Modern hardware for dumb AP

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

Due the setup of my apartment (lots of reinforced concrete), I need three dumb APs to get good coverage in all rooms. They are all linked up with GigE (might move to 2.5 at some point) to a 10gbit fibre uplink currently provided via Mikrotik RB5009 (possibly moving to BPI R4 in the future, I can't stand RouterOS).

One of the APs is a really old Archer C2600 that i) uses too much power and ii) is starting to get flaky. The other two are Redmi AX6 and Belkin RT3200 respectively.

For now, I am looking for a replacement for the Archer, main criterion is decent WiFi followed by reasonable flashing of stable and low power consumption. Switch ports and 2.5gig uplink are nice to have but not a must. This being a dumb AP, I don't much care for CPU or RAM.

Based in Switzerland but ordering from Amazon.de or AliE is ok, too.

Any recommendations? Seems like the MT3000 gets quite a bit of love but is the WiFi on those two tiny antennas? What's the timeframe for general availability of the One?

Thanks a lot!

2

GL-MT-6000 is a good choice.

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3

I figured, but it seems 'mild' overkill as dumb AP, no?

4

GL-MT-3000 is $80.00 @ Amazon US (~$20.00 off)
I cannot tell you what it is where you are.

Any number of TP-Link are still supported with a lower price point. Even Linksys has some lower prices.

Since they are both just going to be a Wireless AP, all you really want is WPA3 support in OpenWrt.

But the GL.iNet GL-MT3000 is small enough to take on a trip and use as a travel router. Power is USBC so you just need the supplied adapter which is "power adapter is compact, measuring only 3.0 centimeters in height and 8.0 centimeters in width".

5

Cudy WR3000 might be a nice option.
Selling on Amazon for about 50€.
It’s Mediatek based, so open source Wi-Fi drivers are good and keep improving.

It has 23.05.3 stable support and Web UI based installation.
Flash is limited with 16 MB, but for a dumb AP might be enough.

6

I really like the Cudy WR3000 (16MB flash should be ok for dumb AP) but unfortunately Amazon.de refuses to ship it to Switzerland :frowning:

I am not sure if I want to deal with package forwarding for something as trivial as a router...

Edit: just tracked one down in CH, probably worth a shot.

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7

If you are ok with the wall mount form factor,
this could be a more ‚serious‘ option:
https://openwrt.org/toh/zyxel/nwa50ax_pro

Same SOC, more ram, more flash and 2,5GbE LAN.
More expensive though.

Edit: and check the TOH page carefully, the installation is kind of Russian roulette on this one

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8

That looks ... difficult :slight_smile:

9

Range on the MT3000 is pretty good, it's covered whole apartments on it's own.
AX3000T simple install
Is the 2.5gig port a necessity?

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10

Several issues with this one.

  • Supported only in snapshots.
  • Unsuppored international version exists (RD23 vs RD03)
  • Not available in OPs market - you would have to import from China (banggood etc)

Sadly the unsupported version is not documented in the TOH page yet.

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11

if you are after a dumb ap, snapshots are not a problem, it's also the same chipset as the MT3000 and has extra ports if the OP needs them and can be found at half the price of the MT3000.

I agree about the RD23 though, complete unknown compared to the RD03 I ordered from AliE.

12

My appetite of dealing with halfway supported CN firmware hardware is low - I have a second Redmi AX6 here that I never managed to reflash. Maybe I should look into that again... (even the first on was tricky with it's all chinese web ui...)

Edit: Looks like that might be easier than before with the xmir patcher. We shall see :slight_smile:

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13

Might be unpopular opinion here, but if you have a server or something always online that can run a unifi controller, i would just buy U6+ access points. If there are multiple APs, unifi, or omada, or something with a controller that i usually prefer.

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14

xmir patcher worked beautifully (thank god for Chromium's translate mode though)... Now I just need to figure out if I can finally migrate to WPA3-only (we had odd iphone issues with it before)

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15

Will definitely keep the Mt3000 in mind if I decide to upgrade LAN to 2.5gbit though

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16

I have iPhone issues with OpenWrt and WPA3.

Neither Apple not OpenWrt accepts responsibility.

17

Which Wifi Radio, Mediatek or Qualcomm or

18

Pi4 broadcom.

Now that you mention it, I only have issues with the Pi... :face_with_monocle:

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19

It's mainly MT for me, the Archer is QC though.

It's really the missus who needs iOS for professional reasons, I won't submit to the walled garden where no real browsers exist, so I can't properly test, either :frowning:

20

It is funny:
I like Apple's walled garden.

I was Android after Nokia and until Qualcomm stopped giving driver updates to Android after 2 year (yeah, they heard the crowd and changed) but now I'm all in Apple: Phone, AirTags, iPods...

Pc is still PC but when Apple gets its gaming together...