Hi guys,
I'm looking for recommendations regarding hardware to buy with aspect for longer support by OpenWrt.
I do not have any special requirements except of one Wan port, cca 3 Lan ports. The only features that I would appreciate are strong wifi (my home office is behind two walls and with current Zyxel router I have regarding this serious problems) and some adblock possibilities (I'm now using Pihole).
But I'm also open to some recommendations which hardware you would recommend from your side at similar price level.
Just for clarification, I'm living in Europe where some brands for other markets could be unavailable.
Not at all, as I'm telling the main requirements are rather strong wifi signal and possibility of using some adblock module if something like this exist. There I believe is needed enough RAM and strong CPU.
Sorry for my noob requirements and questions, that's first time I would like to implement OpenWrt, that's why I'm asking experienced folks
Buy xiaomi or cudy from your list. Local adguardhome will eat all the RAM and ask for more, better in any case is something simpler like smaller adblocks, or even nextdns or cloudflare family.
Two walls may mean you could be disappointed depending on how much speed you are going to get through two walls.
Is this drywall/wood or brick/concrete?
What sort of speeds are you expecting? I'd suggest using a simple heatmap generator and putting your floorplan to pre-plan your network.
Similarly, if you can outline what sort of technology the `Zyxel modem' is and the current signal strength / RSSI / speeds you're currently getting that would be great.
You may be better served by a dedicated wired AP in the same room. If you can't run a cable (of which there are various less obtrusive methods if a standard, dedicated conduit run is impossible), a repeater type setup with directional antennas, coax media converters, power line networking etc.
Hi and thanks for your comment. Walls actually are not so thick (one is from bricks and the second one is probably wooden one). Issue I'm experiencing is not related to speed but rather to stability of wifi signal. Current router I have (ZyXEL VMG3625-T5 delivered by internet provider) is behaving rather strangely. For example I see almost full signal for both networks, but when connected to 5GHz network, after some time it stops to work .I need to disconnect and connect again to get it working aga. It's mainly annoying during Teams meetings.
I already moved mentioned router to the closest point to my office in my living room, I also put extender in the corridor between the living room and the office, but behavior is very similar (I expect that issue is on the router side).
When I'm in the same room as router, all seems to be working fine, no disconnecting.
Cooper was actually my first thought, unfortunately there is no place how to lead it to my office (except of putting cable in some plastic rail and lead it somewhere close to ceiling).
OK so I'd encourage you to check what the signal strength is at your intended location. What platform is your client? A phone or laptop with an SSID scanner. Something like airport utility, linssid or inssider or something?
If you're on a mac using the option key when clicking on wifi. If you're a linux client use wavemon? IDK how to get a good number out of windows.
A wifi signal through a brick wall and then a wooden wall I would say is probably going to get you well below a decent signal strength.
There are issues with repeater like setups. Basically you halve the bandwidth and double the latency.
Yeah that can be challenging to do whilst also making a compliant installation. There's flat conduit suitable for putting under carpet. Conduit covers that are like velcro for putting over carpet. Hard conduit with ramps suitable for putting over hard floors. There's square conduit you fix to the wall with double sided tape. Or just double sided tape cable clips, or nail style that you put into wooden trim.
You also have the option usually to go under the floor or in the ceiling, plus options including colocating fibre (i.e. not copper, but fibre optic) with where you run your mains (i.e. 240V etc.... but you should obviously check with a local certified professional cabler).
Similarly if you have old TV coax you can use that with MoCA. Powerline networking can be better than trying to run wifi repeaters....
