If we are able to suppor the ZyXEL WSM20, it's going to be by far the best budget OpenWRT by far.
A $25 128/256 device with a decent chipset and wifi AX chip, like the Cudy WR2100 I mentioned before, but even better.
Where is it available at such price? Here in Europe it’s sold in a 3 pieces bundle at ~119€
They are retailing now and then at low prices, like any other device in this forum.
yes i do not know why but two are 69 euro, and one cost more than two. very strange.
There are some random offers. The offers for 2x69€ might be there. There was an offer for 79€ in DE and ES for 3 units like 1 week ago.
I snapped 3 units without thinking much. But I find still the 2 x 69€ pretty decent, since they are greater than most low-end routers nowadays (still we are fighting to support it, I have 100% faith considering the amount of equivalent piece of software that this router has with other already supported ones)
So far for me:
- TP-Link Archer C7 v5 (16 MB Flash / 128 MB DDR / QCA9880 / ~ USD $40 )
- Netgear WNDR3800 (16 MB Flash / 128 MB DDR / AR9220 / ~ USD $25 )
- (really cheap one that surprise me) Nexxt NYX1200-AC aka Cudy WR1000 (8 MB Flash / 64 MB DDR / MT7612E / ~ USD $19 )
Xiaomi AC2350 as dumb ap (great range, strong signal)
Xiaomi 3G as main router (configured without wifi)
on both you can easily install Openwrt
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Devolo Wifi Pro 1750i Access Point! It’s a business ap but you can get one on eBay for about 15€ works great with openwrt. Official firmware is based on openwrt but no longer supported.
Pity they both have no usb port
With this router you have much more of what you are paying.
I've bought like 2 packs of 3, 6 units in total. I've also purchased a Xiaomi AX3600 which has USB port.
Obviously you cannot have it all, otherwise, they would be retailing for 2x or 3x and it would not serve my purpose of having like a ton of units all over the place. This is why I paid almost 3x for the Xiaomi AX3600 and have much more.
Also I bought almost 2 years ago a couple of Asus XT8 retailing at almost 8x more and they feel like throwing the money to the toilet because even my ZyXEL WSM20 wifi is more stable.
Absolutely, but since right now I need a cheap router, with 2.4 and 5GHz radio (ac is enough), with an usb port (for tethering) it's not for me. One of the Gl.Inet travel routers would fit the bill, but the ones running openwrt proper aren't cheap.
The Beeline SmartBox GIGA seems a good candidate, but it's only available in Russia.
I think the GL-INET Slate/Beryl shouldn't be very expensive?
The ax3600 does not have a usb port, at least externally.
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True, AX9000 I meant I'm using with the USB port for a drive. I had on my mind the the AX3600 because I purchased one for the family recently. But this it's irrelevant for the conversation btw.
I’ve had both. Quite simply, the Beryl is the most unstable heap of shit I’ve ever used. The Slate plus is excellent.
The ZyXEL WSM20 (also sold as Multy M1) is currently £33 or £90 for a 3 pack in the UK. Not bad for AX1800 with 128MB flash, 256MB ram and the well supported MT7621/MT7915 setup.
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Hi @timothyjward
I have seen that, but it is sold as an Access Point, or am I wrong?
After flashing, it will work as Access Point, or can it be a router as well?
PS: apologies if the questions are dumb, I am an unexperience user here ....
AFAIK, on the stock firmware, the one unit you set up as base unit is also used as a router while the others are in AP/mesh mode.
With OpenWrt, any device becomes a full-blown wireless router that you can configure in any mode you like.
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As already stated, OpenWrt sets up devices as routers by default. The port labelled WAN on the device is the WAN port in the default OpenWrt configuration. I'm using one set up like this right now as I type!
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Thank you very much @andyboeh and and @timothyjward for your feedback.
Then I understand that it becomes interesting ... I will have a look how easy is to set up, and how I can isolate my devices connected to them ...