[GTALUG] Router advice sought

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Mon, Jan 30, 2017 at 08:35:57AM -0500, Stewart Russell via talk wrote:
> So my WRT-350N decided to stop being a router last night and to start being
> a brick instead. All ports and WiFi appear to be dead. People have
> discussed the latest and greatest here - so what's the best basic router
> for:
> 
> * enough wireless range for a smallish two storey house;

I have my router in the basement and it works fine on the main floor
and upstairs.

> * able to connect and configure about 15 wireless clients and 4 wired (one
> wired in a DMZ)
> 
> * probably going to stick with stock firmware, as the Linksys one on the
> WRT-350N was pretty much okay for the last 8 years; and
> 
> * would be nice if it wasn't unholy expensive, was available retail today,
> and was likely to last at least another 8 years.
> 
> My network setup is very simple: just internal IPs assigned by MAC address
> via DHCP, and locked in the router. Yes, I manually copy /etc/hosts files
> about: don't judge. It worked fine until the router went kablooie.

DNS is great and all, but if you only have a few machines, then hosts
files do work fine.  I setup local DNS at my parents place, but for some
reason can't seem to get around to doing it at home.  I just type the
IP address. :(

> I'm wondering if I even need a router, though. The Sagemcom box from
> Teksavvy (rented from Bell) has WiFi and four LAN ports. What does having
> my own router do for me?

Well potentially nothing, if the sagecom has all the features you want.

I run with the wifi and router part of my modem disabled because I want
dual band wifi and better performance.  Also I want gigabit switched
ports, not 100MBit (which is what the sagecom has, as does the awful
Cellpipe I am still using).

> Recommendations and advice welcomed. Assume I have no idea what I'm doing
> if you haven't already.

I am currently very happy with my WRT1900ACv2 (aka WRT1900ACS if buying
it now).

Lots of flash, ram, cpu power, good wifi, USB3 and eSataP ports, gigabit
switch, etc.

I must admit that I barely looked at the original firmware since I wanted
to run LEDE on it (essentially openWRT).  LEDE has worked great so far.

Canada computers appears to sell it for $240 currently, or $170 for a
refurbished one.

Someone who really wants options might prefer the WRT3200ACM which
has twice the flash, a slightly more advanced switch chip, and the CPU
clocked about 20% higher as well as a second 5GHz radio for $300.

-- 
Len Sorensen