Looking at getting a BPI-R4, need advice

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

It's time for a router upgrade and I'm looking at the BPI-R4 I have T-Mobile home internet which maxes out at just over 200Mbps so WAN performance isn't a concern.I would like to to experiment with running network services, like an ad blocker, in containers, play around with SQM and just tinker with the network in general. While I dream of running cable around my house I think reality is going to dictate that I create a mesh at some point, which I've done before with OpenWRT with great success.

My questions are

  1. Is the BPI-R4 a good fit for this? The specs make me think it is.
  2. Is there something better for a similar price?
  3. What is the recommended WiFi card? I've seen the BPI-BE14 WIFI7 card mentioned but I can't tell if it's supported yet. Am I correct in assuming pretty much any WiFi card that OpenWRT supports can be used?

Thanks in advance.

2

That would place you in US, right ?

Get https://www.ebay.com/itm/266901975789, buy a MX4200 from Walmart or Amazon, they're $25 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D742T4LW/.

Note the MX4200 support is still WIP, but got very busy when they started selling them at $20 on w00t, Walmart and Amazon two weeks ago, or so.

Probably half the price of the BPI, no wifi7 though.

1 Like
3

Wow, that looks like a really good solution. I'll do some more digging but it look like it will tick all the boxes I have. WiFi 7 is a nice to have but I honestly can't see needing it for my setup.

4

The Edge comes with AC wifi, you could do without the MX, but at $25, it's a steal, even if it can't run Openwrt at the moment.

The seller of the Edge photoed a device without feet, make sure you get one with feet, for the air flow.