I come to you for advice on buying a not very expensive home router.
I had bought a tp-link archer c5 but it is not compatible with openwrt (I will return it).
My needs are not very demanding.
I want 4 or 5 Ethernet ports 1GBit that really reach that speed, and wifi n / a 2.4 and 5 GHz (2.4 Ghz is too crowded) that reach 300 Gb and 800 Gb respectively, and a USB port (3.0 preferably).
I have been browsing the forum for advice, but it is difficult to choose between so many routers and many times the advices may be obsolete.
I would not like to spend more than about € 80
Among those that I saw and could locate to buy are the following:
1.- Asus RT-AC58U (about 80€). It seems quite good.
4 cores, 2x128MB NAND memory and 128 MB RAM. 1 usb3.0 port.5+1 Gb Ethernet, 2.4 GHz N400 + 5 GHz n/ac 867. Qualcomm Atheros IPQ4018
The problem seems to be that it is not easy to first install openwrt (but there are instructions on how to do it without having to use a serial port, flashing a special frimware to gain ssh access first).
2.- Linksys EA6350-EJ. (About 70€) There is a EA6350 in the hardware compatibility list.
4 cores, 128 MB NAND flash 256 MB RAM. 4+1 Gb Ethernet, 2.4 GHz N300 + 5 GHz n/ac 867. 2x2 MU-MIMO
Qualcomm Atheros IPQ4018.
The problem is that I don't know if it is exactly the same router than the v3 specified, and it is yet only snapshot compatible with openwrt. Not easy to install and there may be compatiblility problems.
It seems to be under active porting development yet Add support for Linksys EA6350 v3
3.- D-Link DIR 869 (100€ new, 60€ second hand). Too expensive for what it offers.
The one I saw seem to be dual core, 4+1 Gb Ethernet, 2.4 GHz N450 + 5 GHz N/AC1300.
The A1 version in the list says it is single core, so it does not seem to be exactly the same router (the image looks exactly the same).
People complains about not having too wide wifi reach. I don't like its look, too bulky with that antenas, but that is a minor aspect.
4.- Netgear R6220 (about 57€).
1 core, 128 MB flash, 128 MB RAM 4+1 Gb Ethernet, 2.4 GHz N300 + 5GHz n/ac867.
MIMO 2x2. MediaTek MT7603EN, MediaTek MT7612EN
If it is the same router and netgear has not changed the especs, there seems to be no compatibility problems or difficulties installing openwrt.
As vendors don't display complete specs (amazon for example) it is not easy to be sure which version of the router they are selling. And as long as some companies change the specs and cpu from version to version, I can end up with a router that does not work.
I think my best bet is the ASUS RT-AC58U, if the version that appears in openwrt (2019 availability) is the last one of the router.
What do you think?
Are there better options in this price tag?