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submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

before buying expensive routers check OpenWRT's table of hardware and buy one that is supported by the current OpenWRT release and has decent specs. There is a detailed installation guide for each supported device in the wiki too so there are no excuses it's dead simple. Free yourself from stupid hardware manufacturers and their planed obsolescence products.

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[-] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago

Any recs for a OpenWRT-supported router? The list is pretty deep

[-] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago

It comes down to specs and your needs but these are a must in my opinion:

  1. having atleast 128 mb of storage or some way to expand it.
  2. 256 mb of memory or more
  3. suppot WiFi 6 or better 6E or 7
  4. Support for mesh protocols if you need it
  5. Decent multi core chipset if you gonna run intensive tasks on it (like VPNs or DNS filtering) etc.. the list goes on but like I said It really comes down to your needs ( on a side note consider read the details and installation guide page before buying some brands and models are easier than others to tinker with for sure)
[-] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

This is a helpful starting place, thanks!

[-] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

You're welcome. Sorry I didn't named some specific devices but that's because device availability and price changes drastically region to region so something maybe a great deal where I live but that may not be the case for you or the other way around.that said Xiaomi and some Hauwei maybe tp-link devices are the best bang for the buck in my corner of the world look into those maybe that's the case for you too. Also Here is the new version of the table of hardware with more details

[-] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago
[-] [email protected] 0 points 4 days ago

Glinet is leading.

I am surprised considering they are china based. I guess with foss software it aint as much of an issue?

[-] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

As long as there are no hardware backdoors openwrt should overwrite firmware/software ones.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

Well, GL iNet 's router software is based on OpenWRT, so all of their's. The UI of nicer, so I just leave their version on there; go through the "advanced settings" menu item to get the LuCI interface.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

I'm using a Linksys MX4300 I got from woot for like $20, seems pretty good.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

Gl.inet routers all come with openwrt installed out of the box

[-] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

What I did when I was looking for a newer router to run OpenWRT was to look at their supported hardware list, narrow down to the ones with recent WiFi protocol support (in my case, WiFi 6), then compared prices. I was able to buy a used Belkin router for $20 on Ebay that did the trick.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

I know openwrt actually realised a openwrt router.

I bought a flint 2 from glinet And it works pretty well

[-] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Yeah, my Flint 2 has been a workhorse for about a year and a half now. They just recently released the Flint 3, but I don’t feel any urgency to upgrade. And even when I do, I’ll probably repurpose my current Flint 2 to be an access point on the other side of the house.

My only real complaint is that since it only has 4 LAN ports, (3 if you switch the first one to be a second WAN port) you basically need to run a dedicated switch as well. Not a huge issue in the grand scheme of things, (unmanaged switches are super cheap, after all), but I run a small Dante audio-over-IP system, which requires low latency. So I try to avoid having a bunch of switch hops in between my devices, as each switch hop adds some latency. I basically split each of those four LAN lines to a separate room, and each room has its own switch. So I’m never more than three switch hops (room 1 switch > router > room 2 switch) away from any other device.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

One that supports the latest standards, though I'd suggest a Gl.iNet router if you don't know much about networking as OpenWRT is quite confusing.

[-] [email protected] 0 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

tp-link archer c7 is commonly recommended as the cheapest one that runs it well. you aint running a lot of services and it only has gigabit lan and wifi5 but its dirt cheap.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Running 3 C7s V5 at home. First one I bought initially not intended for OpenWrt, however once I realized it works really well I got 2 more. Dirt cheap on local marketplace.

Archer C7 is perfectly good and fast router for vast majority of people.

this post was submitted on 29 May 2025
258 points (99.6% liked)

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