I am looking for a good router to be my main router and eliminate the IPS router (completly if I can get a ONT that works, as it integrates the ONT, but ONT needs to have a rj11 connection in order to get voice service).
My current fiber speed is 300 MB/s, but it can be upgraded to 600 MB/s in the future (for now I don't have really such a need, and I prefer to save the bill, but may be in the future I upgrade and it would be great if the router is able to move that data, really it would be great if it can achieve 1Gb in its ethernet ports).
I want a good one but not mor than about 150€.
It seems that no WIFI 6 router in that price that I could find is compatible with openWRT.
It seems that openWRT has not implemented that option yet, and many routers with MIMO and beamforming seems that loose that funcionality with openWRT.
I don't know how importan is that as, the zone it has to cover is 3 rooms (two walls for the most far one and about 4m distance).
I have read the ideal Hardware recommentations and tried to find some of them in amazon.
These are the ones that I could find not too expensive:
linksys MR8300. 717 MHz 4 cores. 256 MB flash/512 RAM. 2x2 AC2200. WIFI Mesh (I don't mind this as there will be only two routers with ethernet connection among them). About 110€
linksys EA8300. Very similar specs thatn MR8300. But it seems this one supports beam forming, I don't not if this is really important for my situation where te router has not to cover wide area, but is disturbed by two walls. It costa more, abou 160€. If openWRT does not support beamforming or MU-MIMO, the previous one seems the same and cheaper.
Linksys WRT3200ACM. 18886 MHz 2 cores. 256 MB flash/512 RAM. It seem a bit more capable than the other two, but not so different. It costs quite more, about 180€. It is openWRT compliant (but the other two wok too).
AVM Fritz!box 7530. 717 MHz 4 cores. 128/256 MB. I is a dls router, but I won't use that function (it does not work with openWRT). It has DECT (rj11 phone compatibility?) that would be great for me, but is not compatible with openWRT.
It would be great to integrate my analog phones with the rotuer and have a digital centralite to derive calls using voip to other devices like smarphones or pc (even when I away from home).
Thank you for your recommendation, I see that I was asking for too much.
But that won't be integrated in one box, would it?
You would need a managed switch with its own firmware, and config, and an access point with its firmware... or are there more integrated solutions?
For now I would prefer the best I could get close to that 500 MB/s limit, without expending a lot.
How much would throughput could I expect from these devices?
They offer up to 3200 MBps in combined wifi network, I had expected they could managed more than that through ethernet.
Neither of your examples would route 600 MBit/s, apart from the Linksys WRT3200ACM - which you don't want either, thanks to its abysmal and abandoned wireless support.
I don't have right now a real need of too much than 300 MBps. Just was thinking in building for the future, but if it is not easy...
I don't want a lot of gadgets over the table and each of them with its own electrical plug and consumption (I have it crowded right now with two computers, printers, the isp router, a phone...).
But if it can be done with a rpi in a clean way, bay be I try...
Well, after reading that post, it seems that the only one in the list that can achieve 500 MBps is the WRT3200ACM.
It costs a bit more, but may be that it could last more in the future and let me add VPN with wiregueard wit no effort.
It seems that it does not have good wifi thoughput, but may it would be better to add a wifi wall AP in the room more far away if it does not achieve enough speed (there is ethernet in all rooms, using a POe swithc it should be easy and clean to provide a local wifi if it is needed in one or two of thems).
WIFI in my home it not all that good anyway, as it is quite crowded.
It would be easier using that router than opting by a do it yourshelf rpi and witch.
What do yo mean by "abysmal and abandoned wireless support" ?
In the openwrt hardaware list there is no warning about wifi support in this router.
I concur with slh: linksys has abysmal support and I would never again buy any of their products for that reason. It is a company that has no regards for its customers safety. I did buy a WRT32X from them a few years back and three months after I bought it they stop supporting the firmware for wifi.
Currently the latest openWRT version does have problems with wifi. Do a search on this forum and I am certain you will find the actual posts. I have a WRT32X that is now an excellent door stopper. I had to stop using it because of this issue.
Had slh been close to me (which he is not, i know because of the currency he uses) he could have had mine for a fraction of the price as it is not in use and it has openWRT already installed on it. I did try again when the new version of openWRT came out.
So, my advice, stay clear of LINKSYS, it is a shocker of a company.
Yes, I am reading about it. It seems that it is not a problem of wifi not being so quick, it has lots of problems.
But I am running out of options.
Newest routers are not supported byt openWRT, and the ones supported cannot be found in the market.
These I mention were one of the few I could find.
Another option would be to buy a router with no wifi and put an AP in another room in the middle of the three...
Or going the RPi path to get a good device with no wifi, but forces me to use a managed switch...
May be the best option and put an AP with decent wifi support without openWRT.
As I said, I don't think that using latest MIMO and beamforming or a 1900 MBps can improve preformance too much as the wifi channels are crowded and ther is no wide channel available with no interferences.
Rpi can be used to others tasks too later, if I take it out and subustitute it as a router (openHAB for example).
Well I have lots of things on the desk already.
And two much electric adaptors and few available plugs.
Electric consumption is a concern too, and so many transformers...
But I am seeing that it is going the best way to have openWRT running, a good capable device.
Separating the WIFI AP to another room can be good as it is in the middel of the three.
But then I woul have:
ISP router or ONT.
Rpi 4 (or similar device) + 1 switch to connect computers.
1 switch in the communication cabin to distribite ethernet cables to al rooms, as they concentrate there.
1 router WIFI/AP in other part to provide wifi access and to connect a NAS.
All that just to provide internet to all the home.
And the NAS itshelf and in near future some iot device like thermostat, valves...
Yes you are right in that aspect.
Many times I prefer having separate pieces, for example I use to buy a very good board for a desktop PC and medium CPU, and later upgrade components as needed. Thus I get my computers working over 6 o 7 years.
But you know, we tend to see these devices as usefull gadgets out of our seeing.
Well lets think about a RPI 2GB or something like that.
May be an odroid is better for the same price, more capable...
If I read it right a x86_64 CPU is preferred to an ARM CPU.
Then you need memory (2GB) and a eMMC disk about 32GB?
Or it does not matter to run from a SD card?
The higher you go towards the upper end, the more valid this becomes. For 1 GBit/s routing there are still a couple ARM based options that would be game (RPi4, Marvell ARMADA 3070, 8040, probably the higher end Rockchip SBCs (e.g. nanopi r4s)) - as well as some x86/ x86_64 ones that aren't (Atom N270, 330, AMD G series T40e, GX-412TC or earlier), but price delta and power consumption are (at least can be, if chosen wisely) pretty comparable (you can get capable x86_64 systems idling between 5-15 watts, at the same time high-end ARM based wireless router easily chug 15-25 watts (idle) out of the wall). There are good and bad options in either camp, so I wouldn't go as far as making that an absolute claim.
that's plenty (but yes, it doesn't make sense to go for less either).
For OpenWrt, even ~250 MB on a USB stick would do (technically even half of that, but no need to be greedy, the smallest ones you're going to find will be in the single digit GB range anyways).
OK. Thank.
RPi 4 is the easy selection, as it is widley available.
But for similar price, are there better options in x86_64 or ARM, that one that you mention?
I know that openWRT do not need too much disk, but I doubt there are eMMC less than 32 GB.
But if there is no need for a eMMC and openWRT does not write or read from disk often, may be a simple SD card would do for the RPi that incorporates a card reader.
Well I bought a big cabinet with door at Ikea so it is camouflaged in the apartment and thanks to the door I don’t see all the lights. Removed the back plane for cooling and cables and reinforced it and mounted a 19” rack in it.
If you go 19” you really get good stuff in there if you feel the need for speed.
There is 10” racks also but nothing is build to fit in 10” racks so I don’t recommend it.
How does your plan of using a Rp4 without a switch look like since it only have one single Gbit ethernet connector?
Or without USB-LAN adapters (that maybe works). Rp4 do have a wifi onboard but I doubt that will cover your place at those speeds.
And you don’t need wifi 6 for 300Mbit/s.
802.11ac handles that speed with 40MHz channels, and that is only half ac speed since you have both 80 and 160MHz channels left playing with.
I will take the rack box into account for the upcoming house. It will have one for sure, at the place where all wires come to.
But I cannot put one here. It would be worse loking that just having the pi and other gadget on the table or screwed to the wall under it.
No, of course if I go the pi or other soc way I will put a 5 or better 8 managed switch as u need to connect other devices near it.
I will need two indeed as there one is needed at the point where all ethernet wires go. There is one but is a dumb one.
One doubt I have:
I had allways thought that best way of having a switch was to integrate it in the router, not as a external device, as so, the router CPU have access to all data ports directly.
Won't it be a bottleneck to have just one 1Gb port to communicate with the switch?
Most of the traffic (except when you are seeing a fill from the NAS or something like that) will end in internet and come from it in a home environment.
So optimizing internal lan communication seems no so neccesary. All traffic will end in the main router and then in the ISP router or ONT.
What about RPi 4 B 1 Gb? It seems enough memory (I had thought they were 2 GB minumum) and I found it quite cheap: about 40€ (no case or power supply, of course).
Right now I see adding the switch, the rpi and all what is needed will be a complex task.
And I will yet need a good AP for the backside of the home.
And right now I really do not have a real need of such a quick installation, as I will keep with 300 Mbps for a while yet, untill they offer 500 at lower prices or it becamoes the standar speed.
So may be it is better to by a quite capable AX router compatible with openWRT to get covered my current needs, like belkin RT3200 or other (I will make a separate question about it) to use meanwhile a stick to 300 Mbps.
Meahwhile there will be much more options to install openWRT, I will have get more confidence.
When need arises because I have a 500 Mbps or 1 Gb WAN, I will migrate to RPi or similar aproach and a switch, reusing the AX router as an AP in the other room next to where it is now, that will provide a good WIFI coverage for the backside.