Hi people!
I'm need of a little help. First my current setup:
+-----------+ +---------+
+->+ Wired +---->+ My PC |
+---------------+ | +-----------+ +---------+
+----------+ | Archer C7 | |
| Internet +----+ V2 +--+ +---------------+ +---------------+
+----------+ | OpenWRT | | +-->+ Rpi3 as +---->+ 3 Phones |
+---------------+ | +-----------+ | | WiFi extender | | 2 Notebooks |
+->+ Wireless +----+ +---------------+ | 1 Tablet |
+-----------+ | +---------------+
|
| +--------------+
+-->+ 2 Notebooks |
| 2 Phones |
| 1 Tablet |
+--------------+
The Rpi3 has a dongle that allow me to use as a repeater.
Now i have a 500mbps connection. the thing is that there's some problems with this setup. The moment one user starts to play games, and another to view youtube and i start to use Teams, at the same time, things become problematic. (Also, smartphones tend to use network for their own thing (cough cough ...spy users... cough cough)). I think the router is becoming oversaturated.
The thing is that although the Archer C7 is a great router and i was happy with it, is too slow to use QOS on it. With QOS on, the maximum speed i get on it is 120-140Mpbs, and unfortunately, change plans is not an option for me (Where i live there's only one provider, and if i change plans, they will apply a 1TB cap for data. That's fine for one or 2 people, but i share connection with the rest of the house and that's 6.)... Also i tend to use the network to work and that's a lot of data alone (usually 50-100 GB of data/Month).
So, i've 2 alternatives...
Alternative 1: Buy a new router: Unfortunately OpenWRT is not exactly fast to support newer technologies... also there's the problem of support from manufacturers... only Qualcomm have good support. And where i live Qualcomm based routers are rare. And what i can buy in the country where i live are:
- Dlink Dual-Band Gigabit AC1750 DIR-1750 (US$123).
- TP-Link Archer MR200 (US$160)
- TP-Link Archer AX50 (US$183)
- TP-Link Archer C80 (US$80)
- TP-Link Archer AX10 (US$128)
That have at least closer speed of my Archer C7 (and have AC or AX specs). I know there's no openWRT support for these right now, (and international buy is kinda a no-no where i live... (multiply the original price by 2.5 and you get what i need to pay for it) so...
Alternative 2: Buy a Rpi4. I think there's at least snapshot support for it in openWRT. So with this i think i could revert the Archer C7 to original firmware (to use it's hardware switch, that openWRT doesn't support) and convert it to a dumb Access Point, and use the Rpi4 as the main router. Also i want to use a printer i can attach to the Rpi4 and convert to a network printer. The Rpi4 would set me back US$60 (the 2GB model) or US$88 (the 4GB model). Also need to buy a cheap USB3 to Ethernet adaptor at US$26. This way i can have openWRT support and good QOS support, DHCP and printer support (no ram or cpu problems... i think)
Questions:
- ¿Does anybody has experience with this kind of setup? ¿Is workable?
- ¿Maybe is better to settle for one of the routers and wait for openwrt support on any of these?
- ¿Is there a better router i can buy with OpenWRT support with it? ¿Any recomendations?. Remember, for any international buy i need to pay 2.5 times for it (Price + importation taxes + shipping/handling) and there's a good chance i get a literal brick out of it. (yup. I live in that kind of country).
Thanks in Advance.