It is the new year and I am once again considering replacing my Google Wifi mesh system.
I would need to cover around 2000 sqft which includes a basement, main floor, and 2nd floor. Currently my internet package allows for 1gbps wired.
Right now I use 4x Google Wifi AC1200 - 1x hard wired as the router (2nd floor), 2x hard wired as APs (1x main floor, 1x basement) and 1x AP wireless (2nd floor).
I was hoping to get suggestions. The two parameters I am trying to work with is keeping the total equipment at or below $250 and, if possible, only needing 2x APs.
The other thing to consider is this would be my first time with openwrt. So I am a bit concerned about the tp-link since the instructions do not seem to be finished yet although it does seem like I could follow this.
Replacing the main router with a wired-only/ OpenWrt supported alternative makes sense, but what's the problem with the wifi side you're looking to improve? TP-Link EAP245 v3 (pretty low-end) does not exactly sound like an improvement over what you currently have (not going to discourage your plan, on the contrary, but it helps to provide advice if you can state the actual problems you're trying to improve), if you wanted to boost throughput, you'd be looking for 802.11ax instead. Aside from that, one wired-AP per storey does make sense, even better if you can distribute them a bit and not stack them directly on top of each other (if possible).
I don't necessarily need any significant improvement. The issue for me with Google Wifi is how boxed in the usability is. I would at some point like the option to add in a hardware firewall and/or transition my VPN to cover the whole network (instead of per device). I would also like more ability to control the main network and guest network. All of this is problematic when the Google only allows very basic controls through its Google Home app.
If I could improve anything it would be to have a bit more of a reliable signal. I had to add the extra unwired AP, even after adding ethernet to the other two floors, as there were still issues with deadzones.
If you have a suggestion for that, even if it does not improve wireless speed compared to my current system, I would be open to it.
Hopefully that makes sense, happy to answer any other clarifying questions...
Around here (.de), the EAP-245 sells for around 80 EUR a pop, so taking this as a rough budget, the OpenWrt One (filogic 820) might even be an option as AP (slightly above, but PoE capable). Based on the specs, the ZyXEL NWA50AX Pro might be another option inbetween.
In general, I would look at 802.11ax for buying new gear, this would cover filogic 830/ 820, ipq807x, ipq60xx - and for AP usage only even mt7621a+mt7915DBDC (still faster than the EAP-245 you were looking at); how important is the ceiling mount option for you?
For budget options, D-Link DAP-x1860/ COVR-x1860 or ZyXEL WSM20 (if you can get them) for around 15-20 EUR might be an alternative as well. In terms of performance even these should beat the EAP-245 considerably.
Depending on the rough region (country) you're residing in, there might be other cheap less-AP-more-router options available.
Just as a rough rule of thumb:
802.11ac (2x2, VHT80) can give you ~250-400 MBit/s over the air (same room)
802.11ax (2x2, HE80) can give you ~700-800 MBit/s over the air (same room)
802.11be (2x2, EHT160, MLO 5+6 GHz) can give you more than 2 GBit/s over the air (same room); no supported devices yet
I'm only concentrating at the wireless/ AP side here.
Your choice for a wired router is o.k., but I would consider x86_64 here as well. Alderlake-n/ n100 or n97 are pretty decent options as well, with four 2.5 GBit/s ethernet ports starting around ~120 EUR (if you buy during a sale and from abroad).
Just to keep in mind, filogic 830 should also be able to cope with 1 GBit/s wan speed, not quite as much headroom left, but still an option. E.g. the GL.Inet GL-MT6000 would be a rather popular choice (~120-150 EUR) for that.
Yeah this is what I wanted originally but cannot find anywhere selling it.
I would consider it but the only place I could find to buy were AliExpress which I don't trust as a vendor and youyeetoo.com which would cost an extra 20% in shipping charges.
EDIT: I did find OpenWrt One available on Amazon for basically the same price as the NWA50AX Pro
Out of the other options you mentioned this is basically the only one I could find here (us) and sells for only a few dollars more then the EAP-245. Based on the specs and what you said it looks like an objectively better choice.
Budget wise I would like to keep everything (Router + APs) at ~ $250 - $300 (USD) NanoPi R4S makes it much easier to do that.