Top affordable router option for maximum performance.
Top affordable router option for maximum performance.
Hey there, welcome to the forums! I've been following the channel for a while now. You're setting up a Smartthings Wifi system with a 24-port switch and using a mesh access point as your router. I understand you're looking for a stronger, more reliable router to manage your home network for four people. Since your current speed is around 100Mb and you expect it to improve, you'll want something capable of handling streaming without bottlenecks. If you meant 100Gb instead of 100Mb, that's a big upgrade—consider routers rated for multi-gigabit speeds. Let me know if you need more specific suggestions!
You have a lot of bandwidth! Are you in an industrial zone or something? If you're open to learning, installing a NUC with two Intel NICs and running Pfsense or Opnsense on it would give you a high-end router. Realtek NICs often cause problems, for example they crash under heavy network traffic on my Pfsense device.
Heh, saw this Read to me as "best bang for buck weed" I'm slipping
Confirm bandwidth agreement, possibly a typo. NUCS prices seem high with dual Intel NICs—single board might be more economical. I’ve been evaluating costs and power use. [edit] A router supporting Tomato OS could also be an option.
Yep, I totally botched that . I would love that much bandwidth but I live out in the country in WV. I wouldn't be opposed to it and have actually considered getting an old pc and starting there. It just never seemed cost effective. I should have stated by ideal budget of $60 - $150 USD but could be swayed to something more expensive if I felt the cost justified it.
I mentioned "similar" options: there are many choices available, such as Seeed Studio offering a board with two Intel NICs integrated and an Arduino for things like home automation at https://www.seeedstudio.com/ODYSSEY-X86J...-4447.html. I won’t list every possibility, of course.
The top choice would be the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X. It's an excellent compact router for just $60 and should easily manage your network needs. A quick guide covers setting it up at home. Activate hardware offloading and 'Smart Queue' for basic performance. For more precise QoS settings, try Basic or Advanced Queue.
It was one of the models I examined, though I wasn’t certain if it matched the MicroTik selection. Initially, I chose a TP Link R600, but I quickly regretted that decision.