IQRouter Pro

[Trip]

It's been a while since I was last on the forums, so I figured a good return would be bringing up a newer option for those looking for a novice-friendly, reliable wired router that can keep the internet congestion-free at up to full duplex 1Gb -- Evenroute's $399 IQRouter Pro (link):

The Pro appears to be based on a Qotom mini PC with a Celeron or late-gen Atom CPU and Intel NICs (maybe 2.5Gb each?), running the latest OpenWRT, skinned with IQRouter's novice-friendly UI, but also allowing full access to OpenWRT's advanced settings, including the ability to add software packages (ie. plugins). As the picture shows, it also comes pre-configured with simple port-based Guest and IoT VLANs, and is pairable with a wireless AP(s), for proper layer 2 segmentation for the entire access layer. A nice option for those looking to graduate from the consumer flake-ware, but who don't want to go through the sweat equity to learn more complex gear.

Curious to hear how you all view something like this, given what's out there right now, and acknowledging the potential target market (which may not necessarily be any of the "pro-sumers" on this forum, per say).

 

[L&LD]

With 2.5GbE Ports or better, this would be ideal to use with an RT-AX86U or GT-AX6000 in AiMesh Router in AP mode.

 

[Tech9]

pairable with a $70 wireless AP they sell

They recommend starting from the cheapest VLAN capable SMB AP basically, Omada EAP225v3.

looking to graduate from the consumer flake-ware

 

[Relative]

(I know, I haven't been here in ages...)

I don't think it has 2.5gb ports, haven't double checked though.

First router I've had I loved since Streamboost was a thing. But do they ever update firmware? Why isn't there a reset button? Why don't they have updated support pages for it? I don't know.

Mine runs a 4th gen i7. Old stuff, but as far as functionality I love this thing.

It is kinda funny they put my thoughts up on the order page without cutting out the swearing.

 

[NXIL]

I don't think it has 2.5gb ports,

It does not, they are all 10/100/1000

 

[RTWZ80]

It's been a while since I was last on the forums, so I figured a good return would be bringing up a newer option for those looking for a novice-friendly, reliable wired router that can keep the internet congestion-free at up to full duplex 1Gb -- Evenroute's $399 IQRouter Pro (link):

The Pro appears to be based on a Qotom mini PC with a Celeron or late-gen Atom CPU and Intel NICs (maybe 2.5Gb each?), running the latest OpenWRT, skinned with IQRouter's novice-friendly UI, but also allowing full access to OpenWRT's advanced settings, including the ability to add software packages (ie. plugins). As the picture shows, it also comes pre-configured with simple port-based Guest and IoT VLANs, and is pairable with a wireless AP(s), for proper layer 2 segmentation for the entire access layer. A nice option for those looking to graduate from the consumer flake-ware, but who don't want to go through the sweat equity to learn more complex gear.

Curious to hear how you all view something like this, given what's out there right now, and acknowledging the potential target market (which may not necessarily be any of the "pro-sumers" on this forum, per say).

After my recent disappointing experience with the GT-AXE16000 and failure to find any viable consumer-grade all-in-one alternatives, I'm leaning towards the 'wired router with AP' route.

Like L&LD said though, I'm looking for a multi gig ethernet port wired solution to go with my GT-AXE11000s in AP mode.

 

[RTWZ80]

Found something which fit the bill regarding multi gig ports.

[OpenWrt Wiki] IEI PUZZLE-M902

openwrt.org

It hit the market in 4Q21 and is from QNAP's parent company IEI.

It's only sold on QNAP Taiwan or QNAP Hong Kong's website though and delivers locally.

Interestingly, QNAP is also launching another version of it packaged with its QuRouter OS but with the same hardware.

QHora-322 | Next-Generation three-port 10GbE SD-WAN Router, providing a secure networking experience for NAS and IoT environments

The QHora-322 enables high-speed connection with 3 x 10GbE and 6 x 2.5GbE ports, while also providing enterprise-grade Mesh VPN networking. You can achieve multi-site LAN development via the cloud through QuWAN Orchestrator, with full software-controlled routing to build a next-generation...

www.qnap.com

 

[Trip]

I'm leaning towards the 'wired router with AP' route [...] looking for a multi gig ethernet port wired solution to go with my GT-AXE11000s in AP mode.

I don't blame you. If you're willing to get your hands a little dirty, how putting you favorite firewall distro (pfSense, OpenWRT, etc) onto one of these little guys:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09PHHXN9V/?tag=snbforums-20

You could then direct-wire to your Asus APs, or perhaps put in a managed PoE switch and purpose-built APs.

 

[RTWZ80]

Nice! I'll go take a look, much cheaper than the QNAP option too.

 

[RTWZ80]

I don't blame you. If you're willing to get your hands a little dirty, how putting you favorite firewall distro (pfSense, OpenWRT, etc) onto one of these little guys:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09PHHXN9V/?tag=snbforums-20

You could then direct-wire to your Asus APs, or perhaps put in a managed PoE switch and purpose-built APs.

Oh do you know if there are 10Gbe port options out there as well? I've 10Gbps fiber broadband so looking to optimize in that aspect.

 

[coxhaus]

Sounds interesting. I like the idea. Not sure I would want an Atom CPU. How about an i3?

 

[AndrewWSN]

My question would be maximum lan - wan through put with Natting. This is what hold back most routers, Has anyone ever tested this ?

 

[AndrewWSN]

Oh do you know if there are 10Gbe port options out there as well? I've 10Gbps fiber broadband so looking to optimize in that aspect.

What are you using now for 10gb fibre?

 

[RTWZ80]

The ISP-provided SFP+ transceiver goes to an RT-AX89X which is linked to a pair of GT-AXE11000s (2.5G wired backhaul) via a Zyxel 10Gbe switch.

 

[Relative]

Anywhatever, I love this thing over my eero 6 SQM and XR1000 options. I don't feel like I'll be buying any further network kit for a long time.

And they're finally updating the firmware soon. It's not live yet for everyone though it's installed on mine.

Upgrading the IQrouter Pro version 3.6.1 firmware to version 4.0.5 will reset the configuration to factory settings. This is due to the 4.x firmware series being based on substantially changed low-level configuration and even a new firewall (fw3 -> fw4).

 

[sfx2000]

Mac Mini with two 10GB thunderbolt 2 interfaces makes for a fine router - and since MacOS supports routing natively without any addtional software...

2014 Mac Mini's on the used market go for about $200 USD these days....

 

[ikjadoon]

They recently updated this model to 2.5 GbE (model 2006) and, if the OP post had the price at $399, it’s now at $299.

After Linksys → Orbi → Synology all died or got permanently flakey, we’ll be trying this out and see how it goes.

With a lone Archer C20 (Fast Ethernet only) at the moment covering 3 floors on a cable 1 Gbps / 40 Mbps connection, it’s still quite useable, but most phones are auto-switching to mobile data.

Pairing the Pro with a TP-Link EAP 660 HD hopefully in the middle of the house.

 

[ikjadoon]

Our review so far: 9.5/10. This thing is blazing fast (Intel J4125; quad-core @ 2GHz w/ 4GB RAM): annihilates Bufferbloat w/ auto-adjusting CAKE + per-host and per-target fairness.

Plus, most impressively: it logged a persistent, but irregular disconnect issue on our Spectrum ISP WAN that drove us crazy, but never figured out. It's the "Customer Dashboard" feature, FWIW.

Sent the IQRouter Pro's nicely formatted logs to Spectrum, they found "power fluctuations at the upstream node" at precisely the same times and it was fixed in a day. The fam is raving about the router and already considering dropping one or two at our offices (just need to learn multi-WAN first, haha, using mw3 on OpenWrt).

I'll write up more about it when I have more time, but at $299 with its clean software stack, ease of use, raw performance, and 5x 2.5 GbE ports (a switch alone like that would cost $100): it's a hefty purchase, but I wouldn't have wanted to spend $299 somewhere else and not have gotten these features.

 

[coxhaus]

Mac Mini with two 10GB thunderbolt 2 interfaces makes for a fine router - and since MacOS supports routing natively without any addtional software...

2014 Mac Mini's on the used market go for about $200 USD these days....

Routing and firewalling are different animals. Are you using one? How are you handling the firewalling.

I am happy with pfsense and a low watt CPU. In my way of thinking there is no reason for a lot of ports on a firewall. You only want one way in and one way out using firewalls.

 

[Smokey613]

My current combination:

Firewalla Gold original ( uses almost 1/2 power of Rev B - 6 watts vs 10 watts )
2 eero Pro 6 in Bridge mode and wireless mesh

After a couple of weeks tweaking the FWG, my network is very stable and everything just works.

It’s boringly reliable