Looking for a "nice looking" wireless router with OpenWrt support

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
#1

Hi,

I'm mostly done with my current Netgear Orbi setup, and prefer something which is a little bit more open. I have the following requirements:

  • It needs to support at least AC speeds and be tri-band preferably
  • Currently on a 1Gbit fiber connection, so prefer to get as close as possible to that speed
  • It needs to look OKAYish (so no external antenna preferably, something that looks OK standing on a bookshelf)
  • Full OpenWRT support of course, I intend to mesh things together, but likely will run some cable sooner or later
  • "Cheap", eg. I probably need 2-3, so around 100$ max per device would be cool

Anyone got any ideas? I was already looking at the Asus Lyra devices, but would also need to pair it with a more "capable" router (which is hidden somewhere, so that one don't care about much looks wise).

#2

lyra's wireless range isn't that great.

#3

That's pretty sad actually... I'm having some issues finding something that looks OK - so my partner won't kill me :wink:

#4

I think you could probably look into RPi 4 + USB 3 to Ethernet adapter for the router then then some APs.

2 Likes
#5

Access Points:

Ubiquiti Unifi APs:

Cheap Upgrade:

600×600