I'm trying to repurpose a Fritzbox 7362 SL for Wi-Fi and LAN connections, while depending on Starlink as an internet provider. Flashing and initial setup went fine, and I can connect to the box via Wi-Fi and LAN, over SSH and using the web interface.
From other OpenWRT users using Starlink, I've gathered that getting an OpenWRT box to work should be as easy as connecting the Starlink device to the WAN input port.
Now comes the problem. The Fritzbox doesn't have a WAN connector, but a DSL connector, and the connector status is marked as: Network device is not present.
As expected, linking the Starlink adpater to the Fritzbox via the DSL plug does not work. In fact, the dsl0 connection is not even detected in the port status page. Connections in the LAN ports are detected correctly.
Would someone know how to configure the Fritzbox so that I can reproduce the functionality of a WAN input port? Is a re-purposing of the DSL input possible?
I think the 7362 does not have DSA support. Therefore you would need to enable VLAN on the switch config page. And then reassign one of the available LAN ports using the VLAN ID to the WAN interface. And plug the starlink network cable into that LAN port.
Could you guide me through the VLAN procedure? I'm slightly out of my depth here.
If I understood how to approach this in OpenWRT 23 I should:
Create a new VLAN device in the Network -> Interfaces -> devices tab, and assign br-lan to it, so that LAN1-4 are part of the virtual interface.
In the interface page, I should assign the WAN interface to one of the LAN ports. I chose LAN1.
Do I have to change other settings? The br-lan bridge currently works with Protocol: Static address, while the WAN device works with Protocol: DHCP client. Will that create conflicts?
Unfortunately, the actual WiFi transfer rate doesn't seem to be anywhere close to the theoretical maximum of the Fritzbox, and more than halves the available Starlink bandwidth, so I'll have to find an other solution. Bummer!
For my own knowledge, would you happen to know how this could have been done.
Unfortunately, the CPU in the Fritzbox 7362 SL is quite slow by modern standards. You could try if enabling software flow offloading helps a bit to improve routing performance.
Also, it only supports the 2.4 GHz band, so wireless speeds aren't going to be great in any case.
Even at the best of time, you can't expect much from this hardware - roundabout ~85 MBit/s routing, and 3x3 2.4-GHz-only wireless may range anywhere from 20 MBit/s to ~120 MBit/s in practice (not often exceeding ~60 MBit/s).
That is just the gross characterization of the negotiated link speed, not the effective net throughput - and even that's only possible if you also have a 3x3 client (~3 antennas, most only have two). So even before taking physics into account, you're already down to 300 MBit/s gross with your (likely-) 2x2 client - but the physics put your net ceiling somewhere around half of your gross link rate, meaning we're down to ~150 MBit/s max in practice (yes, that might come out as 160-180 MBit/s, but we're in rule of thumb territory here, with no interference and close distance). …but then we have to look at the actual SOC hardware underneath, lantiq with 2*500 MHz mips 34Kc, which is not fast - it won't do 150 MBit/s wireless transfers, while at the same time doing routing/ NAT/ firewalling (as mentioned, that cuts out around 85 MBit/s) - and both routing and wireless are competing for the same fixed number of CPU cycles here.
…and we haven't even looked at the topic of interference and the over-use of the 2.4 GHz band at all, nor the maximum real-world speeds to be expected for 2.4 GHz 802.11n cards (which didn't bring that much of a speed increase relative to their 802.11g predecessors).
The hardware is solid, with a couple of rather unique features (DECT and FXS lay dormant under OpenWrt though, as there are no FOSS drivers), but old (~2011-2012 vintage) and slow, made with 50 MBit/s tops VDSL connections in mind (and only later retrofitted to 100/40 MBit/s with a newer VDSL firmware) - that's the expectation from the designers, and the effective capability of these lantiq vr9 devices.
The hardware is solid, with a couple of rather unique features [..] but old (~2011-2012 vintage) and slow, made with 50 MBit/s tops VDSL connections in mind
Understandable. I knew the box was designed for different times, but was curious to see how far the hardware would go with custom software. In the end, not hardware I could use for the goal in mind, but I learned a lot along they way!
From experience, do you have any good recommendation for solid, modern hardware for home use?
