Cheap AC router with custom firmware support

[Vishnu Rao]

Looking for a cheap wireless AC router with custom firmware support like dd-wrt or tomato, Merlin etc. budget is preferred less than 30$. Also considering refurb units.

This is for a friend. I personally have a RT-AC1900P. So I like the availability of custom firmwares.

 

[degrub]

Have you checked the compatibility pages for your favorite firmware ?
Then check the used equipment listings and see what is cheapest.

 

[Vishnu Rao]

Have checked a few. But the question is what do the knowledgeable folks recommend?

 

[Trip]

$30 USD is basically MAP (minimum retail price) on the lowest-end wireless N, 100Mb hardware. You're not going to find an AC-capable wifi AIO with open-source capability (so, a Broadcom or Atheros SoC) for much less than $60 USD, or thereabouts. Maybe $40-50 if it's special sale item occurring periodically, but I wouldn't waste the time looking too hard.

I would do a Linksys EA6900 for $60 on Amazon and run the most stable branch of DD-WRT available. Or the T-Mobile branded Asus AC-1900 for $9 more, running the latest Merlin for stability. I'd probably lean towards the Asus, but either should suffice.

 

[degrub]

Look at the router finder pages and the find a refurb somewhere. At that budget there will not be too many options.

 

[CaptainSTX]

. Or the T-Mobile branded Asus AC-1900 for $9 more, running the latest Merlin for stability. I'd probably lean towards the Asus, but either should suffice.

Not possible or easily possible at least to load other than ASUS firmware anymore on T-Mobil branded routers. The firmware for the T-Mobil branded routers hasn't been upgraded for months. They still work fine as APs where having updated firmware isn't important.

 

[MichaelCG]

The Asus RT-AC66U is in that price range used, but it is far from being useful and secure in the long run. The firmware options are limited with I think only John's fork being maintained anymore. Performance will be limited as well due to the limited CPU behind them. It will service a 100Mbps connection fine.

 

[Trip]

Not possible or easily possible at least to load other than ASUS firmware anymore on T-Mobil branded routers. The firmware for the T-Mobil branded routers hasn't been upgraded for months. They still work fine as APs where having updated firmware isn't important.

Interesting... and disappointing. No wonder they're unloading them left and right on eBay, Amazon, etc. A shame too... to have perfectly decent hardware go to waste (recycle?). The Linksys EA6900 for $60 with DD-WRT would be a decent choice for the OP, then.

 

[Vishnu Rao]

$30 USD is basically MAP (minimum retail price) on the lowest-end wireless N, 100Mb hardware. You're not going to find an AC-capable wifi AIO with open-source capability (so, a Broadcom or Atheros SoC) for much less than $60 USD, or thereabouts. Maybe $40-50 if it's special sale item occurring periodically, but I wouldn't waste the time looking too hard.

I would do a Linksys EA6900 for $60 on Amazon and run the most stable branch of DD-WRT available. Or the T-Mobile branded Asus AC-1900 for $9 more, running the latest Merlin for stability. I'd probably lean towards the Asus, but either should suffice.

Not possible or easily possible at least to load other than ASUS firmware anymore on T-Mobil branded routers. The firmware for the T-Mobil branded routers hasn't been upgraded for months. They still work fine as APs where having updated firmware isn't important.

I considered the T-mobil version. I had one for while that I had converted to an RT-AC68U. But eventually had to give it off. Don't have the time for it any more.

Thanks for the suggestion on the EA6900. Not a bad option. Lots of refurbs out there.

The Asus RT-AC66U is in that price range used, but it is far from being useful and secure in the long run. The firmware options are limited with I think only John's fork being maintained anymore. Performance will be limited as well due to the limited CPU behind them. It will service a 100Mbps connection fine.

The RT-AC66U is not a great option. Its not supported by Merlin's 382.xx branch

 

[sfx2000]

Looking for a cheap wireless AC router with custom firmware support like dd-wrt or tomato, Merlin etc. budget is preferred less than 30$.

GL-iNet B1300 might be a bit out of your price range - but OpenWRT support...

 

[Vishnu Rao]

Yes, definitely over the budget. But interesting that they have openwrt preinstalled.

One amazon review did complain about being stuck on an older release and newer versions being unstable.

 

[spocko]

The RT-AC66U is not a great option. Its not supported by Merlin's 382.xx branch

True, but it does work well with the john9527 fork, so at least it does have firmware that is still being maintained.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/fork-asuswrt-merlin-374-43-lts-releases-v39e3.18914/

 

[sfx2000]

Yes, definitely over the budget. But interesting that they have openwrt preinstalled.

One amazon review did complain about being stuck on an older release and newer versions being unstable.

The GL-iNet firmware on that device is built on the Qualcomm's QSDK fork - which has the closed source wireless drivers - works well enough, and has mesh support.

The opensource drivers for ath10k are under heavy development, and there are some architecture changes that impact VLAN's for the switched side (again, for the opensource side)

 

[Vishnu Rao]

An update to show closure to this thread. Thanks to all who responded. I finally ended up getting an EA6900 v1.1 on craigslist for a price within the 30$ target.

With default firmware works well. But after looking up instructions on how to get freshtomato I don't know if I made the right decision to get the EA6900. As per this thread it looks like I have to jump through many hoops to get tomato firmware on this router. I wonder if this is the only method to flash an alternative FW on this router. I guess I will have to start another thread on this topic!

 

[psychopomp1]

Might be worth considering a Phicomm K3 for $40-$50. Hardware wise the K3 is on a par with Asus RT-AC88U so its no slouch, with the bonus that you can install OpenWRT on it:

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/phicomm-k3-not-k3c-discussion.49109/