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Comment by pdimitar | Hacker News Reader

I tried quite a few routers and if you are on a budget (or simply aren't fussed on giving $200+ for a router which is entirely fair) I found that the Asus RT-N18U is a fantastic device for the money. I attached my printer and external HDD to it and had almost no problems. The UI is better than most other vendors (Eero and Ubiquiti are still kings though) and on top of that they have a very decent mobile app as well.

As for Apple, I actually wanted to start investing myself in their ecosystem but as you very eloquently put it -- it seems the businessmen took over and things just go worse and worse with time. :(

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I wouldn't recommend Asus routers. I used to have one, but got rid of it due to the serious security problems they were having:

http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/02/dear-asus-router-use...

http://thehackernews.com/2016/02/asus-router-security-hack.h... (some random article I found, giving an overview of some of the other problems)

Now I use a Mikrotik. The only downside is the UI is quite powerful and allows you to hang yourself if you're not careful. It's definitely not for non-engineers. However, it does get regular updates since it's targeted at a more professional market.

I've read about that too a while ago, thank you. I believe those should have been fixed by now but being objective, we really can't know for sure, so I am with you here.

Please note that I said "if you're on a budget or you're not fussed giving $200+ on a router" however. I am aware that there are compromises to be made when one doesn't buy professional equipment. Not disagreeing with you. Only adding nuance.

FWIW I won't be looking for other middle-ground solutions after I figure it's time to upgrade again (which is gonna be in the next 1-2 years maximum). I'll just go full in with the 5-pack of Ubiquiti and hope for the best.

Do you know of any exploits in the Ubiquiti firmware?

Thanks for the tip. I'll check out Mikrotik.

Well I guess "Fritzbox"-Routers do not work in the US. (At least some modems, might not work with all providers) But if they do you should probably look into them since they are stable, extremly stable and getting updates for at least 5 years if you buy the new product line. https://en.avm.de/products/

If you're going to spend that much on a router why not just build a Linux box and use iptables?

It's on my radar. I've been considering a fanless metal-box PC to use as a router, home entertainment system, and file hosting -- for a while now.

Even if I manage to squeeze $700+ for such a machine (and I don't want to buy something weak; I will invest in future proofing), the bigger issue for me is investing the time and effort. I know it'll make me a better programmer and sysadmin (I am an amateur sysadmin, won't deny that) but sometimes you just want stuff to work right away.

I'll get to it but yes, IMO that's the endgame here. Or buy a 5-pack Ubuiquiti and let it do its thing and use the fanless PC for everything else.

The machine doesn't have to be powerful at all, most of the consumer routers have ~1GB of ram and a few megabytes of flash. The machines I use don't cost much more than $100, I've never tried using something like the raspberry pi but that's only because I can never find a USB hub good enough to run WiFi with and my only pi3 is already dedicated as my desktop.

I know it doesn't have to be powerful but throughout my technical life I became sick and tired of having to restart routers every time they clearly show signs of temporary overload. If this is coming from potential hackers looking for holes, or my torrent client goes crazy once in a while, or the 2 live video streams + 2 low-ping games that me and my girlfriend are playing, or its logging subsystem is killing it because of slow memory -- I can't say. But I've grown weary of routers crapping out, even if it's once a month. So I'm gonna go all-in.

Plus I want to try and host a mail server and a website in the future as well, so I am looking for a powerful fanless machine that can do several things at once.

That's what I had in mind with the ASUS wave. I've heard nothing but good things.

You might want to reconsider. Asus routers have had serious security issues. See my other comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13289586

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