Hi guys,
Currently i have AT&T 1Gb with passthrough enabled, and a Netgear R8500 act as a main router. However the Netgear R8500 doesn't support OpenWRT and the 5Ghz band is very unstable, it disappear for no reason until restarted. I do have a spare Netgear R8000 in hand, used prior to the R8500, which can run OpenWRT but the experience wasn't pleasant at all, the connectivity is unrealiable and keep dropping on me. I guess I'm done with Netgear at the moment.
I'm thinking about buying Linksys 8450 (dump access point) + RPi 4B (gateway), at the moment I have a little money so I probably go with Linksys8450 first and install OpenWRT to use as a main router, then later I'll buy a RPi B4 and setup as a router and change the Linksys 8450 into a dump ap.
My questions:
Is the Linksys 8450 wireless reliable with OpenWRT, not dropping or disappear for no reason.
Is RPi 4B necessary, i don't really see the advantage of having one, nevertheless, it is a budget setup that people recommend on the internet.
Most of my connection is via wireless, only one via cable for gaming (btw, i don't gaming anymore), and normally would be 7-15 devices connect via wireless at the same time.
My most concern is wireless stability, since I mostly used 2.4Ghz these days for it reliability over speed, and the speed of 2.4GHz is decent for my normal usage.
Is this a reliable setup? what would you recommend to do/change in this setup? my budget is $200.
if RPi 4B isn't necessary then I'll keep the money to do something else then.
I prefer the slim design of the 8450 since it will be standing on the ground against the flat wall in the main room of my house which will prevent someone from knocking it while walking.
As you say, I probably won't needed a dedicated router+ap unless the other all in one (8450) won't be powerful enough, so I'll buy the all in one first then to see if I need a dedicated router then.
also if i go with wired router+ap, what would wired router do you recommend?
By the way, what is powerful? as computer, i can see if thing is slow or decent for a task, but for router what will be affect if it isn't powerful enough? will it slowdown the internet, reducing the signal or it won't be able to add more devices into it? sorry for the dumb question.
The RPI4 is still very supply constrained and you'll likely be paying inflated prices for the device. At the original $35-$45 USD price point, it is a pretty compelling device (and you probably don't need anything more than 1 or 2GB of RAM, so you can get the entry level options). However, you may pay well more than double that (I'm seeing $90 for a Pi3 which is not recommended for use as a router), making it a poor value relative to other options.
All of that said, you never said what your internet speed requirements are... this will make a big difference in terms of what hardware you may ultimately want to use.
And with the (reasonably) necessary addons, case, µSDHC card, USB3 ethernet, PSU, you add another 35-45 EUR/ USD to the base price as well.
Just to state it explicitly, the RPi3 is unsuitable as router (as its USB2 system reduces throughput to infeasible values, below of what even a medium priced plastic router can give you.
I don't have a preference for speed requirement, enough for 7-10 devices streaming video at 1080p at the same time smoothly is enough, the current one Netgear R8500 on 2.4Ghz was already enough for my whole house, but still I'd like to replace it for OpenWRT.
So my decision mostly heavily depends on wireless broadcast stability and will it support OpenWRT.
yup, I already put the RPi 4B out of my head, just ordered a Belkin RT3200 for $50, I guess it should be enough without a needed for a dedicated router.
Anyway, I don't want to spend much though since the current one R8500 with 2.4Ghz is already is enough, but paying $50 more just for the OpenWRT is probably worth it.
By the way, thank you guys so much that I don't have to spend extra on RPi 4B
how fast is your internet connection from your ISP?
How fast is your wifi, especially with multiple devices all streaming simultaneously.
The first one dictates what kind of routing performance you should have -- for example, if you're paying for a 1Gbps internet connection, you don't want to be using a device that limits you to say 250Mbps maximum throughput -- that would be like owning a supercar and only being able to drive it on residential streets under 25mph.
The second is related specifically to your APs and the wireless performance -- which sounds like it's working just fine for you. There are two factors -- the hardware capabilities and the software configuration. OpenWrt generally allows you to optimize your wifi pretty well, except for certain wifi chipsets that aren't well supported (like the old and now largely irrelevant brcm43xx chipset). But you don't have to worry about that in your situation.
For your requirements, Belkin one should work, in case you need something more powerful to assist with, you can think about NanoPi R2S/R4S as main routing engine and use your current WiFi router as AP (most cheaper router has single SoC for routing + WiFi, so when loading is high on either routing/WiFi the system will be kind of unstable)
i mentioned it at the very top, I'm using att 1Gbps.
and the current router working just fine, except from the 5Ghz being unstable and not be able to run OpenWRT is the only reason I'm replacing it.
yep, i want to see if the Belkin can carry my family on it own, if not then I'll definitely add a dedicated router into it.
and the R4S seem promising.
btw, is it necessary for the ap to using openwrt while connected with the openwrt router to utilize it? wonder what i'm gonna do with two spare unstable router though, probably not a good option for ap
