[ale] [OT] Wifi router time again

[DJ-Pfulio]

On 12/8/19 10:12 AM, Jeff Hubbs wrote:
> Yeah, for something like zero seconds. I've got a long history of using
> Linux systems to do things other folks spend more money to do but get
> less value and give away more control, so I don't feel like absolutely
> everything I deal with must be something I system-integrate and build up
> from bare metal.

My concern isn't about building hardware, it is about having a router
that can easily be maintained beyond the 3-5 yr consumer router upgrade
cycle. Use any hardware you like.  There are pre-built distros, but the
trick is to use a distro that gets supported forever, by trustworthy
teams, and is compatible with the hardware selected.

If that is a commercial device and you can live with the firmware update
cycles, fantastic.  Mikrotik and Ubiquiti have a track record doing
that, but be aware that Ubiquiti started collecting data and sending it
off-site, if you care about that at all.
Ref: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21430997

I ran dd-wrt for a long time on multiple different devices, but
eventually, the team packaging the firmware for my specific routers
decided "new" was needed and stopped. Router people, volunteers, do get
tired of old equipment, so I'm just thankful they did support it for the
5 yrs on each.

Since moving to a purpose-built routing device with an amd64 CPU and
onboard intel NICs, I don't worry about support being dropped.
OpnSense, pfSense, or I could roll my own Linux router distro, if I like
(which I don't).  See, I don't need to hack together software, settings,
for a solution any more than you.  But I am willing to put 4 screws into
a case to attach an SBC, dd firmware onto an SDHC/CF/SSD, and boot up a
nice router distro for quick config before using the web-interface provided.

As for wifi, I've never wanted a router in the same place that I need
the wifi here. Wifi using PoE looking like a smoke detector in the
ceiling near the center of the house is where I need it, not in a corner
room, sitting on a rack.  Wifi standards change about 3x faster than I
want to change my router, especially if the router firmware is
maintained effectively indefinitely.

I want to solve HW stuff 10-15 yrs at a time, not every 5 yrs over and over.

Anyway, that's more detailed thoughts about all this.

>>> Are there any models in particular you suggest or suggest avoiding? I 
>>> won't use the USB-based file-serving ability as I've got a file server 
>>> for that. As a point of reference, the Netgear Nighthawk AX4 at $200 
>>> pre-discount is as much as I care to spend.
>> Have you considered getting off the 5-yr consumer router upgrade wheel and going with a router that can be supported 10+ yrs using BSD or Linux as the base?
>>
>> There are reasonable solutions for $150 that will run 64-bit Linux or BSD-based router distros.