My friend is clearing old tech from his loft. He asked if I want any of the below before putting them on ebay. Help me pick one router and one AP.
I want to install OWRT. Which device should I use for my main family router? 250Mbps ISP. 15 wifi devices (IoT and user) on 2 and 5ghz + 3 wired devices. I guess stability is important on top of the best performance.
I'm also building an x86 home server as a NAS, but eventually would like to install OWRT and use this server as the router. Primary NIC card for WAN, and then secondary card I will connect to an AP device for wifi. Which AP from the two:
While there is no OWRT support for the EAX20 currently, it is the only wifi 6 device, so if it's still a good AP, I can still use it when I switch to the server later.
'homelab' doesn't really tell us anything about your actual requirements (wan speed/ technology) and expectations…
There won't ever be.
The WRT3200ACM can be a very capable wired-only router, but its wireless (mwlwifi) is 'not recommended' - strongly recommended against, if you want it to do wireless.
The r7800 is still a very decent device, good wireless, good for routing up to 400-500 MBit/s (if you don't expect anything special, like sqm).
mr8300 and whw03 are kind of equivalent (apart from the obvious differences in the spec sheets), decent wireless (a grade lower than the r7800, but might play its hand if you need a repeater, due to its tri-radio design), routing speed ~300 MBit/s max.
These are very solid devices, with good OpenWrt support - but they're aren't wifi6 (wifi5 --> wifi6 improves the wireless throughput by a factor of 2-3, depending on the details) - and as a side effect the newer wifi6 designs also come with faster CPUs, which helps in terms of routing (or sqm) throughput. If you already own them, you are not in dire need of replacing them, but enthusiasts with fast wan speeds and a desire for sqm might still want to upgrade by now nevertheless (just to throw a price tag into the room, the gl-mt6000 is occasionally discounted to ~110 EUR, there have been decent competitors for ~half of that, but that always depends on the details).
How much money you'd want to shell out for these in 2026 is a tougher question.
I have turned an old PC (Core 2 duo, 4 GB RAM) into an Openwrt router for my homelab.
I installed proxmox which let me make multiple VM's in which I installed a couple of OpenWRT routers which I can use for tinkering
Only had to add a $9 TP link network card so that I have two ethernet ports.
About your first question, all valid choices, I would go for the R7800 but that is just my personal choice
If you need to access your home lab / network from outside you can get an idea of the wireguard performance from the post below. I agree with @slh R7800 as main wifi router. MR8300 and WHW03 could be used as access points / mesh nodes if you need more wifi coverage. Only consider the WRT3200 if you don't need wifi.
wifi 6 would be nice if you are in a crowded environment but will cost money.
The WRT3200ACM can be a very capable wired-only router, but its wireless (mwlwifi) is 'not recommended' - strongly recommended against, if you want it to do wireless.
Dang. Sad to hear. I know it's an old device but the raw specs looked impressive for the age. I will certainly need wireless.
I have this already. He was going to tell me if he needs the R7800. If he doesn't then I guess that appears to be the obvious choice, but good to hear the mr8300 and whw03 will suffice if I don't get my hands on it.
How much money you'd want to shell out for these in 2026 is a tougher question.
Honestly, as little as possible, because this was about hobby and seeing if I can repurpose old kit instead of always going to Amazon for new!
'homelab' doesn't really tell us anything about your actual requirements (wan speed/ technology) and expectations…
Reason I mentioned this was that I have a decent little machine that will be running 24/7 that could act as a router, but which of the AP devices should I pick as the wifi device for the home? I think the EAX20 can still run as an AP through the stock firmware so still worth considering if I plug into my pc acting as a router.
Also, am I right in thinking that if WRT3200ACM is no good for wifi, I could still re-purpose it as switch using OpenWRT, making it better than a cheap crappy no brand one from Amazon?
This is exactly my intention. If my little pc is going to be on 24/7 as file server, then why don't I add a second NIC port and attach one of the devices above and make it an AP. Glad to hear it works for you. I might one day even consider pfsense for fun.
Is it a terrible idea if I don't use proxmox, but install openwrt in hyper-v or similar? I like my setup now, and will in the future remove windows OS.
This is so useful. Thank you. Exactly what should be added to hardware table for each device as data comes in, because otherwise the performance and hardware figures are all abstract!
So plan right now is start with MR8300 and WHW03 if I don't get the R7800. WRT3200 as a switch. Then later, move to PC + WRT3200 (as a switch) + WHW03 for wifi.
Good choice imho. The others are right up there as well, they’ll probably service several kernel upgrades for a while, but don’t sell it short. There have been some good wireless improvements to mwlwifi since 23.xx. Mine is relegated as a Guest/Iot device atm, ymb surprised.
Forgot to ask. If I did abandon these devices and look for a used wifi6 device, are there any particular ones to lookout for under ÂŁ25/$35 that are decent with OWRT? Happy to spend more if it makes sense. I think the device will have low load based on number of devices on my network, but would like to add things like ad/tracker blocking. Maybe VPN, etc.
There are lots of 2nd hand ISP supplied Linksys wifi 6 routers / mesh nodes on ebay for around ÂŁ30. Just check the OpenWrt table of hardware to make sure they are supported. Also check ebay pictures and description properly since they are not always correct.