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Ask HN: Recommendations for New Router

by deepdmistry on 4/4/23, 12:20 AM with 8 comments

Hello, looking for recommendations for a new router that can satisfy following needs.

1. Future proof 2. Multi level home ( around 3000 sq ft ) 3. Can support many many devices ( have a ton of stuff due to all the smart home stuff ) i have a bridge but still 4 Both wife and I work from home and could be on zoom at once, along with more 4K videos being streamed on other devices. 5. We have Verizon fios gigabit connection. 6. We have a lot of content on an external drive and would prefer to have that be available as network drive.

Can provide more details if necessary.

  • by rektide on 4/4/23, 1:07 AM

    "A" router will probably not satisfy. Even placed in the most ideal spot, there will probably be places with poor coverage. If someone is there, everyone else will likely have a bad time (unless everyone upgrades to only having Wifi 6 devices).

    Good coverage is a matter of having more access points. Most off the shelf mesh systems will do fine.

    Personally I enjoy systems that actually leave me empowered & knowing what is going on, but A) running OpenWRT & DAWN (to bandsteer clients) is not that easy and B) the available hardware has been absolutely miserable in the past couple of years, with 802.11ax only barely becoming available. My roommates had a second Google Mesh wifi router system & it worked flawlessly, without any of the pain & suffering, & had good visibility. However it lacks the USB NAS capability. Honestly I think most systems would serve you fine & your requirements are unspecial & uninteresting: you'll have a fine time with any vaguely competent mesh system. Especially if it has 3+ nodes.

  • by guiambros on 4/4/23, 12:31 AM

    You didn't say anything about budget, security requirements, or advanced config vs. plug'n play set up, so pretty much any prosumer mesh router/wifi would fit your requirements - Asus ROG, Linksys, Google WiFi, etc.

    My personal / recommended setup:

    - For firewall: pfSense (or OPNsense, if you prefer a truly open alternative)

    - For L2/L3 switching: Ubiquiti Switch, with PoE

    - For WiFi access points: as many Ubiquiti Access Points as needed (I use FlexHD; easy installation if you already have the cabling, but there are other alternatives, including ceiling mounts, APs for outdoors, etc). I use a dedicated UniFi CloudKey, but you can also use a Docker container or your own vm

    IMO this gives you the perfect balance between flexibility and control, without requiring too much maintenance. While I'm frustrated with some recent political crap from Ubiquiti [1], the wifi is rock solid, and the products are top notch.

    [1] https://hn.algolia.com/?q=ubiquiti

  • by GianFabien on 4/4/23, 1:08 AM

    I have reservations about most commercial products. I would build a router using OpenBSD. Then run Cat5e/6 cables to several access points to provide adequate coverage. Keep the smart home stuff on 2.4GHz WiFi and run laptops, tablets on 5GHz WiFi - ideally different SSIDs. I would connect the network drive with wired ethernet.

    Your fios connection shouldn't be the problem. But WiFi, being RF, can often be a limiting factor.

  • by blueridge on 4/4/23, 12:22 AM

  • by pettycashstash2 on 4/4/23, 12:23 AM

    I recommend Ubiquity.