January 8, 2022

My home network - shopping for a new router

My current router is an old WRT54 running the stock firmware. As far as I know the Wifi radio section is broken and I have it diabled. But this thing does work. It has a designated ethernet port for the WAN side (to the cable modem) and integrates a 4 port ethernet switch, which I use as follows:
  1. Cable to workshop
  2. Cable to guest house
  3. Cable to kitchen wifi
  4. ??
The only thing I hate about this thing is the stock firmware. I was once running OpenWRT on another WRT54 and it was much much nicer with lots of information that is unavailable with the firmware that Linksys shipped with the WRT54.

New router

I don't really need Wifi, but that seems to be all but universal on even cheap routers these days. I do need the 4 port switch (well, I could add a switch of my own alongside, but why do that? The critical thing is that it should run OpenWRT. There are a myriad of choices, even products that ship with OpenWRT installed.

For whatever reason, I find myself looking at older TP-Link routers. I am looking to spend under $50, maybe even more like $25. This is for no particular reason, but why spend money if you don't have to.

I see TP-LINK Archer C6 AC1200 routers on Ebay for $30 or so. It is not clear at all if this is the same as what is listed as C6 v2 or C6 v3, which have clear support for OpenWRT (or vice versa). Also there is an older "C6" which advertises an 867 Mb/s transfer rate, then there is a newer AC1200 which advertises 1200 Mb/s. This suggests that indeed the AC1200 is a distinctly different unit and may not be supported by OpenWRT. This does merit care, and I see a claim that the c1200 series is NOT supported by OpenWRT. To add to the confusion, there is a C5 AC1200 also, which may be supported.

I found an Ebay listing for an AC1750 version 2.0 for $30 and bought it.

Feedback? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's Computer Info / tom@mmto.org