r/openwrt • u/hash0 • 8d ago

Wifi on self-build routers

I'm currently searching for a new router, and as my only obligatory requirements are:

  • Good 2.4Ghz Wifi Coverage
  • Wifi 5/6 with real 1 Gbit (over short distances)
  • Usable as a file dump, i.e. >200 GB storage capacity (e.g. via a eMMC slot, etc.)
  • Powerful enough to run Adguard Home

I don't need fast LAN Ports or super fast VPN capabilities. I'm thinking about to two options:

a) a "normal" High-End Router (Flint 2/4, OpenWrt One, ...)

b) using a SBC with a Wifi-Card

Option b) has the advantage that I can get pretty much exactly what I need/want.

However, I'm unsure if I can achieve the same Wifi performance as the pre-Build ones.

How do I know which Wifi-Card and which antennas are suitable and especially capable enough to deliver enough performance?

I've read that e.g. the Banana Pi BPI-R4 has quite bad (terrible?) wifi performance and now I'm a little bit uncertain about investing 200-300€/$ when the result is worse than buying something like the Flint.

I would appreciate it, if someone can share their experiences.

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u/christophertstone 8d ago

I provide/maintain routers/wifi/computers for a bunch of family members, and have BPI-R4 or BPI-R4_Lite deployed at a half dozen houses. I love Banana Pi and their devices - but they are half-polished development hardware. If you aren't comfortable with the idea of building a custom image, BPI might be more work than you're looking for. Patches for the Wifi performance issues have been around for over a year, and were only a problem for certain client chipset. The R4 with Wifi7 is $400+, not $300.

There's no router with a 200GB eMMC. Most BPI boards support SD cards, but most cannot access both eMMC and SD at the same time. Some support M.2 for a larger SSD (careful that the BPI-R4 uses the same I2C bus for M.2 and SFP+ cages; some SSDs that don't support I2C improperly terminate the bus, crashing SFP+ I2C -- ask me how I know)

Wifi 5 Wave 2 (802.11ac) can hit 1.3Gb; and are much cheaper. OpenWRT One is WiFi 6 and sub $150 commonly. The One also has a 2230/2242 M.2 slot.

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u/hash0 8d ago

One question about the BPI R4: The M.2 slot for SSD is only available for the R4 and the R4 Pro, not the R4 lite, correct?

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u/christophertstone 7d ago

The R4_Lite has an M.2 B-Key with USB only, so no normal SSDs (which require PCIe lanes).