LTE/5G + wifi router recommendations?

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

Hi,

I would like to replace my existing LTE+Wifi router (a cheap TP-Link one). As long-term software-support is a must-have I thought about getting a device well-supported by OpenWRT.

However I had a hard time finding supported devices - the supported device list only seems to allow filtering/sorting based on RAM/ROM, not additional properties like modem.
The only device I found was the TP-Link Deco X80, however this device still costs around ~900$ - which is more than I am willing to spend.

So, what are recommended Wifi-Routers with:

  • Wifi6 would be ok, wifi 7 great
  • well supported 5G modem
  • USB for storage (2.0 would do, 3.0 would be awesome)
  • below ~$500.

Thanks in advance, Clemens

2

Very few wifi7 devices are supported.

Check this out (Better and faster) Table of Hardware

(99% of 3G 4G 5G USB or PCI~~~~ modems are supported, not like DSL where 99% stink)

1 Like
3

In case someone else is looking for an affordable Wifi+5G router ...

At first I was leaning toward a Banana Pi R4, until I noticed the wifi7-module has to be bought seperatly and 5G modems in general don't seem to be that trouble-free (FCC locks and whatnot).

In the end, the only affordable device I found was GL.iNET GL-X3000, which seems to be a rather boring Wifi6-Router with an additional discrete Quectel RM520N-GL modem mini-PCIe built in, which seems to be rather well supported by OpenWRT and even ships with firmware based on an old OpenWRT branch: https://openwrt.org/toh/gl.inet/gl-x3000

With 280€ on black friday it is quite expensive for its specs compared to other chinese brands, however I hope thanks to its discrete modem and 512MB ram it will be usable for many years...

Thanks, Clemens

PS: Thanks for the pointer to the new hardware list - however it only lists "LTE" even for 5G capable devices.