Looking for home networking recommendations
I like to periodically audit my home computer infrastructure for upgrades/replacements. Mostly this is so I don't have to make an impulse purchase when something inevitably fails, but it's also nice to keep up to date on the state of the art.
I'm currently trying to reassess my home home networking, and I am a bit overwhelmed by everything. So I'm hoping that the residents of Tildes can help me out a bit with recommendations.
I would classify myself as a fairly budget consumer. I'm on a less than 1Gbit Xfinity plan, and have mostly cobbled together my current system from collected parts over the years. My DNS/DHCP is handled by my primary router, an aging T-Mobile Asus device I picked up years ago and loaded with Merlin. A few years ago I picked up an Eero system on discount, and I have been using that in bridge mode to provide mesh Wifi around the house.
The system I have in place is working great. It occurs to me though, that most of the parts are getting old enough that I can't replace them directly. I'm definitely not going to be able to find my specific router easily, and the first gen Eeros are also getting harder to find. I also think I might not be doing myself any favors with the chain of multiple devices being cobbled together. Perhaps it's time to look for a mesh system with the flexibility that my Asus/merlin router offers.
So let's hear it. What sort of networking equipment is everyone using these days? What do you like about it? Any killer features that I have been missing while living under a rock?
This probably won't help you either unfortunately, but I've gone all-in on UniFi. They're very much a prosumer oriented brand, though I have also used them in a business context with good experiences.
I like the modularity of it. If I want to upgrade my WiFi, I upgrade my single AP. If I need a new router down the line, I upgrade the USG. It's fairly low maintenance. I have an intel NUC with the server software running, though a cloud key would be a welcome upgrade. I'd consider myself an expert in hosting servers, networking, IT security, etc (I do it for work) so your mileage may vary.
Another full Ubiquiti setup here, albeit on the lower end of their offering - a UDR hooked up to an 8-port PoE switch, 2 additional wireless APs, and an LTE backup module to seamlessly failover to cellular when our main ISP goes down. Been running solid for almost two years now, no regrets.
Which LTE backup do you use? Do you have an unlimited data plan on the LTE SIM?
Just the default Ubiquiti LTE Backup product, which comes with its own (expensive, harshly data-capped, AT&T-based) plan. It’s a total rip-off but I pay for the convenience and the ability to easily cancel it anytime through the Ubiquiti site. Luckily our internet outages are usually short so we don’t use that much data. They make a “Pro” version of the product which is bring-your-own-SIM so you have the freedom to choose the plan that is best for you.
Calyx Institute recently announced a "Sprout" offering that may be of interest. I'm not sure if the pricing works out to be better, but I have found their previous service/products to be pretty good, and there are no caps.
Neat! If you need unlimited data and have a failover device that’s compatible with their SIM that looks like a good option at ~$40/mo. I pay $15/mo to Ubiquiti but I only get 1GB of data, then $10 for each additional GB. We’ve only gone over the first gig once so far 🤷♂️
I used Ubiquiti access points tied to a pfSense-later-opnSense router/firewall for a while. I still use opnSense, but I've switched away from Ubiquiti APs.
I found the Ubiquiti product line to be too expensive for what you get generally. I swapped to Grandstream for APs. I really appreciate the centralized UI that doesn't need a separate host.
It's not necessarily the right fit for OP, but I'll second your ubiquity suggestion for folks that want to invest the time and money and who value uptime once configured.
I run home networks for many family members, so I value rock solid uptime and remote management more than most. Walking a tech illiterate in-law through troubleshooting from 3,000 miles away, even with simple unplug and plug in instructions is a no go once you throw in some age related decline and Parkinson's.
I have a unifi server running in AWS, Protectli hardware for the border routers and firewall at each site, and ubiquity WAP's. The border devices use cloudflare dynamic DNS to keep the A record for each site up to date, a lambda function keeps the security group access to the unifi controller up to date looking up the hostnames, and I can VPN to each border from my phone or computer and remotely manage through web interfaces.
It's something an enthusiast could set up, but not on OP's budget. A Protectli device and ubiquity WAP would probably push towards $400 on the cheaper end. But it would pretty much run forever once stood up.
I also went the Ubiquiti route, mainly because doing the OpenWRT thing was more involved than I wanted and because I didn’t want my network’s stability to be dragged down by some bit of botched DIY on my part.
My connection is also symmetrical fiber, but don’t need to bridge because my ISP doesn’t require a modem (just an ONT). Setup consists of:
Also have a few other UniFi things like cameras hooked up.
It wasn’t cheap but it works very well and it’s nice to have a full suite of features that aren’t locked behind a subscription or any of that nonsense. I had been using a Netgear Nighthawk router before and in terms of its basic functionality it was great, but its feature set was basic and some stuff was subscription-locked, which was a real disappointment coming from the Apple AirPort Extreme I had been using prior which was a gem of a little router.
I'll preface by saying that I'm a tinkerer that values recovery over uptime. Open Source over simpler setup. Ignore me if this is not you.
This has brought me more than a few headaches,but in turn I get much more usable lifespan out of my devices.
My Linksys 1900AC stopped getting official firmware 5 years ago. It's still getting OpenWRT patches and likely will for another decade.
So, anyway, enough about me, my advice to you:
If you want to dive in deep, OPNsense with dumb access points is awesome. But is more intensive to setup and maintain than even I prefer.
I prioritize routers that have OpenWRT support for that reason. Enough power to dive deep if you want to, fairly simple if you don't.
Definitely agreed on the OpenWRT front!
We're using a Banana Pi BPi-R4 (with this case for the enclosure) as the main router, and three Extreme Networks WS-AP3825i WAPs for meshed wireless coverage. All of them are running OpenWRT and it's been a dream come true.
Of course, my needs do not extend beyond what OP has laid out using so far in the post, but after seeing just what can be done with the BPi, I'm not so sure I'll be going back to flashing off-the-shelf routers anymore. Now, I know the R4 is not budget-consumer, but I do mean to introduce networking focused SBCs as a viable option. We've had zero regrets with Banana Pi.
This is pretty intriguing to me. I do like to tinker with devices and have used OpenWRT in the past. What kind of price point are we talking for the R4? It always scares me when the price isn't listed directly and instead they have a text box for inquires. 😬
Edit: I looked on their buy page and clicked through to AliExpress. Looks like all the R4s are under $150, which isn't as bad as I was expecting.
Sorry for linking the manufacturer page. 😅 Yes, I would definitely recommend looking around for the best deal possible. The ease of setup and full hardware support from OpenWRT is what made the BPi worth it in this case.
I have my parents setup with a 2 node eero system with an Ethernet backhaul. I used to have them on unifi. The unifi network needed very little maintenance, but the eero network has need exactly zero maintenance in the years I have been using it. Definitely worth the price.
If you want a more standalone device instead, I can also recommend GL.iNET. Yes, their name does sound like a Chinese brand that will disappear as soon as you need support, but they are a real company. Many of their routers are branded as travel routers, but they work just fine as home routers. I got an ax3000 travel router from them about a year ago. It was way cheaper than anything else remotely as capable. And it runs openwrt out of the box. They have their own front end skin, but you can ignore that and log directly into the openwrt admin panel if you want.
I wanted to go with Ubiquiti, but due to some circumstances outside of my control, I had to make some networking changes in my house earlier than I wanted, so I went with TP-Link and their Omada ecosystem. For about $400 USD:
The router and switch are both overkill for my current setup, but leave plenty of room for expansion at a killer price point. I wired up my access points on both levels of my home. I was surprised by the range as I expected the edges of my home to be super slow, but they're pretty decent.
Now, the one caveat I will mention (that wasn't a problem for me because I have a lot of computing power lying around): In order to use Omada's managed network solution, you need a hardware controller. I believe you can buy one from TP-Link, but you can also put it on a regular old computer too. There's a docker image for it too, so I was able to containerize it. Omada made it super easy to set up the access points. I didn't have to do anything I don't think. Once the AP was plugged into the network Omada automatically configured it and it just worked.
I've been really happy with my TP-Link hardware for the price. If you have a computer sitting around that you could have on all the time to run the Omada software, I'd highly recommend it.
Is the Omada software lean enough that I could load it on a server that does other things? I have a server running various things (Plex, Minecraft, Nexcloud, etc), and it still has some resources to spare for another container.
I run it alongside a bunch of other services and I haven’t noticed any difference at all. It’s a Java program underneath so I think you have to “allocate” a certain amount of memory to the JVM that may just sit around being unused. CPU usage is negligible from what I’ve seen.
I'm always surprised when I see people recommending TP-link products. All of the TP-link stuff I've used has been crap. But that was years ago. Have they just gotten a lot better in that time or is it that they just have wild quality control?
They started selling across the quality spectrum, while they originally were more dedicated to the low end budget niche. I don't know that I'd bite the bullet on a WAP from them, but I do have a high quality external WiFi 6 antenna from them that consistently sustains gigabit speeds with a 1ms ping time to the gateway. Can't ask for much more than that from an antenna.
I suppose I wouldn’t know, I didn’t start buying networking equipment until five years ago. Since 2020 I’ve been happy with my TP-Link stuff! But YMMV
The latest Eero routers are a great mesh system if you need to cover a larger place. Easy to set-up, and the price isn't crazy for 2-3 routers that can handle gigabit internet. I especially like having the ethernet ports on each router for use in a home office or media room.