Actually, consumer router running openWRT is quite good[1] or Asus WIFI router using Merlin firmware[1].
[1]https://openwrt.org/supported_devices [2]https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net/download
[1]https://openwrt.org/supported_devices [2]https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net/download
I spent countless hours messing with that thing trying to get decent performance out of it, and simply couldn't.
The router provided for free by my ISP is superior in real world usage.
I get the principles in play here with privacy and security and open source etc., but in practice it's a fight I'm done with. Just give me internet that works well out of the box so I can forget about it.
I’m impressed. The ones issued by Rogers in Canada are all-in-one-units and complete garbage.
I think they want your mobile phone to drop its wifi to chew through your $10/gb data, prevent sharing with your neighbours and minimize your peak utilization speeds to cut their network spend.
But you probably live in a country where ISPs compete for your business.
I get that OpenWRT doesn't want to favor one brand over another, but it'd be really nice if their homepage had a list of 5-10 routers that are really solid with the latest OpenWRT release.
The flashing process was exactly the same as the factory firmware. After that I had to configure it just as I would any new router.
It's better than the factory firmware in every way except user friendliness, but even that isn't bad unless you are trying to something more advanced.
The CPE from Comcast was so much slower and worse in every single way. Now it only acts as a modem for the Zyxel.
An important part of my experience is that I deliberately set out to buy a good router that was very well supported by openWRT, because in the past I have had experiences similar to your post (but with dd-wrt in the long long ago).
I really believe if you plan the project like you would a production project you'll have an extremely good experience.
That said, I did have a number of non-standard things I wanted to do on my home network without paying thousands for enterprise level hardware so it was worth it for me to do that work. If I was just getting on line with a couple computers, phones, and tv's I wouldn't have bothered to flash with openWRT.
First I tried the tp-link TL-WDR4300, which was very well supported at the time.
I then moved to the tp-link Archer C7.
Along the way I went from a "regular install" of openwrt, to build the LEDE fork myself, then back to building openwrt.
It's actually quite straightforward after you get over the hump.
$ git clone https://git.openwrt.org/openwrt/openwrt.git
$ cd openwrt
$ ./scripts/feeds update -a
$ ./scripts/feeds install -a
$ make menuconfig
$ make -j $(nproc)
my current router is a wrt-1900acs, which took a while to get stable. I sit it on the shelf for a good year.
Because I learned how to build openwrt, I also have two mikrotik rb3011uias-rm 10x gbe switches. I wish the touchscreen worked.
It's not in the main tree but I followed this thread:
https://forum.openwrt.org/t/support-for-mikrotik-rb3011uias-...
It's a community build, but it is stable and works well.
If you want to play with openwrt, it's a little saner to have two routers. Have one that works, and one that you can break without having to stay up all night to get online.
There is a learning curve when using openwrt. When my girlfriend demanded that I stop effing up the wifi at some point. That's when I decided to get a second router to test new and complex configurations.
It's also a bit cheaper to do this than buy high-end consumer equipment as nimbius mentioned.
Really? Can the *WRT releases finally run at full speed? Can they ping from the wired to the wireless? Can they actually do MIMO?
As much as I love open source, the *WRT developers have a bad hand and it's not their fault. There are a zillion router variants that change with zero notice, no documentation from anybody, and not enough people.
This really is a spot where an actual open source hardware design is probably the only real solution.
I run a combination USB 2.4ghz AP and 5ghz pci-e from one. In addition, it runs a podman rootless pihole container and handles wireguard.
no affiliation, just a happy customer!
It's a little daunting, like looking at the openwrt table of hardware (but inside out like a menu).
Over time, with enough people do it, the manufacturer will realize that and cater to you (see the Linksys 54gl router, archer c7, dell laptops, and Lenovo Thinkpad -- the manufacturer all know people buy the hardware to run the software they want)
Will Merlin flash like a normal firmware update or does it require the Windows based “recovery tool” to force the flashing of Merlin?
Thanks for any response.
If you’re interested in doing as-blocking on the router itself there’s a tool called diversion which does take a bit of work to get installed, but is a bit simpler than trying to get oí-hole running on it: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/diversion-the-router-ad-bl....
DNS leakage is one other thing to solve.
The standards on that stuff are shockingly low. I mean, think about the stupidest, laziest, most slipshod shit you can imagine, and then be assured that it's worse than that.
... and "small business" routers are only slightly better. Even "enterprise" equipment isn't all that stellar.
Personally, I use real Linux as a router, and a separate WiFi access point behind it that gets as little trust as I can manage.