New roouter

DataVampire

DataVampire

DataVampire

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Joined
4 Oct 2005
Posts
2,062
Location
Herefordshire
So guys we have got 2gb down and 2 gb up( With zoom). The router is really bad.
So we are going to buy a new one next month(tax refund)
We all have 2.5gb ports on our computers so here is the problem.
Nearly all of the routers i have looked at only come with one 2.5gb wan port(which the the modem needs to plug into)
So the router we need has to have 2. one for the modem to plug into and then one to plug into our 2.5gb 8 port switch.
Budget arround £200-£300 odd.
Thank you for reading.
 
Asus TUF-AX6000

£162 with OpenWRT support (potential £25 Asus rate my gear promotion also bringing it to £137). Likely also getting a fork of Asus merlin. Very rare you will get a router that has a choice of 3 different firmwares (Asus Stock, Asus Merlin and OpenWRT). Probably the router to tide over till wifi 7 if you're in the market now. Can also do SQM Cake at ~3 Gbps. A complete monster.

If you're feeling adventurous the GL-MT6000. It's basically a TUF-AX6000 on steroids. Upgrades RAM to 1GB and has a fork of OpenWRT installed. Had early bird price of around £100. Can be had for about £135 now.
 
Don’t know much about Topton, I have seen the name mentioned previously (will have a look myself).

Agree re pfsense/opnsense or Sophos XG Home. I’m currently running pfsense plus on Sophos XG hardware. (XG125R2 and XG230R2)

Protectli Option too?
 
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Hope you don't mind me jumping on this thread. I am in the same boat in that I am moving to fibre and want to take the opportunity to segment my network so that appliances with lower security, my wannabe hacker son and my machines are on separate vLANS.

I have looked at the Chinese 4 port mini PCs (Topton, CWWK, Hansun and the like). They appear quite capable boxes to run PFsense/OPNsense but I'm a bit sceptical on the build quality so might try buying through a UK based retailer to offer some protection. Would be interested to know where your thoughts are and what you might end up buying
 
didgemaster said:
Hope you don't mind me jumping on this thread. I am in the same boat in that I am moving to fibre and want to take the opportunity to segment my network so that appliances with lower security, my wannabe hacker son and my machines are on separate vLANS.

I have looked at the Chinese 4 port mini PCs (Topton, CWWK, Hansun and the like). They appear quite capable boxes to run PFsense/OPNsense but I'm a bit sceptical on the build quality so might try buying through a UK based retailer to offer some protection. Would be interested to know where your thoughts are and what you might end up buying
Click to expand...
I can't comment fully yet however I'm in the process of buying a Topton unit from a well known Chinese based retailer and based on the research I've done over the past few months I'd say that if you are buying one you may as well get it direct from China and use Paypal for protection since the units on UK sites are exactly the same just with a mark up on them.

The same goes for Protectli, unless you are wanting support and Coreprotect you can buy the self and same unit elsewhere for cheaper.

As for quality I have an N100 unit that's already arrived and its good enough, its a bit plasticky but otherwise is absolutely solid :)
 
TechMinerUK said:
I can't comment fully yet however I'm in the process of buying a Topton unit from a well known Chinese based retailer and based on the research I've done over the past few months I'd say that if you are buying one you may as well get it direct from China and use Paypal for protection since the units on UK sites are exactly the same just with a mark up on them.

The same goes for Protectli, unless you are wanting support and Coreprotect you can buy the self and same unit elsewhere for cheaper.

As for quality I have an N100 unit that's already arrived and its good enough, its a bit plasticky but otherwise is absolutely solid :)
Click to expand...
which Topton unit are you going for?
 
lmfy2k said:
which Topton unit are you going for?
Click to expand...
"4xi226-V 2.5G 12th Gen Intel Firewall Mini PC"

In terms of configuration I've picked the N100 unit with no RAM or SSD since I can supply these myself and they often charge over the odds for some no name brand if you buy them as a bundle.

I checked various reviews (HomeNetworkingGuy and Serve The Home have some great in depth breakdowns of the hardware) and the N100 seemed to be the sweet spot in terms of budget, performance and idle power consumption, especially with lots of OPNSense functionality being single core only.
 
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GregI said:
Asus TUF-AX6000

£162 with OpenWRT support (potential £25 Asus rate my gear promotion also bringing it to £137). Likely also getting a fork of Asus merlin. Very rare you will get a router that has a choice of 3 different firmwares (Asus Stock, Asus Merlin and OpenWRT). Probably the router to tide over till wifi 7 if you're in the market now. Can also do SQM Cake at ~3 Gbps. A complete monster.

If you're feeling adventurous the GL-MT6000. It's basically a TUF-AX6000 on steroids. Upgrades RAM to 1GB and has a fork of OpenWRT installed. Had early bird price of around £100. Can be had for about £135 now.
Click to expand...

Does the ASUS TUF Ax6000 support VLAN?
 
TechMinerUK said:
"4xi226-V 2.5G 12th Gen Intel Firewall Mini PC"

In terms of configuration I've picked the N100 unit with no RAM or SSD since I can supply these myself and they often charge over the odds for some no name brand if you buy them as a bundle.

I checked various reviews (HomeNetworkingGuy and Serve The Home have some great in depth breakdowns of the hardware) and the N100 seemed to be the sweet spot in terms of budget, performance and idle power consumption, especially with lots of OPNSense functionality being single core only.
Click to expand...
I went with the N305, and have OPNSense running under ESXi, with just two vCPU's assigned. works like a charm.
 
TopTop are decent appliances and the build quality is fine (it's just a few metal bits screwed together after all), just check the thermal paste as the one I bought was swimming in the stuff and it was overheating. You are limited on support options if bought through the usual Chinese sites.

If you want UK support there are other options such as Minisforum, a SFF vendor PC from eBay etc. Or build your own SFF PC.

You could then run ESXi (I work for VMware so I'm biased) and try out OPNsense, Sophos XG, OpenWRT, Untangle etc. And run other VMs/containers on the same box such as Home Assistant, Adguard Home etc.
 
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