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Please recommend me a home router. Budget €120
nqservices
Member
Hi all,
My home router as “died” so I have to buy a new one and I don’t want to spend more than $120. It needs to have gigabit ports and besides that the most important thing is to have a secure software/firmware from a brand that really cares about security and releases regular updates.
I know I can go with a dd-wrt or pfsense.. but it’s for my home where only 2 computers will be connected, so I really want something that is “plug-and-play and forget” uses low electricity and as said before and most important to have regular security updates. Wifi is not required but if it came with it, nice.
I have a TP-Link on another home and don’t trust their security. Updates are almost non-existent. I have heard from friends that Asus routers are good option and also Linksys. Someone told me that Linksys even has auto firmware updates option on some models.
So what is the advice here from the LET community? Any recommendation on a +/- $/€120 router?
Note 2: As I live in Europe the router must be available to buy from a European store. Cannot import from USA because import tax.
Thanks all!
Comments
Others here have the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X afaik, probably you can pick up one of those - or if you need more speed probably the EdgeRouter Lite offloads better, even if it's an older model(?).
Ubiquiti ER-X at half the budget. Edgerouter Lite for better perfomance, still well within budget, but with 2 computers only, just get the ER-X and once it's up, you will totally forget about it.
We have ER-Lite in the office and are very happy with it. I am planning to get 2 more for my apartments as well.
3 recommendation for Ubiquiti. I saw their website and looks really good. If I understand properly all Ubiquiti routers share the same OS. The only difference are in hardware specs, correct?
Until now it seems the best option!
Really happy with Asus RT 51U which also supports VPN
Correct on the OS side. I also have one ER-Pro, pending deployment for non-critical use case.
You can prob find some mikrotik as well, but I personally have no experience with any of their home routers.
No personal experience here, but definately check out the smaller routers of mikrotik. They have their own linux-based fimware, are serious about security and updates, are geared towards serious professional use, and lots of european shops sell them turnkey ready. Some models are within your budget.
Some shops also sell preinstalled, small, powerefficient pfsense boxes based on pcengines ALIX boards etc., but not within your budget, AFAIK. E.g. applianceshop.eu, but there are lots of other shops specialised in open source routing/networking/wifi. E.g. shop.omg.de, shop.meconet.de, varia-store.com, nrg-systems.de, shop.tronico.net, more links: https://www.pcengines.ch/order.htm
Also just search ebay and amazon for mikrotik, pfsense, pcengines etc.
The freifunk and *WRT communities might also have some good info on their websites. Not just for DIY, but also preinstalled, plug'n'play boxes.
EDIT: But why doesn't a *WRT compatible cheap consumer router meet your reqirements? Flashing my 20€ TP-Link TL-WR841ND v9 with DD-WRT was as simple as a normal tp-link firmwareupdate, via webinterface. So its plug'n'forget, except that you need to update it manually every once in a while. And WRT should be fine for security and updates, no?
The Xiaomi R3P or Netgear R7000 seem like a really good fit if you also need WiFi, otherwise, definetly Ubiquiti ER-X, Netgear ProSafe series or even a MikroTik RB2011UiAS-IN
Mikrotik hAP AC2
I have hAP Lite at home and am fully satisfied with it - it routes my 60/30Mbps like a charm, and also runs my VPN and TunnelBroker with BGP without breaking a sweat. You should be able to get it quite cheaply, Mikrotik is an European brand and their products are used by a lot of WISPs.
I love my Ubiquiti gear, got an EdgerouterX (think it was around $50), and then for WiFi I'd get an older Unifi AP if on a budget or just use existing wireless routers you have kicking around in AP-only mode.
Both Microkit and Ubiquiti seem a good option. Also they are both insude my budjet. The Ubiquiti software seems more "nice" than the Router OS from Microkit. Both product seem similar. So in terms of security track record, how Ubiquiti vs Microkit compare?
Realstically, if you don't open up your management ports to the outside world, both would be a good choice.
Mikrotik tends have a lot of features on the box, but once you start using them, you'll find that it's either broken or it doesn't work up to expectations.
Right now, Ubiquiti EdgeOS has come a long way from the 1.0 days in terms of feature set and performance.
I'll have to say this, I personally like EdgeOS for it's extensibility for new features that you might want to pack into your router if you want it to do something that Ubiquiti never really intended the router to do so. I know of this first hand because I was the guy who upgraded their IPSec stack from a really old version into the latest stack available at the time. I also was the developer who integrated IKEv2 Remote Access VPN's on the EdgeOS/VyOS platforms because of an use case I needed a few years back.
Mikrotik on the other hand, short of you knowing how the configuration is done, the only way to extend the platform is by using MetaROUTER to virtualize an OpenWRT instance and extend it from there.
I don't know about Mikrotik, but I know Ubiquiti is still providing firmware updates for even their ancient gear. Know folks with old Unifi APs that still get updates. That's one of the main reasons I went with them when looking at redoing my network setup.
Old Unifi AP's are only getting security updates, no new features are being introduced to it.
That being said, Ubiquiti's did introduce new features to their older products for a long period of time before they went security fixes only for their legacy products.
if you have plenty of time and want to tinker your homenet to some extent :
Buy good box with plenty gigabit port,maybe AES cpu aswell
Then install vyos or opnsense.
UnifiOS based on vyos anyway
The Synology routers are meant to be quite nice and seems to get fairly regular updates, It won't be as powerful as Ubnt or Mikrotik, not used one myself but knew someone who had an RT1900 and were quite happy with it.
I can (kind of) recommend the EdgeRouter X. Was great for me, however about a month ago I had a power cut in my town and it bricked the ERX - just got it back a week or so ago from RMA (they sent me a new unit which was nice) and loving it again, but be careful if you have lots of power cuts
mikrotik running smoothly for me, RB951Ui-2HnD handle around 30 computer & uplink 70mb/70mb.
for gigabit you can use RB951G-2hnd
I'm surprised so many of you recommend products of ubnt - company with long tradition of security problems and gpl violations...
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I've tried most brands and my most recent router an Asus N66u running Merlin firmware has trounced them all it has been rock solid.
Mikrotik hAP AC2 is newer, more powerful and cheaper. I don't get why people recommend old models like RB951 or RB2011
i know, there is newer device. in my case, it just works from the day one long time ago.
Anything but Dlink
My main concern is security and Ubiquiti was well recommended around here. Can you post some links where I can read about that security flaws? Also if for you Ubiquiti is out of the question, what is your advice? Thanks!
RB2011UiAS-2HnD-IN works well and stable for 3 years until now as router, but wifi is bad.
At least D-link lasts a couple of days between reboots, most of my TP-link bricks needed daily reboots ;-;
Really? I have few TPLink WR-841ND and they are rock solid.
I'm happy with my ASUS RT-AC66U B1. ASUSWRT-Merlin makes it even better, and the router is currently on sale at Amazon for $94
I'm very satisfied with my current Netgear R7500v2. It has a great coverage and DD-WRT is supported by manufacturer. It replaced a tplink AC1200 which was also great while it lasted (killed by a lightning)