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Ask HN: Please recommend a router without need for a cloud account

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Re: Ask HN: Please recommend a router without need for a cloud account

#161

Post by b112 »

nsm wrote: post #35

Bought a netgear router and a tplink repeater within the last year. All the cloud account crap is only required to use the mobile apps. However they all offer web interfaces directly at their ip addresses. Just use that and bypass all the dark patterns. It sucks that companies feel the need to cloudify everything.

I don't even want a device, at all, if it has the capability for cloud management.

It obviously phones home, and has all sorts of additional exploit angles.

I bet there's a daemon listening 24x7 for incoming connects, too.

Ubiquity ERL already had a security issue with theirs.

Re: Ask HN: Please recommend a router without need for a cloud account

#162

Post by b112 »

ABeeSea wrote: post #73
cma wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

New netgear stuff only works without a cloud account when you unplug it from the net. That means no remote admin through a local machine (have to be there to pull the plug), and no settings changes without disrupting internet.

I just logged into my new netgear router from 192.168.1.1 without unplugging anything.

I wonder, fall for the trick, setup cloud, and you are forever trapped?

Re: Ask HN: Please recommend a router without need for a cloud account

#163

Post by lillecarl »

MikroTik hAP AC2 is decent. Supports a boatload of features and doesn't really support a cloud account (it'll phone home with it's serial if you use their builtin DDNS feature though).

Routes 1G, wifi is only 2x2 MIMO though so you won't get "amazing 9999 Gbit wifi) which you'll never get in real life anyways because of airtime congestion.

They have a noob UI, "pro" UI and CLI.

Both UI and CLI has all features (9x%, some features are hidden from gui while in beta).

Re: Ask HN: Please recommend a router without need for a cloud account

#164

Post by yumraj »

IF you're willing to do the work, an option would be get an HP T730 from eBay, add a low profile Intel quad port I340 or I350 adapter and perhaps add a little more RAM (depending on the T730 you get 4GB-8GB is more than sufficient), and then install pfsense, opnsense, DD-WRT, openwrt or anything else on it. You will have a great little router/firewall that is much more capable than almost anything else in this price range.

NOTE: this is effectively a thin client PC, so you can try different router/firewalls to pick which works best for you. There are also commercial options that people prefer such as Untangle, Sophos and so on. Sophos even has a free home version.

There are other alternates to HP T730, but you may have to look around.

It should come to around ~$100-$120 depending on luck, since it's eBay.

Re: Ask HN: Please recommend a router without need for a cloud account

#165

Post by LargoLasskhyfv »

antihero wrote: post #66
dredmorbius wrote: post #9

Any system capable of running OpenWRT. https://openwrt.org/supported_devices You might find / inquire about specific devices at the OpenWRT subreddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/openwrt/ The Turris Omnia is priced above your preferred range, but is effectively a small server and has excellent capabilities. It runs a specifically-tuned and live-upgradable version of OpenWRT: https://www.turris.com/en/omnia/overview/

Does OpenWRT still mean that speeds are slower due to not having proprietary drivers?

Doesn't matter, because you cän OVERCLOQQ!1!!

https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/bootloader/pepe2k

https://github.com/pepe2k/u-boot_mod

No, seriously ;-) What you are thinking of is probably described here https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/hardware/switch and has a long history.

Basically it depends on having opensourced drivers, or at least specifications for the internals of the affected switcheroos, which wasn't the case for many chips for a long time, and still isn't for all of them.

Then there is the part of writing a unifying and usable abstraction for all of that, which also isn't fully there yet, at least not for every device under the sun.

Read up here: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/networking/switchdev....

Re: Ask HN: Please recommend a router without need for a cloud account

#166

Post by cpach »

jcpham2 wrote: post #142
ramphastidae wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMHO, skip OpenWRT. It is much more difficult to get working correctly than HN likes to admit. There’s a non-trivial chance you will spend hours and hours reflashing your router and reading forum posts until you eventually brick it. It’s just like Raspberry Pis. Theoretically the right choice but practically speaking a huge time sink and poor, unstable experience that is best left to hobbiest tinkering or networking…

OpenWRT is the only thing I would recommend - all the consumer routers have turned to trash.

Eero is an exception there. Their quality is terrific.

Re: Ask HN: Please recommend a router without need for a cloud account

#167

Post by BenjiWiebe »

watt wrote: post #60
dilyevsky wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only if you like to get p0wned (they have terrible security track record)

Therey're 10x as careful now, probably. Mikrotik is great at releasing patches, so even if you have old device, you are covered.

I've had very little contact with Mikrotik products, but that's the amazing thing about them, to me.

Any old Mikrotik device can run the absolute latest firmware (at least as far as I could tell, and I've got a 8+ year old Mikrotik device).

Re: Ask HN: Please recommend a router without need for a cloud account

#168

Post by cpach »

clircle wrote: post #124
droningparrot wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had good experiences running OpenWRT on the TP-Link Archer C7. It's a popular router and I've been able to find plenty of them used for around $40

I've got a C7 and it doesn't even need a cloud account to set up

The default firmware on C7 is quite nice and is good enough for most users. I guess OpenWRT gives more options for power-users though.

Re: Ask HN: Please recommend a router without need for a cloud account

#169

Post by cpach »

Overtonwindow wrote: post #19

What about a linux box with Smoothwall, and a switch? If you’re unhappy about cloud routers (as I am) perhaps build your own.

Smoothwall & Co are nice alternatives. But it can sometimes be tricky to find good hardware that has two Ethernet ports and are quiet, small, etc.

Re: Ask HN: Please recommend a router without need for a cloud account

#170

Post by D13Fd »

tomc1985 wrote: post #128
ramphastidae wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your post history says you use Dvorak and Vim, and were tinkering with your school’s network at 15, so I think my point stands :)

Everyone should strive to this level of competence, and I like that some of the posts here (like advice for installing OpenWRT) kind of force it Breaking stuff and then fixing it is the fast track for learning If you're not a smart computer guy then maybe this isnt the forum for you

Being efficient is part of being smart. Sadly the older you are the less time you have to spend time trying to fix things that you don't care about, and the less the knowledge you gain is worth to you (simply because you have less career- and life-span left to use it).

Yes, I've flashed routers in the past, including the Linksys WRT54G, and in some cases I've even built a dedicated PC to run as a router, back when that was a bit more in vogue.

But is it worth the time to do it yet again? Probably not. I'd rather get an Apple-like router that works perfectly out of the box, with sensible defaults and little configuration necessary, and which is regularly auto-updated with security fixes. That way I can spend my time on new things.

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