That rear sensor worked flawlessly.
Why? Seems to work well most of the time for me.
Most of the UI changes they make, make things worse.
Check out secure scuttlebutt. I think there is even a phone app for it now. It was designed by a guy living on a boat with intermittent network access which is similar to the use case you describe.
Not OP but usually mash means that there is one SSID shared across multiple routers and access points