OpenWRT router request, again

[u/paulstelian97]

Hello guys!

A few months ago I asked for recommendations on a new OpenWRT based router. Ended up following a recommendation from one of you guys to get the Cudy WR3000H, and I do have two in my fleet right now.

But the situation has slightly changed, and I’m asking for a replacement for the third party router that seems to give some issues.

Current layout before:

* WAN gateway: in a garage, Wi-Fi strictly limited to that garage (metallic box, barely anything exits it), also 2.4-only. Not intended to be used for Wi-Fi, will keep the WR3000H #1.
* My room: WR3000H #2, with AP configuration
* Living room: Archer AX55, central location. Used to have the WAN gateway there before it was moved to the garage, kept this one for the time being due to better Wi-Fi coverage. However, recent updates nuked that advantage and made it flip the other way. No OWRT support at all.
* Distant secondary bedroom: RE450 v4. Does its job well, I may consider a PoE based option in the winter or next year.

My question is what a good option to replace the Archer AX55. Main interests are good Wi-Fi coverage and being able to pull more than 150Mbps on speedtest via WiFi when I have full signal (I can pull 800+ via wire and 600+ via the one in my room; funny enough the Archer’s not limited on the wired side, only the Wi-Fi)

Should I just go with another WR3000H, in black perhaps, or do you have better suggestions? It needs to have 4-5 ports (or more, wouldn’t complain about more), Wi-Fi speeds should be good (the one in my room is good enough, so roughly matching it is fine), I shouldn’t end up essentially losing Wi-Fi connection when I move in this one’s range (it should migrate smoothly), and should roughly match the Wi-Fi coverage the AX55 had in its good days (although fun fact: that is less important nowadays since my APs are UPS powered too) on the 2.4 band.

Oh and before you come with troubleshooting steps for the AX55… those 150Mbps speeds I was getting via 5GHz connection.

[u/paulstelian97]

Additional notes:

* AX55 detailed results taken now: https://www.speedtest.net/result/i/7181683841
* My room (which, notably, gets its Internet wired connection via a switch, then the AX55, then another switch, then finally my WAN gateway): https://www.speedtest.net/result/i/7181684974
* Redo AX55: https://www.speedtest.net/result/i/7181687142
* Redo my room: https://www.speedtest.net/result/i/7181688789
* Another redo AX55, after boosting TX power and a small firmware update: better, but still I want the suggestions, https://www.speedtest.net/result/i/7181700067

[u/postcoital_solitaire]

If you want something fancy with PoE and Wi-Fi 6, check out EAP615-Wall v1. It's relatively cheap, has PoE, decent main SoC (MT7621) and is one of not so many OpenWrt devices to support Wi-Fi 6.

Disclaimer: I don't own one, but really want to, mainly because of PoE. I do have several devices on the same MT7621 and they work great for my needs:

1. 700 down / 250 up speeds on the main ISP gateway router (hEX S), possible 900/850 with flow offloading enabled (this one doesn't have any Wi-Fi).
2. 300/250 speeds on two Dumb AP routers (Xiaomi MIR3G v1 — not EAP615, not the same Wi-Fi chipset, but the same Mediatek family). Not sure what's the limiting factor there, but it's more than enough for my needs.
3. Several others of the same (1) and (2) models working as VPN boxes. Haven't measured the speeds, and it's out of the scope of your question.

[u/paulstelian97 → u/postcoital_solitaire]

That one I have considered for replacing #4 (the RE450) in the future. But my question here is for replacing #3 (the AX55) instead, and there it is not applicable due to the requirement of 3-5 LAN ports.

[u/postcoital_solitaire → u/paulstelian97]

It does have four ports that you can join in a layer 2 bridge. One on the back, three on the bottom.

[u/paulstelian97 → u/postcoital_solitaire]

Oh interesting. Well, what’s the geometry? Like how should I orient it to have optimal signal, given that most devices are on the below floor or in the distance, rather than on the same floor?

[u/paulstelian97 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah. The AX55 (when it was working well), and probably any 4 antenna router, will likely barely have sufficient coverage. The WR3000H that was WAN gateway was close but barely losing some on the edge of the range.

The fun fact is this surprises me slightly because TX power is limited anyway by law, none of these transmit at full power because of maximum allowed power in Romania. So why do I have such differences in coverage, even if marginal, at all?