Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[johnson]

I for some reason try to avoid netgear, dont know why, the hashed up superhub for VM might be a factor.

The DG834x range were great for ADSL/2+ connections, have very fond memories of my DG834GT but all I have now from them is an 8 port switch. The netgear R7800 is from what I have read one of the best off the shelf boxes for OpenWRT these days.

As for the rest of the kit, Zyxel modems of course! Have 2 1312s 1 8324 & a 3925. All are excellent as VDSL modems, having tried HG612s HG635 billion 8800nl, none come close to the sync speed on my huawei cab.

For routing I have an HP 610 plus thin client (2x1.6ghz AMD bobcat cores, 8GB of ram) with an intel dual gigabit nic, running proxmox VE. Sounds like overkill but I scored 2 of these with power supplies for £30 each. Uses < 20W and has OpenWRT running in a VM, along with several others doing light webserving, monitoring etc. Great to have an always on box that doesnt use much power that you can fire up VMs or LXC containers on as and when.

Other than that a BT homehub 5A running openwrt as a wireless AP and the afformentioned netgear switch.

[roseway]

[psychopomp1]

IMHO it really depends on what features you're looking for in a router though I wouldn't place too much emphasis on looks, as you should be looking at whats under the hood. A bit like Miele home appliances - not the best looking but arguably the best out there for quality & perfomance.

All router manufacturers have strong & weak points, for example Billion make arguably the best all-in-one-routers yet their standalone routers are nothing special (do they even exist anymore?)

Draytek routers are very business orientated with some great features, yet they use low-mid spec wifi radios (nothing above 3x3) meaning an external wifi AP is a must if wifi is important.

Asus & Netgear are probably the best standalone router brands for geeks/nerds who want a ton of features with very nice hardware specs, this is down to fact that you can install third party firmware such as DD-WRT/Merlin/Voxel on many Asus or Netgear routers. However their high end routers cost an arm & a leg and IMHO have more bugs than other brands, especially Asus. Support from Asus  & netgear is utter garbage, however many will visit SNB forums for any issues.

TP Link &  Linksys routers aren't as feature rich as other brands but they are arguably the best value for money routers, with nice hardware specs. They also tend to have far fewer bugs than Asus or Netgear.

[Chrysalis]

Ironically my expensive acquired asus ac68 had to be put aside when I decided I wanted to use VLAN's, asuswrt doesnt support VLAN's (officially), and openwrt is a dud on broadcom wifi chipsets.

Right now the ac68 is resting on the front of my archer C7 holding it in place, the C7 is so light that the lan cables at the back of it drag it off the desk.  It also helps to hide the uglyness of the C7 since it looks as cheap as it cost.

[displaced]

I chose to use separate devices for each task.

An Opeanreach-supplied HG612 modem
An Intel NUC-style PC running pfSense for routing
Multiple Netgear ProSafe managed switches for switching
Multiple UniFi access points for WLAN

The advantages are numerous.  I’ve got the best modem for my line, full control over my internal network’s behaviour and flexibility in my WLAN layout.

I can upgrade parts independently, and even dramatic changes like switching to Virgin Media or (perhaps one day) getting FTTP will have little bearing on my home network.

Of course, managing pfSense and UniFi stuff requires a fair bit of networking knowledge, so I’d never suggest that my approach would be suitable for all!

[Weaver]

I agree completely with kitizen displaced.

I have
 4 x ZyXel VMG1312-B10A ADSL modems, which are all running our own kitizen johnson’s custom firmware,
 a ZyXEL switch,
 a Firebrick FB2700 router and an FB2500 as backup,
 an HP switch (as main LAN switch),
 3 x ZyXel WAPs

[dee.jay]

My man! (Displaced)

[Chunkers]

I now like keeping modem, WAP and router /switch separate and since using self-build opnSense / pfsense box would not go back.  I have used / tried a lot of one-box solutions, here is my personal summary :

Quite like :   Ubiquiti, Zyxel, Draytek, Billion, Fritz!box
Meh :      Asus, Netgear, most other stuff
Horrible :           TP-Link

[michty_me]

I've just bought a Unifi 8port-150W switch for my setup. I'm looking to add a couple of PoE cameras along with another access point to extend wireless to my garden and garage.

[dorzb]

I now like keeping modem, WAP and router /switch separate and since using self-build opnSense / pfsense box would not go back.  I have used / tried a lot of one-box solutions, here is my personal summary :

Quite like :   Ubiquiti, Zyxel, Draytek, Billion, Fritz!box
Meh :      Asus, Netgear, most other stuff
Horrible :           TP-Link

Totally agree with the ones in your Quite like. But why is TP-Link horrible? I have never used any TP-Link routers but the only powerline kits I have been using seem fine.

[Weaver]

I have used a TP link switch which was suspect and TP LINK outdoor WAPs that were rock solid.

[displaced]

Totally agree with the ones in your Quite like. But why is TP-Link horrible? I have never used any TP-Link routers but the only powerline kits I have been using seem fine.

Similarly, I’ve had no problem at all with my three Netgear GS108Ev3s.  Reliably shift 1Gbit/sec through all ports. Decent web interfaces and configurable enough to ensure stuff like multicast and igmp work as desired.

I’m tempted to replace my 108Es with PoE-capable units - mainly to reduce wall-warts for my UniFi access points and a few Raspberry Pis.

[Weaver]

That is a good point about POE switches. I do have a couple of standalone PoE injector bricks which I have never even got around to using for my ZyXEL WAPs. When I used to use a lot of TP-Link WAPs as well, the TP-Link WAPs had come with their own tiny injectors and that was the only time I had used PoE. Ought to use it more. PoE switches with a fair number of ports and good power ratings start to get very expensive and the total heat output can be crazy if you indeed fully populated the thing. The cost of a POE switch per port compared to standalone POE injector bricks for £40 or maybe much less money for cheapo dubious ones is not good as far as I have seen. Crystal ball required by the designer; if say for example you have a maximum of 8 PoE ports on the device but only own 3 devices, then the designer has to engineer it for 8 and that times 8 cost lands on you but you are only half using it. And god help you as far as managing all the heat goes if you really did max out a PoE switch fully populating it; then you would find out what you have to do about all that heat and find out whether the thing really can handle the stress.

[Chunkers]

Totally agree with the ones in your Quite like. But why is TP-Link horrible? I have never used any TP-Link routers but the only powerline kits I have been using seem fine.

TP-Link is fine for dumb stuff but for more complex stuff they release buggy firmware and due to the rapid release of newer models don't support updates and bug fixes, even on their "premium" models.

My feeling is that their marketing is based on offering good value for money and features but not backed up with good support , this has been my experience.

Worst offender for me was the TL-ER5120v2 router I bought, very crashy, no support and supposedly "enterprise".  Have also had issues with my M7350 freezing and also M5350 and the N600 I used needed a reboot every 2 days, mind you I also had pretty bad software issues with the Asus RT- AC68U.

Over the years I have learned that firmware support and updates trump cutting edge features most of the time.  One of the things I like about my Ubiquiti stuff and also opensource like pfSense is the continual support and updates, Zyxel pretty good too

C

[Weaver]

Chunkers makes a very good point.

The amazing eternal free support and eternal software updates that you get with Firebrick routers is worth a lot. Customers have also asked for sensible features and they were delivered, if memory serves. I had a Firebrick tweaked by lightning and just got a free replacement unit straight away when I made an enquiry about the cost of repairs for my insurance.