Comment by icecap12 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by icecap12 | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

OpenWRT is definitely the single best option, however there is very limited support for the WiFi6 routers. If you're upgrading to 6 or 6E, as I was this last month, I found few options for OpenWRT.

However, I already operate OPNSense as my primary router, and all WiFi "routers" on the network act as Access Points and do no routing. OPNSense provides granular control over the network, and offers all the services you would expect in at least a SMB-grade edge device (arguably enterprise), including routing, firewall, DHCP, DNS, IDS/IPS, etc.

Even in AP mode (routing disabled), the new WiFi COTS routers seem to phone home. My guess is a combination of checks for patching and some telemetry. I just block those lookups at the DNS layer for that device, which was effective enough at preventing the traffic. If I have to, I'll block outbound from that device specifically, though I admittedly haven't played around with the after-effects since its sort of the gateway for that specific NIC interface.

I have given up on trying to find a consumer all-in-one router/ap combo and just have a dedicated router and dedicated access points. You can simply block all the Internet traffic for your access points and you will have more options to pick from for the router part. I am now running on a NanoPi R2S with some TP-Link Omada access points and I didn't have to touch anything for almost two years since I decided on this setup :)

I have dedicated APs but don’t have a nice router.

I haven’t figured out if using APs for Wi-Fi and using my ISP’s router for routing loses me any speed. Does anyone think an additional NAT layer could improve performance?

I imagine it’s features vs performance

It's not really features vs performance. I don't know where you are based, but here in Europe ISPs must (I think?) put the router into bridge mode upon your request, from which point you can use whatever you want and the box from ISP acts mostly as a modem/media converter. I was even able to cut out this part by using an SFP GPON module I found!

Regarding speeds, it depends on what you are working with. Basically anything can do 100Mbit, most basic consumer gear seems to top out at around ~300Mbit and if you want to go higher, you need more powerful ARM SBCs or x86 based routers.

Thanks so much!

I’ve always had low cost and fast enough service. I moved outside of the wired service area and use 5G cellular home internet which while slow compared to global standards, it’s the fastest home internet I’ve had.

I don’t know that much about APs. They have to be wired into your router? I have some nearly-dead spots in my house, and so I think I need APs. Not sure that I could send wires around the house.

I use a buffalo airstation with dd-wrt.

It would be best to run wires with APs to those dead spots. If that is not possible, make it possible. If it is really not possible, then you have the option of powerline adapters or mesh networks, but those are a mostly inferior solution to running a cable and putting an AP there. I recommend not even thinking about repeaters if you are not desperate. Don't forget that the APs can be powered through PoE (Power over Ethernet) which relieves you from the need to have a power outlet at the spot you want to put your AP in.

Thanks, that was a really useful reply. I could probably run a wire (once I figure out where).

Do you recommend a router that doesn’t use wifi, and the wifi comes only from APs? This is not something I had ever considered prior to reading the comments in this post. I’m concerned this is going to be a rabbit hole..

It really depends on what you want/need. Since I realised that I don't need to only have a single device, it just makes sense to me to have them separated. When you want faster wifi, you upgrade the access points. If you need router with better capabilities, you buy a new router and still have your perfectly well functioning wifi.

I like OpenWRT and not needing to research whether some device's wifi will work is a plus for me. You can of course still have a router with wifi capabilities, I just found that separating them makes upgrading to new devices easier. I can also keep using my older devices - I used an ASUS NT-14U router for a few years. It was great, it had plenty of RAM and flash for the time, OpenWRT run great on it. Then I wanted to upgrade to 5GHz wifi, but I just run into problems with router+wifi combos having inferior wifi performance on OpenWRT compared to stock device - usually only half the speed an sometimes even unstable. Then I realised I could just buy new 5GHz APs and keep using my old router. I have been mostly happy with my home network since that realisation. I bought some TP-Link Omada "small business" APs (EAP245 and EAP225-outdoor) and knock on wood I didn't have any problems that I can recall for a few years already. People also usually recommend Ubiquiti APs and devices, but I have never really gotten into that and the TP-Link offering seems to be a better bang for my buck.

If you are able to run a wire, do it, even if it means some more initial work or it being a little ugly at some spot. It is just simply more reliable than the other options. Your future self will not thank you, because he will not even realise how smoothly everything is running ;)

I don't recommend custom router firmware to anyone that isn't 1) confident in their ability to troubleshoot problems you will definitely have and 2) at least somewhat intrigued at the prospect of spending several hours troubleshooting their router.

Even though I still maintain my hacker mindset, as I get older, the more I fall into "I just want it to work."

I said those exact words after sinking the better part of a weekend into trying to get WAN failover working on my (now useless) dd-wrt router. Once it stops being fun I'm ready to reach for my wallet.

Mikrotik is nice too, if you need a bit more, I would check it out. I have been using one at home for a few years. Fantastic software and hardware but more on the advanced side.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com