Linksys EA6350 (v3) was found on Amazon UK for 34£ recently.
It is not there now (:- for that price. It was amazing why it was so cheap.
This is just outside of the 4/32 limits that currently are deprecated, it might make sense, if finances allow, to aim for >= 16/128 especially if the router is supposed to run additional services or, according to @jeff?, if it uses the ath10K wifi chips.
Well, I have a Raspberry Pi to run some additional services, so I think I can save some money if I go with lower specs. If that is not the case, of course I am willing to go for better specs.
Question for those with European experience - BT Open Hub at 100 Mbps as a “5€” solution??
What about this one for 30€: https://openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/archer-c50
There are other targets in the same category: http://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/18.06.4/targets/ramips/mt76x8/
I also have been thinking about this one. However It appears to be a bit expensive for the specs?
That Archer C50 or other devices with 8/64, 100 Mbps Ethernet, and a 500 MHz class, MIPS-based SoC already have their head on the chopping block.
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You mean resources are critical for them?
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IMHO routers can be bought second hand pretty save. You might consider a TP-Link C7 or an Asus AC66U as well. Both have ac-wifi, for example.
I think he means 8 MB ram might be a problem in the near future and a 16/128 device might last longer.
You can try snag a Archer C7 v2-5 on ebay (not the v1 !), which are the first "archers" with 16/128 and are in circulation for quite a while.
I bought once Xiaomi mini and it had unusable 2.4 Wi-Fi. So no second hand any more
Hm, I am not that much into buying used stuff, especially when there is not that big price benefit like the BT Home Hub might offer.
I am now thinking about a device from Xiaomi, they seem to offer pretty high specs, only 2 ethernet ports. But I might be able to reduce my use of them. I will edit the first post accordingly.
I had a closer look on the Xiaomi routers now. The Xiaomi 3G router seems pretty decent: https://openwrt.org/toh/xiaomi/mir3g
It is available for ca. 30 € including shipping to Germany and tax coverage on chinabrands.com. I only need to find out whether the power plug is suitable for the EU. I think this is one of the devices with the best price/performance ratio one can currently get.
These should have a standard 12 volt 5.5/2.1 mm power input and the MT7621 chipset doesn't require much current. I would suggest sourcing the adapter separately and not using the very cheap one that they supply.
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These devices are cheap but not very reliable.
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BT Home Hub 5 Type A can be bought on auction on ebay.co.uk for 6 or 7 pounds including delivery in UK. "Buy Now" prices can be around 10. FLA and RAM space is great but CPU isn't that good (but it also has ADSL/VDSL so good cheap all in one solution. I bought one to replace my ISP modem and make a WDS with my Archer C7, so will give it a try when I receive it and report back.
There is also the BT Smart Hub (aka Home Hub 6) Type B that looks interesting but isn't supported yet. I am trying to look into that.
If you happen to buy a BT hub, ask the seller to send you a photo of the sticker, because they look similar and people sometimes list them under the wrong model number. BT Home Hub 5 Type A is what you want. Type B wont work.
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I also think that Fritz!boxes are popular in Germany, and the are some models supported. You can probably get one from ebay.
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What about AVM Fritzbox 4040?
That's an IPQ4018 device: https://wikidevi.com/wiki/AVM_FRITZ!Box_4040
Current price is about 75 EUR with shipping included: https://geizhals.de/avm-fritz-box-4040-20002763-a1501050.html
OpenWrt on Fritzbox 4040: https://openwrt.org/toh/avm/avm_fritz_box_4040
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I was also going to suggest the 4040, I have it and I am quite pleased with it, on the whole.
Opening it and adding a serial port is fairly simple (see later)
However, it must be noted that the switch is not quite behaving the way we'd like in OpenWRT and deviating from the default settings of 4 wired ports -> 1 VLAN is asking for trouble (and this is where a serial port will save your bacon)
It should be noted, in fairness, that the issue is common to other devices in the IPQ family.
(keywords: ipq40xx vlan)
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