After comparing the "Table of Hardware: Ideal for OpenWrt" with what's available to buy, I found a router that looked OK, unfortunately it had a Boroadcom chip. Then I found another (TP-Link Archer C7 AC1750) but searcing this forum it seems people don't rate that router. So I've decided to ask for a recommendation because I can't think anymore!
I'd like to:
Use a VLAN to separate secure devices from insecure ones.
Share a hard drive locally, preferably with USB3 if it won't interfere with the WiFi.
Connect at least four devices with ethernet and a few more over WiFi.
Have a router that works well with openWrt (so 16/128MB or more?) and doesn't use Broadcom.
Not spend more than £150.
Does anyone have any recommendations? Also, any suggestions for ISPs that are easy to use your own router with?
That one seems fine to me. But don't hear me on that.
Regarding to USB3 I think that will be no difference if you use one with 2.0 except for the possibility to have more power (miliamps) to spinup the disk that 3.0 usually brings. Speed on files will probably be slow anyway. if you use an old hard drive or a slim one thar does.not requiere a lot of spinup power will be great.
If it's available you can (maybe even should) get a Linksys E8450 / Belkin RT3200. Those are early AX routers (identical inside) and are already supported by OpenWrt.
I can find the TP-Link Archer C7 for £60 and the Belkin RT3200 for £75 so I'm tempted to get the better one but worried that if I run into any issues with the snapshot firmware I won't be knowledgeable enough to fix it. I'll have to think some more!
I would not worry about that. Quite a few developers already have it and a few happy regular users as well. If I'd need a new one I'd know it as well.
Don't forget this is a helpful community and I think someone even already shared his own build for those AX devices. If the difference is just 15 quid, it's a no-brainer. You're basically considering an almost obsolete entry-level 802.11ac router with an old MIPS SoC versus a new 802.11ax router with way more bandwidth on the 5 GHz band and a way more powerful ARM SoC. And for all that goodness you only pay a 25% premium? That's a steal.
Thanks, I'm totally new to buying routers if you hadn't guessed! The only other downsides with the Belkin are it's white instead of black and I'd have to get it off Amazon (if I don't want to pay £100 to get it somewhere else) but I can live with that.