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Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

I have been running with two WNDR-3800 (one on each floor) in my home for several years. They are running hnyman's build of OpenWRT.

If my budget is about $100/router and I want to run LEDE, what would you recommend as a replacement? We have lots of wireless devices. Comcast recently increased my Blast! Internet to 200M so I'd like something fast enough to handle this.

I currently see around 120M using a SB6120 cable modem, but recently purchased an SB6183 hoping that additional downstream channels would give me more speed.

Thanks for any advice.

-- Bruce

2

D-Link DIR-860L Rev. B?

I'm very happy with mine, although there's an SQM related bug which makes it trip over often... But if you don't need/use SQM it's a great device for the price (should be around 60-70 USD afaik).

3

What is the exact problem with DIR-860L and SQM? I read there is a problem with the driver. Is it connected to the WiFi or the Mediatek CPU? I also read that the 2.4Ghz WiFi is really bad on this router.

Because if you like the WiFi performance of WNDR-3800 then you might want to consider keeping them as dumb AP and buying Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X (no WiFi, only Ethernet) as main router.

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4

It's not the wifi, it's the switch driver I think. You typically apply SQM to your incoming wired connection. Bug report here.

5

I had an EdgeRouter X and I don't think I saw this issue but I had it only for a few days.

6

Honestly, keep your 3800s- they're one of the fastest, and most stable devices I've had under 17.01+ to current.

I bought an 802.11AC device which claimed to be OpenWRT supported, only to find it's an mt76 with a proprietary kernel build using the Ralink SDK.

If you need faster than 100M, you really should still connect via ethernet. :slight_smile:

7

WNDR3800 works pretty well. I still use also it.

I don't think that you can get a powerful router for 200 Mbit/s speeds with $100...

If you want a modern more powerful router, get Netgear R7800. It is somewhat more expensive as your price range, but gives good value for the money and is well supported.

You might read:

If you get interested on R7800, read also these:

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8

Asus RT-N16

Decent spec for just a basic setup, runs open firmware, has usb, wifi, gigabit and you can find them under $100
https://lede-project.org/toh/hwdata/asus/asus_rt-n16

However my next will be a Linksys WRT3200ACM
I want to bump up the CPU for OpenVPN which tops off at 7mbit with the asus.
https://lede-project.org/toh/hwdata/linksys/linksys_wrt3200acm

I guess whatever gets YOUR job done with the least amount of $ is the answer.

9

I wouldn't recommend Broadcom, really. A Mediatek based DIR-860L B1 can be had for around 70 €, which is 802.11ac, comes with more RAM, flash and a better SoC.

10

I personally have heard a lot of bad about stability and performance of DIR-860L.

11

That was only when using SQM, and it has been fixed - see this post.

12

Can you elaborate on your negative opinion for broadcom? It sounds like you may have good reason.

13

Well, this comment in particular was about Broadcom's 802.11n platforms. While some of them do work with open wireless drivers, it makes little sense to recommend them nowadays when better 802.11n solutions (ath9k) or cheaper 80.11ac solutions (mt76) are available.

Wireless drivers for their more recent platforms are closed (similarly to what Atheros has done with ath10k). Like their 802.11n solutions, only specific Broadcom AC hardware is supported by the Linux kernel (with most functionality and 'IP' tucked away in the binary firmware blob).

14

You should have said that the first time, lol. Great answer.

15

Was a not pressed for time, sorry :smile: