Need advice on purchase / issue

[wlords34]

Just found this forum and wow i should have been a member awhile ago. Long story short / my asus rt-ac66U black knight has been on the fritz and i'm pretty sure the hardware is just failing. (flashed it 3-5 was on merlin dd-wrt, flashed back to factory, tried dd-wrt, flashed back to merlin) Either way my internal devices have continually had problems, apps not working / loading images, printing issues from cloud...etc..etc.. getting worse it seems. Multiple times straight up internets not working and the ol hard reboot.

So in feeling this is hardware since the firmware has been flushed a few times I guess it's time to upgrade.

ASUS rt-86U vs Netgear Nighthawk 7000p I think are the newest models out, below $200 which i'm ok with.
I think i'm a little above average user in that my home network is a little more custom. I want to vlan out my lab / IOT devices. Streams to multiple wireless devices for kids, cord cutters... etc..

Am i right these are the latest two models i should be comparing? Thoughts are appreciated.

 

[lovan6]

Both Asus RT86U and Nighthawk 7000P are good starting point with 3rd party firmware. If you are thinking of doing some vlans, IOT and streaming devices and complete control, I would advice for a wired router, manage switch and access points.

I would check Asus power supply because they are prone to bad capacitors resulting to flaky behavior. Heat and dust inside the router also behaves differently after running them for several years.

If your budget is around $200, you can build a decent starter using your Asus router as access points.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-T620-Pl...CA-2GHz-16GB-F-4GB-R-F5A61AA-ABA/192677954558

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-In...haoYZK:sc:USPSPriority!94545!US!-1:rk:10:pf:0

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008ABLU2I/?tag=snbforums-20

Optional

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015PRCBBI/?tag=snbforums-20


DIY

 

[Testscript]

More information about HP T620 Plus:
- HP T620 Plus + 4port gigabit NIC for $117 OR LESS + shipping. Good for network appliance/pfsense/etc
- Some information about HP T620 Plus Flexible Thin Client machines for network appliance builds...


Another thread something similar:
- Best $200+ dollar router? | SmallNetBuilder Forums

 

[wlords34]

Both Asus RT86U and Nighthawk 7000P are good starting point with 3rd party firmware. If you are thinking of doing some vlans, IOT and streaming devices and complete control, I would advice for a wired router, manage switch and access points.

I would check Asus power supply because they are prone to bad capacitors resulting to flaky behavior. Heat and dust inside the router also behaves differently after running them for several years.

If your budget is around $200, you can build a decent starter using your Asus router as access points.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-T620-Pl...CA-2GHz-16GB-F-4GB-R-F5A61AA-ABA/192677954558

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-In...haoYZK:sc:USPSPriority!94545!US!-1:rk:10:pf:0

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008ABLU2I/?tag=snbforums-20

Optional

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015PRCBBI/?tag=snbforums-20


DIY

Thank you so much for the advice. I like the idea of a small managed switch for $35. I'll be implementing.

 

[microchip]

I recommend the R7800 if you go for NETGEAR. Far less problems than the other models (granted, there were a few issues on the past 2 versions of its firmware, but they have been largely solved). The R7800 is Qualcomm Atheros-based (which I personally prefer) and has 3rd party firmware options that are solid (Voxel, DD-WRT and OpenWrt)

 

[coxhaus]

If you are going wired the Cisco RV340 router is under $200. It will handle your VLANS and it has a good GUI. I run a RV340 router.

 

[Xentrk]

I currently have an old Win 7 PC I converted to pfSense. pfSense really hits my use case buttons - AES-NI for improved OpenVPN performance and pfBlockerNG for creating lists I use for Selective Routing.

@sfx2000 suggested I look at Aaeon and Lanner offerings. Recently, I have been looking at these two models for my next upgrade since I have fiber to the home. They have SFP ports for fiber connections.

Aaeon fws-2273
Lanner nca-1510

I currently have an ISP supplied modem/router with a GPON connector. I have the ISP place the modem/router in bridge mode. I then run an ethernet cable from one of the LAN ports to the WAN port of the pfSense appliance for WAN connectivity. Since the two models I listed above have SFP ports, it should allow me to eliminate the ISP supplied Fiberhome modem/router. I can then connect the fiber cable directly to the Aaeon or Lanner.

But I need confirmation that the SFP connection is the same as the GPON. Hard to tell from the pictures.

Here is the SFP port photo from Lanner. It is the same for the Aaeon model. Note the "tab" part on the top of the port.

This is a pic of the fiber connector on the cable coming to my house. On the top side (which is the left side in the photo), there is a "raised line" that runs the length of the connector and needs to be aligned with the "top notch slot" on the PON connector on the Fiberhome. What gives me pause is I don't see the "top notch slot" on the SFP port above. But note the "tab" part on top of the SFP port. My guess is this part is flexible and will allow the "raised line" on the fiber cable connector to lock into the SFP port.

Plugged into Fiberhome modem/router

Picture of GPON port. Note the "notch" on top of the port. Is the "tab" part of the SFP port above fulfilling that

If the SFP ports on the two models I list above are not compatible with the fiber connector, then I can purchase the sister models that have don't have the SFP ports and continue to daisy chain from the ISP supplied modem/router to the appliance.

 

[coxhaus]

When I did fiber many years ago you just had to match single mode or multi-mode and the diameter of the fiber. Sometimes you had long range and short range. So you would buy a module which plugs in to support your fiber type. I am not sure about PON. Since PON looks like it is both transmit and receive because there only seems to be 1 strand. Usually with fiber there is transmit and receive which are separate fibers.

So I wonder if PON is half duplex since it runs with 1 strand?

 

[sfx2000]

So I wonder if PON is half duplex since it runs with 1 strand?

If I recall - it's full duplex WDM 1490 nm downlink, 1310 nm uplink, and 1550 for alternate downlink services..

 

[Xentrk]

I changed my search parameters and think I found the answer to my question. The GPON fiber Connector I have looks like the SC Connector pictured on the right below. From pictures I am seeing on the internet, the SFP port uses the LC Connector pictured on the left.

I'll have to continue to use the ISP supplied modem/router for the fiber connection, then use an Ethernet cable from a LAN port to the Ethernet WAN port on the appliance. Perhaps I can ask ISP to change the connector? hmmm...

Reference
https://www.ad-net.com.tw/16-types-fiber-optic-connectors-choose/

 

[coxhaus]

In the old days we call SC, stab and click. The round ones were ST, stab and twist.

I guess you know you need to buy a module for SFP ports for the type of fiber you are going to run.

 

[Xentrk]

Did a CPU benchmark search and come across a site that compares two CPUs. Looks like I am better off staying with my current build using the Intel i5 3450 when compared to the newer builds from Netgate, Lanner and Aaeon that use the Intel Celeron N3350.

https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-3450-vs-Intel-Celeron-N3350/m161vsm197164

I also got a visual on the SFP port connection in action on the YouTube video from Lawrence Systems reviewing the Netgate XG 7100.

 

[sfx2000]

Did a CPU benchmark search and come across a site that compares two CPUs. Looks like I am better off staying with my current build using the Intel i5 3450 when compared to the newer builds from Netgate, Lanner and Aaeon that use the Intel Celeron N3350.

The intel N-series will always face opportunities to improve compared to the big i-Series cores - that's a known... depends on the benchmarks run perhaps. Rangely and Denverton - they actually do fairly well at comms, as they are intended for that purpose...

Anyways - working on something new again - not related to the old science project - which did well on Marvell, FWIW - smaller scope this time for a different application, and yes, it's linux based.

 

[L&LD]

sfx2000, can you tell us what your new project is? Any further details on the old projects?

 

[sfx2000]

sfx2000, can you tell us what your new project is? Any further details on the old projects?

New project is focused on IOT specifically... not going to share details there at the moment...

Old Project - sold off for ARMv7/v8 - kept in touch with them, kept license to reuse (x86/amd64) for other things, which I did - and there we were pretty fast with userland drivers and routing - 10G/40GB links with SD-WAN and OpenStack hooks for orchestration...

Looking back - I'm a bit surprised - the cafeole platform was actually pretty scalable - new owners are using this for edge computing in Asia, mostly in the JP/KR/TW markets with multi-purpose CPE/Gateways.