Alta labs Route10

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

Hello,
there is a new interesting device called Route10 from Alta Labs.

Hardware : Quad-core Qualcomm 2.2 GHz (probably IPQ8072A or IPQ9574 )
Network Interface : Ethernet, Bluetooth
Management Interface : ..4x Autosensing 2500/1000/100/10 Mbps RJ45 Ports,
........................................2x 10 Gbps/1.25 Gbps SFP+ Ports

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  • Ports 1-4 are standard Gigabit Ethernet ports that support 10/100/1000/2500 Mbps connections.

  • The Link LED on the left indicates a 10/100 Mbps connection when amber and blue indicates a 1 Gbps connection. For 2.5 Gbps connections, the LED on the right will illuminate white. If neither port LED is illuminated, then the connection is down.

  • Ports 2 and 3 support 802.3at PoE+ with up to 30W per port and a PoE budget of 40 Watts.

  • The PoE LEDs are located below ports 2 & 3 with the icon next to them. They will illuminate amber when a device connected to the port is being powered via Ethernet.

  • The SFP+ Ports support fiber optic and Ethernet transceivers with 1 Gbps, 2.5 Gbps, 5 Gbps, or 10 Gbps connections.

  • The Link LED on the left will illuminate blue when there is a 1 Gbps, 2.5 Gbps, or 5 Gbps connection, it will illuminate white with a 10 Gbps connection.

  • The Activity LED on the right flashes blue when there is activity on a 1 Gbps, 2.5 Gbps, or 5 Gbps connection. It will flash white if there is 10 Gbps network activity.

Price is about 197,50 € without VAT.
From the "Where to buy" link you can find it here in France : https://lcavi.fr/produit/alta-labs-route10/

What do you think about this router ?

2

Is it 6 network cards or a switch with 7 ports?

1 Like
3

I don't know yet.
I guess it's the same as on other IPQ8072a based devices, like the qhora-301w for example.

4

A bit pricey if it has no separate network circuits.

5

i asked to the support if we have full root access to the router and they told me this :

Yes, you can set up root access to the Route10 using SSH keys. We have a knowledgebase article describing how to get that done.

Thank you for contacting Alta support and have a great rest of your day!

-- Matt B (Alta-Matt_v2)

By the way i can see it on AMAZON : https://www.amazon.com/Alta-Labs-Route10-High-Performance-Hardware-Accelerated/dp/B0DHT7RHZJ

6

i received this answer...

The interfaces are all independently routed, and can be configured as WAN or Standard LAN modes.

7

I noticed on one of their FAQ pages that they use the OpenWrt NTP pool: https://help.alta.inc/hc/en-us/articles/29110546984475-Outbound-Firewall-Rules-Required

Also, if you search their forums, you see "OpenWrt" pop up in many error-logs, e.g. https://forum.alta.inc/t/route10-changed-wan-dns-servers-router-locks-up-had-to-reset/3712/4

So it seems their devices are running OpenWrt with a heavily modified GUI and proprietary management software.

I like that the Route10 has 2.5Gbit ports with POE, but at this price-point I think the BPi-R4 offers better performance and support (assuming the Route10 could be supported by stock OpenWrt).

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8

As its qcom based you would need a NSS enabled build to make full use of the 2.5Gbps ports (let alone the 10G SFP+) with hardware acceleration.

Its very VERY unlikely that OpenWRT will every fully support qcom hardware acceleration / NSS in an official build.

As it has the 10G SFP+ ports i wouldn't be surprised if this is based on the Qualcomm Networking Pro 820 e.g IPQ9574

@robimarko would know if any patches for that platform at all have landed in mainline, but im guessing not many.

At least this doesn't have WLAN so thats one less complexity

2 Likes
9

I agree with you, but why on earth did sinovoip decide to put rj45 ports at 1Gbps instead of 2.5gbps?!

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10

I have my BPI-R4 connected to a cheap (sub £35) 2.5Gbps switch that has 2 SFP+ ports using 10G LC Fiber modules

Still a pretty cheap setup

BPI-R4 : £90
Switch : £33
Pair of Fiber LC Duplex Modules : £12
20cm LC Duplex cable : £5
£140 total

That gives you 4 2.5Gbps ports via the switch and 3 1Gbps ports on the BPI-R4

1 Like
11

Because that's what the MT7988A supports... I agree that it's best to use a switch connected to SFP+ on the R4. That gives you most flexibility for ports/features/price.

12

If its IPQ9574 then its partially upstream, but its far from working

1 Like