Naw not stupid but thats kinda your call, I just put my old WiFi router in Access Point mode and hooked it up to the machine I’m using and it works great. I’m sure it’s possible to use a pcs internal radio to broadcast but I’ve never researched that myself
I actually missed that you mentioned the nighthawk in your post somehow, I bought one in 2020 so I wouldn’t have to rent Comcast’s but that’s what I’m currently using. If you have your own wireless router that broadcasts on the frequencies you need with the SSIDs that are already in your various devices you can almost certainly just throw that into AP mode and then just connect it to sense once it’s configured and not miss a beat.
I’d also recommend getting your own modem(arris surfboard s33 is my recommendation) if your ISP allows it
You can purchase wireless access points for fairly cheap from ubiquiti. Wire it into a switch and once you configure it you’re done. You don’t need the software for it running 24/7 unless you like metrics.
Unifi is ubquiti’s brand. They do sell routers and switches too, but I bought an AP from them like 6 or 7 years ago and it’s still working. I don’t use wifi other than for my phone so I don’t need to upgrade my wiress.
There was definitely a recent something or another that made me very cautious when it comes to them.
That said, going the AP route probably isn’t for me. I live in a normal UK house. I don’t have Ethernet running through anywhere. Just to get it to the back and front for the Reolinks, I’ll probably end up running some ugly trunking and on top of that, I’d probably once again, start heading towards server rack territory and I really don’t wanna do that. Especially when I can get something that supports WiFi 6 for £60 and is just a single device for me to plug in.