The Archer C59 does not have gigabit Ethernet. That should be considered a deal killer if you want something useful for the future.
The MT7621 is a decent chip for the midrange market, but there aren't many wifi routers being built with it. The only ones that might be somewhat available are the Netgear R6220 and WNDR3700v5.
Xiaomi WiFi 3G runs on MT7621, great design of case, but non-trivial to re-flash with openwrt.
UBT Edgerouter and ZBT WG3526 use MT7621, too.
For personal use, or small quantity, the Xiaomi is the device of my choice.
The Archer C59 has 100mbps ethernet. mt7621 has gigabit. WiFi might be better with the Archer. I'd get mt7621.
If you want something more futureproof you would however look at ARM(v7 or higher) based solutions
Do you have any suggestions for some (cheap) routers with ARM ?
Thanks for the suggestions.
What about Asus RT-ac58u ?
And is there a way to identify ea6350 v3 ?
The reason why I didn't mention AC58U is because it only has 128Mbyte of RAM which is considered on the low side especially when using ath10k
Avoid the Asus RT-ac58u like the plague (not enough RAM, 128 MB is not sufficient for a dual-ath10k device).
Linksys tries to hide the hardware revision from the buyer as much as possible, it is marked on the back of the device (model/ FCC ID) - if you're lucky also on the lower of the three barcodes on the small lower edge of the packaging (but this is not always there).
But wouldn’t it be better than an mt76 device with 128 mb ram ?
No, mt76 doesn't need just that much RAM as ath10k (but more RAM would be better on mt7621 as well).
As for the EA6350v3, the only reliable way of identifying it is the read the model number on the bottom of the unit itself. Unfortunately there's no way that I know of to determine revision on the box itself.
@Sharkam52
It is better in terms of performance however you might only be able to run one radio at a time due to RAM limitations.
Thank you all for your input, much appreciated.
Very interesting discussion.
My current internet is only 8/8 Mbit (It may reach double or triple that in the near future).
But I also want to use an ftp server and a vpn server with the router.
If looking to run additional services, such as FTP and VPN, then you really want the advantages of dual-core CPU + additional RAM of the MT7621.
Forgot about this device, because there is Archer C6 V2, but only snapsots are ready.
A USB port is essential to me.
I am now mainly looking at ARM based routes.
Imho: best device for the price for you is Linksys EA7300 V1, but there is no snapshots even.
I am waiting, when developers do the support for this router. Sorry for my english, I'm from Ukraine.
Yes, but the problem is getting ea7300 v1.
I have an EA7300 that fell on my desk yesterday I found this post looking for more info. I have not built a router firmware from scratch before but I'm willing to give it a shot if someone can hold my hand a little. I have some Linux experience and have used OpenWRT for many years (at least through Luci). If I can get one to a dev without costing me an arm and a leg I would be happy to let them borrow it to further the cause.
-MattBatt
Please use the following topics for discussions about how to add OpenWrt support for EA7300 v1