[TriLUG] Router Recommendations

[Igor Partola via TriLUG]

That is sort of what I am suggesting. I haven't been able to find a good
and cheap wired router that can run OpenWRT, so I use their wireless router
with the AP set up as the admin/emergency only access. I then use Ubiquiti
stuff for the main house Wi-Fi.

Separate hardware has two advantages. First, it lets you have more than one
access point. If your house has dead zones, this is a godsend. Or if you
just want more bandwidth. Or more reliability. Ubiquiti stuff is geared
towards enterprise customers but priced like consumer equipment so it's
pretty sweet.

Second, you generally don't need to upgrade your main router as often as
you need to upgrade the Wi-Fi AP's. The jump from Gigabit to 10-GB for
consumer stuff isn't happening quite yet. When it does, you'll have to
upgrade only one device. But if you wanted to upgrade your AP's every 1-3
years, you could, and Ubiquiti stuff will still be worth something as a
trade-in.

My current setup is a TP-Link something or other + TP-Link gigabit 8 port
switch with four ports being POE (Uni-Fi stuff runs off POE; yay single
cable!), and a single Uni-Fi AP. That's enough to cover my house with 5G
802.11n. I am hoping to upgrade to 802.11ac at some point soon.

Oh and of course there was that one time when I saw a flagship Asus router
die if you used too many of its switch's ports. Adding a dedicated switch
solved it all.

Igor