One thing I'm looking into that is pretty interesting but probably goes above what most would be willing to do (especially if something like an Eero tickles your fancy).
Don't get me wrong I really wish I could bash the Eeros but I just can't. Everything just works. The only small problem I have is a lack of ports and I only need 3 ports so getting a switch is simply overkill and hard to place in the current layout.
Most of the time when looking at stuff I can come up with reasons not to change stuff around but I'm really finding it hard not to embrace OpenWRT on some really cheap wifi 6 routers. Right now you can get a 3 pack of Zyxel WSM20 for about £54 including postage. Each unit has 4 ports so that's a wifi 6 router for £18 each.
The reason they are so cheap? The stock firmware is complete garbage but this doesn't matter if we install OpenWRT. Once we install it on all 3 units we can have our own little Eero style mesh setup but it fixes most of the problems people have with Eero: a local web interface and it gives extra ports. A 3 pack of Eero 6 (both are AX1800 units) is like £170 if you get it on the cheapest deal (most of the time about £200).
Don't get me wrong setting up the mesh functionality on OpenWRT does seem much more involved but for that amount of control and flexibility I think it's something to consider. I will also be able to properly run smart queue management which is included with eero but nowhere near as good as the implementations on OpenWRT.
Don't get me wrong I really wish I could bash the Eeros but I just can't. Everything just works. The only small problem I have is a lack of ports and I only need 3 ports so getting a switch is simply overkill and hard to place in the current layout.
Most of the time when looking at stuff I can come up with reasons not to change stuff around but I'm really finding it hard not to embrace OpenWRT on some really cheap wifi 6 routers. Right now you can get a 3 pack of Zyxel WSM20 for about £54 including postage. Each unit has 4 ports so that's a wifi 6 router for £18 each.
The reason they are so cheap? The stock firmware is complete garbage but this doesn't matter if we install OpenWRT. Once we install it on all 3 units we can have our own little Eero style mesh setup but it fixes most of the problems people have with Eero: a local web interface and it gives extra ports. A 3 pack of Eero 6 (both are AX1800 units) is like £170 if you get it on the cheapest deal (most of the time about £200).
Don't get me wrong setting up the mesh functionality on OpenWRT does seem much more involved but for that amount of control and flexibility I think it's something to consider. I will also be able to properly run smart queue management which is included with eero but nowhere near as good as the implementations on OpenWRT.
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