Recommended budget upgrade Mi 3G V1?

Hey all how are you?

I'm looking forward to get something more powerful here as i'm now playing with Iptables and VPN + adblock, the xiaomi router 3G is great and fits my needs but it's too slow to keep up the VPN and the rest.

I was looking into Raspberry pi 4 but dam that thing became so expensive!

I'm using 1GBPS internet connection so WIFI 6 and processor speed for the vpn need to be an upgrade.

Whats the best option ? Any models that you think i should check?

I know there are many of these chinese based devices that are full compatible with Openwrt and offer WIFI 6 and other features that are interesting but i would like to hear from you what you use and tested so i can get some fun around here without spending too much.

Waiting to hear.

belkin rt3200
modern, solid, perfect hardware, white colored

3 Likes

Too expensive here, i'm looking for something around 60~70 eur

If you actually want an update relative to the mt7621at+mt7603en+mt7612en based mir3g, those budgetary constraints are going to be a problem...

Maybe you can get mt7621at+mt7615n+mt7615n for that price, but it's not going to do VPN or SQM at anything close to 1 GBit/s (not even a third of that), nor would it offer wifi6.

While mt7621at+mt7905e+mt7915e would give you wifi6, the SOC remains the same, and with that the performance limits (further stressed by the CPU cycles going into the task of keeping the faster wireless happy).

The rt3200 would now bring you a faster SOC (mt7622bv) with wifi6 wireless, but SQM/ VPN won't reach anything close to 1 GBit/s either (around half of that for SQM, I don't have figures for VPN usage on this SOC - and the type of VPN also has a lot of impact of the performance). The Xiaomi ax3200 might meet your budget, but support for that depends on the exact hardware revision and/ or (a kind of fuzzy) manufacturing date…

ipq807x would give you wifi6e and a lot of CPU performance at good prices (pretty much spot on for the upper end of your budget, at least for the entry level models), but routing is still limited to to around 600 MBit/s - and ipq807x support as a whole hasn't been merged yet.

Routing at 1 GBit/s wirespeed already requires a top-end router, which usually comes for top end money. Adding SQM and/ or VPN on top, with an expectation to meet those figures even more, leaving you effectively with x86_64 only (modern core i5 and faster), plus external WiFi APs.

4 Likes

Oh okey i got that, so maybe nanopi is a good idea? Which version of the AX3200 works ?

Please follow Adding OpenWrt support for Xiaomi "Redmi Router AX6S"/"Xiaomi Router AX3200" for the details.

1 Like

Since you want WiFi6 anyway (and your Mi 3G does not have that), I think you are better off starting with an RT3200, or, if you are up for a gamble, taking a chance on getting a Xiaomi ax3200 built at the right time.

The MT7622 processor in these may fall a little short of your CPU requirements. Then again, it may not - it's been reported to approach Gigabit SQM with fq_codel/simple. What do you have to lose by trying it first? Best case, it ends up being "fast enough" and you're done. Worst case, it becomes your WiFi6 AP you need to buy anyway.

Considering your budget constraints, I think starting with a NanoPi R4S would be a good idea only if: you were satisfied with the Mi 3G WiFi performance for your AP; were primarily after wired Gigabit ports and lots of CPU and memory for SQM, VPN, Adblock lists and other tasks and; you have a little extra budget. A NanoPi R4S 4GB with metal case, SD card, power supply and USB-C cable is probably going to cost a little more than an RT3200. Plus you'll need to add a managed switch if you need more wired ports in a location other than where the AP is located.

2 Likes

YEup good idea i will do it, the nano seems to be a good one!

Comes with 2 ports which also helps!

no it is not, remember you will need not only nanopi, but also at least 60USD switch, due to port limitations, also you will have to buy dedicated AP, POE injector, power brick for rp, cables, you ask us about budget solution, it will cost you about 600 USD (depends exact AP price), for that price you can buy asus rog ax6000 (402 USD amazon price) + save 200 usd for your wife flowers
you doing a fatal mistake, choosing THIS instead of AX6000 from asus.
p.s. (asus have MUCH powerful cpu, 2.5gb ports, instead of 1gb depricated ports on rp4)
also do not forget about power hungry stuff you gonna buy instead power efficient asus router
Calculations:
RP4 - 111 USD
AX6000 AP Netgear - 321 USD
POE INJECTOR (NOT INCLUDED) - 25 USD
Switch - 76 USD
Cables, power brick, etc.. 70 USD.

1 Like

Oh, it is! The NanoPi R4S 4GB with a managed switch is the cat's meow - perfectly small and powerful. I can't fit even an RT3200 (with radios turned off) into the small telecom box in our home for my gateway router with everything else already in there, so small is important for me.

It took 3 months to arrive, but I just replaced my ER-X gateway router with the NanoPi and a managed switch. My ISP comes in at ~475/23 (400/20 advertised) on their cheapest plan now. The ER-X (same MT7621 CPU as your Mi 3G) couldn't SQM more than ~250 of that pulling out all the stops (irqbalance, fq-codel/simple, packet steering). 400 Mbps CAKE SQM is not much of a challenge for the NanoPi R4S, but I've got some future proofing now to be sure.

Next I'll be wasting time setting up a dedicated VPN interface on the NanoPi, just because it can handle it fine. And who knows what else.

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Why? The existing Mi 3G is perfectly useful as a free Gigabit managed switch to add a couple wired ports - if not kept as a free spare AP. The RT3200 will also provide plenty of managed switch ports at no added cost if it becomes a $100 combined AP and managed switch.

The NanoPi R4S 4GB with metal case, cable and small power adapter (hardly a brick) is $117 shipped out the door from friendly electric. I just bought one. The power adapter is only $9 of that $117. Patch cables are a few dollars on amazon. $70 for cables, power brick, etc. looks like a lot of dollars on the "etc." to me, whatever "etc." may be.

A POE injector(?) - could be useful for a pre-wired home with ceiling AP's or such I suppose, but that is clearly beyond the OP's scope. As is support for 2.5G ISP service.

The AX6000 comes with a 19V 3.4 amp power supply https://deviwiki.com/wiki/ASUS_GT-AX6000. That's 65W (19Vx3.4A). The NanoPi R4S is powered by a 20W adapter (5Vx4A), and has 6 CPU cores (2 @2GHz and 4@1.5 GHz for power efficiency) versus only four cores on AX6000's - all running at 2GHz. An RT3200 is another 24W (12Vx2A) https://wikidevi.wi-cat.ru/Linksys_E8450. The AX6000 looks like the power hungry stuff to me.

Buying flowers is always a nice gesture, but I'm coming up with much more than $200 saved for flowers on a 600 USD budget LOL.... ~$100 for the RT3200 AP/switch; $117 for NanoPi R4S, power adapter, case and power cable all included; $8 for an SD card...the RT3200 will have another Ethernet cable in the box and its power supply for free - it all adds up to less than the $321 for an AX6000 to be sure.

2 Likes

All right i ended up with a TP-Link AX73, it works just fine for my needs, now i will find an use for the Mi3G. Probably smart switch + adblock server.

By the way, can i use it as Adblock server on my network without using it as DHCP server? Because i really like the new router so i want it to be the main one and just use the Mi3g as some kind of " Traffic filter".

Anyone knows if i can do that without acting as DHCP on mi3g + openwrt ?

https://wikidevi.wi-cat.ru/TP-LINK_Archer_AX73

Broadcom CPU. Not likely to be supported by OpenWrt - ever.

Still, if you got it cheap enough and the stock OEM firmware actually does what you want it to, it could work out for you. The stock OEM firmware may or may not support VPN and/or SQM, but there's a chance it might at least have fq_codel QoS and OpenVPN support.

That's not going to work out very well The traffic comes in to your main router - it needs to do this work before it broadcasts the WiFi6 out. The problem you are trying to solve is adding more CPU for your main gateway router.

I'm sorry to say it, but you may find the AX73 was a mistake.

1 Like

Yes i know, it was a matter of what was available locally.

So far i'm very impressed with the speed, it's very fast comparing to the Mi3G.

It do have VPN support it works amazingly, now SQM i'm going to test now, maybe!

Any tips on the topic of manageable switch + adblock without serving as dhcp with openwrt?

Your Mi 3G can definitely function as a manged switch with OpenWrt on it. It only has 3 ports, but if that is enough....just configure them all on your lan to convert the WAN port to a switch port and get rid of your WAN interfaces.

As for Adblock, you might try setting up your AX73 to use an ad filtering DNS service if the stock OEM firmware lets you specify your DNS server, but that kind of help might better be found on a TP-Link forum.

Hello,

Yes that's no problem, the question i have is, how will i filter the ads without acting as dhcp there?

Maybe i have to create traffic forwarding to that router and then from there back to the TP link?

There may be a way to turn your Mi 3G into just a DNS server for your network to let it filter advertising via DNS, but that is beyond my experience. Someone else may be able to help you if you post a separate topic on just this issue.

I am thinking though that what you are after may essentially make your Mi 3G your main router again, and your new Tp Link just an AP.

Hello,

I will open a new topic, no i dont want the MI3G as main, i just want it as adblock nothing else, dhcp and all other features must remain on the TP link....

Thanks.

  1. RT3200 not an AX6000 speeds, ok? Not even close.
  2. GHz does not mean anything, my desktop i9 10900k, would be much more powerfull at the same speed as arm based cpu for example
  3. Due to youtube review it use ~24W, you even know 19Vx3.4A not means it use whole power, and power bricks are usually generic chinese stuff?
  4. Still what about deprecated 1G ports instead of 2.5G?
    anyway he bought ax73 is a kinda good rouer...

Apples and oranges. I was not comparing to the RT3200 or the slower MT7622 CPU in the RT3200. I was comparing CPU capability of a NanoPi R4S to the AX6000 for SQM, VPN, etc. Aside, Big Number on Box (AX6000!!!) marketing is amusing, but rarely related to real world performance.

The AX6000 IPQ8074 has 4 ARM A53 cores at 2 GHz. The Nano PI R4S also has 4 ARM A53 cores, but at 1.5 GHz; plus two ARM A72 high performance cores at 2 GHz. Comparing to a desktop i9 processor is apples and oranges, but that is a red herring - I never made such a comparison. I compared ARM to ARM, A53 to A53, plus two extra A72 ARMs. GHz indeed does mean something if we are comparing apples to apples, which I was. I'm also not seeing why you would think the Asus AX6000 ha a much more powerful CPU than a NanoPi R4S - they look pretty close to me.

The more watts the power supply provides, the more the power supply costs. Manufacturers size power supplies to handle peak use of their equipment with enough margin to not start fires under peak load at the lowest possible cost, so comparing power supplies is not such a bad metric at all if we trust that manufacturers seek to minimize their costs-especially when we do not know what device loads power usage numbers we are comparing correspond with. NanoPi R4S reviews indicate it idles at ~2.2W and draws ~5W under ~35% CPU load. Routers very rarely operate under full load. What load did ~24W correspond to in the you tuber AX6000 review you found?

The OP wasn't interested in 2.5G ports. Apples and oranges again. I agree the AX73 should work out well for the OP if the stock firmware does what he wants it to do and he doesn't mind the privacy and security issues that come with OEM firmware.