Hi, I hope its appropriate to ask this here, considering this is the most active community closest to this topic (Networking). I am moving places shortly and will need to start from scratch will all networking equipment. Including router and wifi-extenders. Am wondering what the general consencus is around networking gear, what brands are good and homelab friendly? I’ve heard great things about Ubiquity, but know nothing about their products. I do wish to buy a mesh system, as I do have 2 floors and concrete walls in the new place. I am looking for something easy to maintain, yet customizable for when I get more comfortable with playing around with networking equipment.
I have some experience with TP-link + decos, but really dont like their app and default settings. Blocks mullvad.net by default for instance…
If it matters, there will only be 2 people connected normally ~ approx 8 devices or so in total.
- 2 phones,
- 2 laptops (wired if possible)
- 1 desktop comupter (wired)
- server (wired)
- Nvdia shield (wired)
- RaspberriPi (wired)
Am also aiming to buy a 1000/1000 Mbps connection :)
Lemmy know what you would recommend in this scenario, and please feel free to ask about further details if I have missed anything, Thanks as always!
Ideally for your router you want something that runs an open source firmware (OpenWRT, DD-WRT, OPNSense, FreshTomato). Its better because you get a completely unlocked everything you need system with security patches for the hardware’s true lifetime. Every router company stops with the security updates after a few years and then at some point it becomes part of a bot net or one of this mass hack events. Its best not to play in that game and instead run some open source firmware from the outset.
The best way to start is to look at the website for openwrt.org and use their filtering to find a device that supports your needs (at least 5 LAN ethernet ports I guess and some wifi but AC sounds like it will do). The other option is a more typical 4 LAN port router which will give you a lot more options and then add a switch to that, doesn’t sound like you care too much about it being managed or >1gbps so they are also dirt cheap.