Tp link C2600/OpenWRT or stick with my IQRouter

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

Hello there. I currently have a IQRouter but am looking to replace it with something more powerful. I came across a C2600 on eBay for 80$ refurb. Just curious if there’s anything I should look for before making the purchase. Also the IQRouter I have now shows this:

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A spectrum technician came out a few weeks ago and he connected to the modem I have and it was getting download speeds of up to 255 (I have 200down & 10up). So I am wondering if I installed and configured openwrt myself on the C2600 if my internet speeds would improve across the board even with SQM on.

Any advice would be great, thanks for reading.

2

From what I have read, and I haven't looked in detail, the IQRouter is an old TP-Link piece with semi-proprietary firmware running on it. From an Amazon US review

The IQRV2 is a rebranded TP-Link Archer c7 with a (mostly) open source firmware. The Archer c7 is, at this point in time, rather dated and is a third of the cost of this router.

If so (and there are other similar statements on the Internet), you're not going to get more than ~150-200 Mbps through it with SQM enabled.

I think there are better choices out there than the older C2600, including "mvebu", "ipq40xx", and later-generation "ipq806x" devices, many of which are available at US$100 or less. It all depends on what you want to do with the device in terms of routing, SQM, VPN, and various wireless configurations.

3

Thanks for replying. I see, you know of any routers at the top of your head around 100$ I’m pretty much a noob to all this. I’m mainly concerned about bufferbloat as there’s always gaming, multiplayer online and streaming media going on at the same time. There’s usually about 10 device connected at the same time trough out the day.