smokermoji
New Around Here
Hi all,
I'm looking for a wired router and a wireless access point to share an optical fiber line at some family relatives' house. Due to how the network cabling is done in the house, these would preferably be separate units. Some switches are also needed, but those are easy to find.
Required features:
-- Decent firmware out of the box, with a good track record of updates and security
-- Web interface with all commonly needed settings available
-- Port forwarding, some sort of firewall (including IPv6 firewall) and other basic features must be available
-- Telnet/SSH/other text interface is fine, but not as the only means of management
-- A proprietary app must not be the only method of management
-- No 3rd-party cloud-based management
-- No yearly license fees or other nonsense
-- Support for 2.4 GHz Wifi, preferably also 5 GHz simultaneously, preferably with Wifi 6 and WPA3 support, legacy support down to Wifi 4 and WPA2-PSK
-- Passthrough for legacy VPN protocols like Asus routers have (client behind the router, server somewhere at workplace); doing this by firewall/port forwarding rules is acceptable if it's possible and a passthrough option doesn't exist
-- Wifi AP should have relatively long rage. Adding a second unit is possible but not prefered
This is getting rather confusing as every brand or suitable device seems to have some major drawbacks. So far I've been looking at the following options, with pros(+) and cons(-) of each. Any comments, corrections or suggestions are appreciated!
Netgate routers with pfSense:
+ pfSense looks much more trustworthy and secure than proprietary router operating systems
- Plenty of complaints about root file system corruption after power loss, at least with the lower-end models. This is unacceptable.
- Higher-end models are very expensive
Ubiquiti Edgerouters:
+ Many positive reviews
+ These look like professional/semi-professional equipment
- Edgerouter X series seems to be sold out everywhere, apparently due to high demand and/or shortage of components
- Edgerouter 4/6 series are better available but rather large. Perhaps not a big problem, but complicates installation.
- Difficulty of configuration with ER4/6? Web interface, is it good?
Mikrotik RouterBOARD series:
+ Positive reviews
+ Inexpensive
- Suspiciously inexpensive
- Difficulty of configuration?
Zyxel ZyWALL equipment:
+ These look like professional equipment
- Mostly very expensive
- Suitability for home use?
- Old/legacy hardware?
- Zyxel has some history of backdoor accounts
- Personal experience: poor experience with cheaper Zyxel products
Asus routers:
+ Personal experience: work mostly without major problems, easy to configure
+ Decent number of firmware upgrades
- Personal experience: several small but annoying bugs that remain unfixed and do not give a good impression of a well finished product
TP-Link equipment:
+ Personal experience: does what it's supposed to do, inexpensive, good price to value ratio
- Some history of backdoors
Ubiquiti UniFi wireless APs:
+ Look like professional equipment
+ Positive reviews
- No web interface?
- Cloud-based management?
HPE Aruba wireless APs:
+ Look like decent pieces of hardware
- Cloud-based management?
3rd party firmware or full DIY router (computer + network cards + pfSense):
- Probably too much hassle for this purpose, probably too big and cumbersome
Many other consumer-grade brands that I came across seem to have some history of backdoors, poor reputation or poor personal experience, or they seem otherwise un-trustworthy. At the moment I'm thinking about either buying a Ubiquiti ER-4/6 and a Wifi AP of some sort, or sticking with Asus equipment. Asus devices are not bad, but I haven't been completely happy with them and I thought about getting something above the "consumer" level.
I'm looking for a wired router and a wireless access point to share an optical fiber line at some family relatives' house. Due to how the network cabling is done in the house, these would preferably be separate units. Some switches are also needed, but those are easy to find.
Required features:
-- Decent firmware out of the box, with a good track record of updates and security
-- Web interface with all commonly needed settings available
-- Port forwarding, some sort of firewall (including IPv6 firewall) and other basic features must be available
-- Telnet/SSH/other text interface is fine, but not as the only means of management
-- A proprietary app must not be the only method of management
-- No 3rd-party cloud-based management
-- No yearly license fees or other nonsense
-- Support for 2.4 GHz Wifi, preferably also 5 GHz simultaneously, preferably with Wifi 6 and WPA3 support, legacy support down to Wifi 4 and WPA2-PSK
-- Passthrough for legacy VPN protocols like Asus routers have (client behind the router, server somewhere at workplace); doing this by firewall/port forwarding rules is acceptable if it's possible and a passthrough option doesn't exist
-- Wifi AP should have relatively long rage. Adding a second unit is possible but not prefered
This is getting rather confusing as every brand or suitable device seems to have some major drawbacks. So far I've been looking at the following options, with pros(+) and cons(-) of each. Any comments, corrections or suggestions are appreciated!
Netgate routers with pfSense:
+ pfSense looks much more trustworthy and secure than proprietary router operating systems
- Plenty of complaints about root file system corruption after power loss, at least with the lower-end models. This is unacceptable.
- Higher-end models are very expensive
Ubiquiti Edgerouters:
+ Many positive reviews
+ These look like professional/semi-professional equipment
- Edgerouter X series seems to be sold out everywhere, apparently due to high demand and/or shortage of components
- Edgerouter 4/6 series are better available but rather large. Perhaps not a big problem, but complicates installation.
- Difficulty of configuration with ER4/6? Web interface, is it good?
Mikrotik RouterBOARD series:
+ Positive reviews
+ Inexpensive
- Suspiciously inexpensive
- Difficulty of configuration?
Zyxel ZyWALL equipment:
+ These look like professional equipment
- Mostly very expensive
- Suitability for home use?
- Old/legacy hardware?
- Zyxel has some history of backdoor accounts
- Personal experience: poor experience with cheaper Zyxel products
Asus routers:
+ Personal experience: work mostly without major problems, easy to configure
+ Decent number of firmware upgrades
- Personal experience: several small but annoying bugs that remain unfixed and do not give a good impression of a well finished product
TP-Link equipment:
+ Personal experience: does what it's supposed to do, inexpensive, good price to value ratio
- Some history of backdoors
Ubiquiti UniFi wireless APs:
+ Look like professional equipment
+ Positive reviews
- No web interface?
- Cloud-based management?
HPE Aruba wireless APs:
+ Look like decent pieces of hardware
- Cloud-based management?
3rd party firmware or full DIY router (computer + network cards + pfSense):
- Probably too much hassle for this purpose, probably too big and cumbersome
Many other consumer-grade brands that I came across seem to have some history of backdoors, poor reputation or poor personal experience, or they seem otherwise un-trustworthy. At the moment I'm thinking about either buying a Ubiquiti ER-4/6 and a Wifi AP of some sort, or sticking with Asus equipment. Asus devices are not bad, but I haven't been completely happy with them and I thought about getting something above the "consumer" level.