Are there any issues with forcing a border router to be either a router or leader only?

[Raul]

I have a line topology network with 100+ full thread devices and 3-4 border routers. 

For my line network, each node can see 1-2 devices on each side, and I noticed that sometimes my border routers demote themselves to child. As I understand it, packets are transferred only between routers in a Thread network. So, if a border router is a child, that means packets have to take an additional hop first (i.e., to the router that the my child border router communicates with) before they can reach the border router that will send the data to a non-Thread network. 

I would like to avoid this as it increases the chances of packet loss, so I was thinking of forcing all the borders to become a router or leader only. Are there any downsides or potential issues that can occur by doing this?

[Jonathan Hui]

Thread supports at most 32 active routers in a given Thread partition. Depending on your network topology, forcing border routers to operate as active routers can prevent other router-capable devices from becoming routers and providing connectivity to devices that would otherwise not be able to attach.

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Jonathan Hui

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