands

—Modem (cable) to Archer (assigning IP addresses)

—Archer to Airport 1 (bridge mode)

—Airport 1 to 2 and 2 to 3

This will work, just make sure that all access points are using the exact same wireless network name, same wireless security settings and same Wi-Fi password

If possible, it would be better to wire each AirPort directly back to the Archer modem/router. If you don't have enough Ethernet ports on the Archer, you can use an Ethernet switch to add more ports.

As your original plan stands......if AirPort 1 has a problem, AirPorts 2 and 3 may be affected. Or, if AirPort 2 has a problem, then AirPort 3 will have a problem as well. And.....it's tough to find out exactly where the problem actually resides without disconnecting everything and testing each product individually.

If you "home run" each AirPort back to the Archer, one AirPort might have a problem but the others will not be affected. So, it's much easier to isolate and troubleshoot a problem.

I concur.

Also, if the wireless access points are all daisy-chained, the wireless throughput performance will get worse further down the chain as each Airport will process the packets since they are not designed as layer 2/3 switches. Connecting them in a hub-and-spoke to the access point with the DHCP service is much better performance-wise.

Happy to help.

How well....or if.....devices will automatically switch from one access point to another as the device moves from one end of the house to the other is open to question.

Let us know how things are working when you can.

Good luck!