171–180 of 203 posts
They are affordable and have a lot of powerful features.
I have been using the "hAP ac" (2.4/5ghz) model for ~5 years now, and some other 2.4ghz model for another 5 years before that. Whenever I need to upgrade, I'll go with them.
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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…
I don't really see what you're talking about. I've flashed all of my routers and _never_ had a problem. Maybe the thing that took me the most time was to decide which version to use or whether I should use openwrt vs tomato vs other competitors
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Nothing in life has a 100% success rate. But I think the fact that most people recommend OpenWrt, shows that most people don't have these crazy problems. Buy well-supported hardware, follow the directions carefully, and you'll be just fine.
Certainly. But I had a very difficult time. I purchased an ASUS router recommended by the OpenWRT website, followed directions but struggled for hours, and eventually bricked it only to find out later via searching forum posts that some routers with that model number are not supported if they were made in a specific year (of course, this was discovered via trial and error by other frustrated forum members, no one had…
If you want a cheap rec that's easy to get OpenWrt on, get a Netgear R6220 off eBay. I've gotten 3 of them for $20 each or so.
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Forgive me if this sounds arrogant, but I think the general HN user is capable of handling the relatively simple UI based download and flash required to use OpenWRT. Likewise, using a raspberry pi is probably trivial for most developers. If not, I'm being under paid.
I think most people are capable. It’s whether it’s worth it. I loved learning more about Linux and networking with it, and loved having automatic cell failover, but at the end of the day, it was too unreliable. So, forgive me for how this sounds, but the general HN user probably needs a reliable as possible internet link.
This is not to mention the security implications of having a non-open source router. Never trust a third party like that. Some even try to get you to use an app.
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Nothing in life has a 100% success rate. But I think the fact that most people recommend OpenWrt, shows that most people don't have these crazy problems. Buy well-supported hardware, follow the directions carefully, and you'll be just fine.
Certainly. But I had a very difficult time. I purchased an ASUS router recommended by the OpenWRT website, followed directions but struggled for hours, and eventually bricked it only to find out later via searching forum posts that some routers with that model number are not supported if they were made in a specific year (of course, this was discovered via trial and error by other frustrated forum members, no one had…
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I think most people are capable. It’s whether it’s worth it. I loved learning more about Linux and networking with it, and loved having automatic cell failover, but at the end of the day, it was too unreliable. So, forgive me for how this sounds, but the general HN user probably needs a reliable as possible internet link.
Again, it's a download and a 'flash' in a GUI. Probably couldn't be simpler. As for reliability, my house has two of the same routers - one runs openwrt, the other runs the factory default (unfortunately it's not mine, so I can't just change it at will). Can you guess which is unreliable? It's the factory default. This is not to mention the security implications of having a non-open source router. Never trust a third…
An actual misconfigured/buggy router is a bigger security concern for me than a potential back door. Also, what makes you think open source software matters if the hardware is closed? Do you have a pine router or something?
You can't really go wrong with Mikrotik. They are affordable and have a lot of powerful features. I have been using the "hAP ac" (2.4/5ghz) model for ~5 years now, and some other 2.4ghz model for another 5 years before that. Whenever I need to upgrade, I'll go with them.
I've been the same using an 802.11n (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) since 2014, as well as the same modem since 2014. Aside from flashing a newer version of dd-wrt every four years, I don't think about my modem/router much and I don't know what I'm missing! Speed at my house is fine for my needs - however, my coverage doesn't seem perfect (notably, multi-room speakers have trouble staying in sync). I simply don't know if I'm in the market for a new router! Like, perhaps the coverage issue should be resolved with AP/extender/mesh (and I have no idea which one of those).
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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 :)
I would second the parent, I installed and use OpenWRT on my router without much issue. Flashing and configuring was quite easy, and really the most difficult part was actually getting the router because the local shops (MediaMarkt) don’t have many/any compatible routers.
I don't know, how much they cost in US, but here are couple of solutions: 1. EdgeRouter X (ER-X) or EdgeRouter Lite (ERLite-3). 2. more userfriendly UniFi Security Gateway (USG) with controller (UCK) or UniFi Dream Machine (UDM) - it propose creating cloud account, but __do not__ require it. 3. use devices capable to run OpenWRT or buy some hardware like Supermicro Embedded Solutions (later I can share models list) t…
Any reason you don't like MikroTik? I've been a little turned off by Ubiquiti's latest moves so I was eyeing MikroTik for my next upgrade.
But in the same hand I need to say I am impressed with MikroTik CLI. It colorize each typed word! Even enterprise class Cisco devices don't do it. It's super useful for me and help me with understanding what's going on. Do you even imagine programming in notepad with note type of font and color today, like it was in the past with Windows Notepad? I don't think so. UX/UI is not only about pretty buttons. It's about usability, repeatability, predictability, stability, confidence and ease of access. A software with best features is useless when it doesn't provide any convenient and trusted way to reach this features.
I've been pretty happy with MikroTik routers. I have an extra HapAC2, if you cover shipping it is all yours (I'm based in US).
is there a good guide on the firewall and routing config? i’m interested in this unit and want to set up separate vlans, NaT, multiple dhcp servers