5 GHz is only unsupported in V1 model. Other Archer C7 versions have 5 GHz support.
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Isn't Archer C7 v2 grand? >0.5Gbit/sec WiFi throughput from 7 year old device. Sure, 2.4GHz is crap and routing performance is somewhat low w/o offloading but as an AP/smart switch, it is cheap and delivers.
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Did you overclocked it to achieve these speeds?
Also please test download speeds. It's a known issue that dowloand is significantly worse than upload on the C7.
I've never been able to achieve Wi-Fi download speeds over 350 Mbps with Archer C7 (v2 and v4).
Netgear R6220 is a good starter device, but I don't recommend it. Too slow CPU to handle SQM above 110 Mbps. I wonder if there's a comparable router in the <$40 price range.
I did a lot of searching for a cheap device that was widely available in the UK and settled on the old BT Home Hub 5A - it was standard issue by one of our biggest internet service providers so there are thousands out there. A few sellers on eBay are selling them used and preloaded with openwrt from £17 about 23 USD. It's easily capable of the 100Mbps down that my provider Virgin Media has as their basic package, but I understand the ADSL in there is a bit outdated - not a problem with a VM cable modem set to modem mode (internal router bypass).
Not quite, as you need to be aware that cable WAN speeds quickly exceed the data rates the (otherwise very good) bthub5 can handle, which is already struggling just under 100 MBit/s.
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I don't know how cheap something has to be to qualify for this topic, but for regular home/small office use I've done quite well lately with the Cudy AC2100 (aka wr2100).
The only caveats I've found are that it doesn't seem to like higher 5GHz channel settings, and the initial firmware install is a little annoying to figure out the first time. (You have to flash THEIR signed version of OpenWRT, then from there you can install a stock one.) I haven't done heavy stress testing of performance though.
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Cudy-6 WIFI 6 same price
At home my 2 cudy-6 which I built a firmware works very well
If it is for a new purchase you can get the same kind of product with in addition to the USB and which is supported in the "official" snapshots:
Linksys MR8300 going for CAD $100 (USD $79) at Amazon Canada :
Now that really cheap for this quality device !
- 716Mhz Quad-core
- RAM: 512MB; Flash: 256MB
- Dual boot partitions, unbrickable if flashed properly
- AC2200 MU-MIMO Tri-Band Gigabit, 400+867+867 Mbps
- Tri-Band (5 GHz + 5GHz + 2.4 GHz), 2x2 AC
Yes, this MR8300 is good with USB 3.0 port!!!.
For MT7621 chipset, only recommend Xiaomi AC2100 / AC1200, much cheaper (us$3x ~ us$2x).
For N300, Xiaomi-4C is the best on perfermance/price.
If you were to upgrade beyond the 100Mbps package, you'd currently likely need to install the development branch of Openwrt (until the next full release comes out), which has some significant performance improvements.
I'm not aware of any issues with its ADSL, it worked fine for me, however there is reportedly an issue with vectoring support on VDSL, but a fix seems to be close (vectoring not available on my line anyway):-
Also if running a mesh wifi on it on 5ghz radio, you need to uninstall the 5ghz -CT firmware and replace with the non-CT version.
BT HomeHub 5 Type A - Lantiq XWAY VRX268
£20
Easy to Flash also.
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To date, only models with WIFI-6: AX, USB-3 and gigabit ports are to be considered as interesting and if possible at a reasonable price
I looked at the characteristics of the Mr8300 that in France you can find 79.99 euros at amazon which seems to correspond
...to you.
Other users with other usecases may find USB3 completely uninteresting, dito for Gigabit and Wifi6.
Apart from that, I wouldn't call 80€ cheap.
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Netgear R6700v2 (/6800)
Can get from $20-$50, Mediatek chipset handles a lot in hardware. CPU doesn't break a sweat when this device NATs at a gigabit. MIPS 880mhz cpu is less beefy than ARM devices, but it handles data so well that basically all the CPU power is available for your tasks. This device sold me on Mediatek.
I have two Netgear 6700v2's running as dumb ap's on opposite ends of my home gigabit-wired at the center to my TP-Link Archer A7v5. Each cost ~$40usd all running Openwrt 21.02.1. For wifi-5ghz, I average ~600Mbp/s on the 6700v2 and ~300Mbp/s on the Archer A7v5.
I really dont want the A7v5 and and rather use one of the 6700v2's as my primary, but I cant configure VLANS (vlan filtering) without soft-bricking. Seems the MT6721 chipset on this router use DSA configuration and dont support the older style switch configurations. so its been a dead-end getting vlan tagging working with them. As dumb AP's, they work with multiple vlans, no problem, no config required.