Nighthawk R7000

Nice job repurposing old hardware, but one thing to keep in mind is security. Be very sure that the router (your interface between the internet/outside and your intranet/inside network) is still receiving firmware upgrades and is supported by the manufacturer. This ensures any exploits/bugs/etc. tha

DD-WRT is okay, the UI is not as nice but has a lot of very low level options and many service options. Doesn't have ipv6 firewall out of the box on R7000. A big problem is it's very unclear what builds are considered stable. IMO Fresh Tomato is much more polished and better for most people. It also

Is it worth it? Heck yeah, even if you ultimately decide to not use it. The learning itself is worth the trip. Start by checking to see if your "spare" router is compatible. OpenWRT is largely incompatible with Broadcom chipsets. For those, you would have to consider DDWRT, or FreshTomato. For examp

If your current router isn't getting firmware updates anymore, consider upgrading. You can stay with Wifi 5 if you want.. just buy a used router that is compatible with 3rd party firmware like dd-wrt, openwrt or fresh tomato. Then you'll have current firmware on the router with security updates. I'm

Here's a hardware summary: - Netgear GS316EP switches. They're great. - Cable Matters Rackmount 48 port keystone patch panels. - Netgear R7000 Wi-Fi routers. I use them because I already had them on hand. They're fine, but newer devices are probably a better choice now. - OPNsense on a ZimaBoard as

Your router can probably handle more than 200 devices at the same time without sweating. And paying for 1G doesn't mean you would reach 1G exactly. You need to count for loss and everything else. If you get 800 Mbps is the right number, if you can even get 900/950 Mbps even better. I was running an

TLDR: Yes, you could use an older router as an access point with a new router. And if all the routers are from ASUS & support AiMesh you could use them in an AiMesh setup. If new router isn't ASUS, no big deal, you could just connect the other access points via ethernet to the main router. Furthermo

Hmm, not my experience. I have a Netgear Nighthawk R7000 (about 9 years old) that I still use in my wireless network as an access point. It can deliver nearly 400mbps wirelessly (which is the full internet speed I pay for). I have it connected as a wired access point in my network.

I think there are two options you could consider: Cheap Option: Buy an old used router. May or may not work. May last months/years or die/start failing within days/weeks. No way to predict, especially when you don't know the history of the router. If it is 10+ years old, was it used 24x7 the entire

Not sure why your comment was downvoted, but I tossed you an up-vote. I can confirm ASUS AiMesh doesn't like IoT very much (I have an ASUS XT8 system, wired backhaul). Smart plugs/switches don't stay connected, and other times they remain connected fine for weeks. Very aggravating. To fix this I dus