Access Point (only) replacement for RT-AX86U

[alphatrianguli]

Dear SNB forum members

I have been using a RT-AX86U for some months in full router mode and I was generally very satisfied with it - as I've always been with ASUS network devices.

I've now replaced the routing part with a OPNsense firewall and the RT-AX86U was now "degraded" to a "Access Point" only. While of course the RT-AX86U performs just fine only as a AP, I could imagine, that its a bit of a "waste" of only using it as a AP and I'm thinking of replacing/selling it for something more suited as a "AP only".

How do you guys see this, do you have recommendations?

Best regards from Switzerland!

 

[Logi]

Dear SNB forum members

I have been using a RT-AX86U for some months in full router mode and I was generally very satisfied with it - as I've always been with ASUS network devices.

I've now replaced the routing part with a OPNsense firewall and the RT-AX86U was now "degraded" to a "Access Point" only. While of course the RT-AX86U performs just fine only as a AP, I could imagine, that its a bit of a "waste" of only using it as a AP and I'm thinking of replacing/selling it for something more suited as a "AP only".

How do you guys see this, do you have recommendations?

Best regards from Switzerland!

What appliance/hardware are you using with OPNsense? I am planning to do something similar

 

[alphatrianguli]

What appliance/hardware are you using with OPNsense? I am planning to do something similar

I am using a "MSI Cubi N ADL" (CUBI N ADL-009BEU) mini PC with 4GBs of RAM and a 256GB SSD and which has two gigabit NICs - enough for my bandwidth of 500/50.

That device is a good "bang for the buck", costs only around 200 USD and since I had RAM and SSD laying around, those were all the costs I had. OPNsense is open source and free.

 

[L&LD]

You'll be hard-pressed to find better WiFi than what Asus provides in AX-class hardware.

Not only will you spend money you may also get (possibly) worse (WiFi).

Sunk costs should not be counted (twice) in future (purchase) decisions.

 

[alphatrianguli]

You'll be hard-pressed to find better WiFi than what Asus provides in AX-class hardware.

Not only will you spend money you may also get (possibly) worse (WiFi).

Sunk costs should not be counted (twice) in future (purchase) decisions.

Thanks for the info. Thats what I thought so, the AX86U is quite impressive with its performance. Also, I bought it used for around 140 USD, which is quite a good price for almost new device I guess.

 

[Tech9]

Your problem with RT-AX86U is the lack of VLANs support. Creating a simple Guest Network on it in AP Mode will be a challenge. What is available in GUI for Guest Network has no separation from the main network. Business class 4-stream AX access point will be more expensive than this home router. You have to decide what you want to do. A home router is cheaper, but has limited functionality. A good access point is expensive, but will offer more configuration options.

 

[Adooni]

I had very similar situation. I moved to OPNsense and Asus AX86U was to much for AP wi-fi and I replace it with Cudy WR3000 v1 (do not get scared - this is very small router). They have very good stock firmware and own version of OpenWRT but I put original OpenWRT on it. Wi-fi range is better now compering to AX86U - Idea was to work more with OpenWRT as for OpenWRT sky is the limit.

but now I am planning to change OPNsense to new Tomato64 (I was wating for x64 version for miniPC of tomato firmware) and Cudy WR3000v1 will stay as AP point.

 

[alphatrianguli]

I had very similar situation. I moved to OPNsense and Asus AX86U was to much for AP wi-fi and I replace it with Cudy WR3000 v1 (do not get scared - this is very small router). They have very good stock firmware and own version of OpenWRT but I put original OpenWRT on it. Wi-fi range is better now compering to AX86U - Idea was to work more with OpenWRT as for OpenWRT sky is the limit.

but now I am planning to change OPNsense to new Tomato64 (I was wating for x64 version for miniPC of tomato firmware) and Cudy WR3000v1 will stay as AP point.

Interesting. Why do you want to move away again from OPNsense? Will have a look at that WR3000v1, thanks.

 

[alphatrianguli]

I had very similar situation. I moved to OPNsense and Asus AX86U was to much for AP wi-fi and I replace it with Cudy WR3000 v1 (do not get scared - this is very small router). They have very good stock firmware and own version of OpenWRT but I put original OpenWRT on it. Wi-fi range is better now compering to AX86U - Idea was to work more with OpenWRT as for OpenWRT sky is the limit.

but now I am planning to change OPNsense to new Tomato64 (I was wating for x64 version for miniPC of tomato firmware) and Cudy WR3000v1 will stay as AP point.

That is exactly also the problem, you cant do a VLAN segmentation of the network with the AX86u, thats a shame.

 

[Adooni]

I gave AX86U as main router to family - from my perspective AX86U as a AP wi-fi was like wasting or router power. With OpenWRT now I see what wi-fi can do and how it should be setup.

I do not have any issues with OPNsense It work in my home 2015 but I start with tomato in 2006 and I am still using it in a lot locations (not commercial). In one location I had tomato for 5y w/o reboot (I know no update, not a safe solution) but was rock stable.
For me tomato it is easier to setup than OPNsense and it is more user friendly. limitation was that only old HW was available for it with access to x64 there is not limitation. Typical home router for me is just for wi-fi now but even this can be replaced with dedicated AP.
For tomato64 you can add docker and then sky is the limit to build power efficient solution router with NAS and torrent.

 

[coxhaus]

but now I am planning to change OPNsense to new Tomato64 (I was wating for x64 version for miniPC of tomato firmware) and Cudy WR3000v1 will stay as AP point.

Why tomato64? Is it a newer version? The old tomato was running on an old kernel.
Who owns the rights to tomato now?
I ran it on an old original Linksys back when wireless first came out, 802.11b. It was reliable back then.

 

[alphatrianguli]

I gave AX86U as main router to family - from my perspective AX86U as a AP wi-fi was like wasting or router power. With OpenWRT now I see what wi-fi can do and how it should be setup.

I do not have any issues with OPNsense It work in my home 2015 but I start with tomato in 2006 and I am still using it in a lot locations (not commercial). In one location I had tomato for 5y w/o reboot (I know no update, not a safe solution) but was rock stable.
For me tomato it is easier to setup than OPNsense and it is more user friendly. limitation was that only old HW was available for it with access to x64 there is not limitation. Typical home router for me is just for wi-fi now but even this can be replaced with dedicated AP.
For tomato64 you can add docker and then sky is the limit to build power efficient solution router with NAS and torrent.

Interesting. But since I already have a separate server to handle download clients and a NAS for storage, I have no need for anything like this.