In search of the perfect OpenWrt router

A router with custom firmware (OpenWrt) is a basic device on my home network, but I am also using it in the business environment as a main device, and all works great.

In the past I used DD-WRT on my routers. Despite that their project is still ongoing, I found it lacking behind current needs.

OpenWrt use strictly depends on the device – router, that I am using. I always choose a device that will work for me and it will not bend under spikes of load.

When I started my experience with OpenWrt, I used quite a cheap device like the Asus RT-AC57U. Quickly I realised, that I need more storage, more RAM and more processing power. I moved to Linksys WRT3200, shortly switched to Linksys MR8300 and went back to Linksys WRT32x (older brother of WRT3200). The WRT3200 is working at my work to this day, as it is a very powerful device.

At home, I decided to import from the US an Askey RT4230W REV6 (called also RAC2V1K) and change the firmware to OpenWrt.

This device, originally from Spectrum, is fitted with 1GB of RAM, 512MB of storage and a Dual-Core processor (Qualcomm Atheros IPQ8065) rated at 1700Mhz.

It also has 1 port of USB 3.0, which is in my opinion a minimum that the router shall have. Buying routers with USB 2.0, especially, when you planning to connect a hard drive through this port, is in my opinion waste of money, not to mention the speed!

These parameters I found to be a bare minimum for advanced users (like me), who want to work with OpenWrt, in a way that is beyond the basic setup.

However, in all of these devices, I found a main flaw, which was WiFi. Asus WiFi was just ok, the Linksys caused a lot of issues and the signal strength and its range were very poor. The Askey (RAC2V1K), due to its construction, has WiFi chips positioned just under the fan (which is at the bottom of it). The cooling process of the whole system causes the WiFi 2.4GHz chip to overheat and fail from time to time.

I decided, that I will not be using WiFi on this, and other of my devices, either with Askey (RAC2V1K) at home or Linksys WRT3200 at work.

My decision to simply disable WiFi on them is also due to other reasons.

Currently, WiFi technology becoming another marketing point for broadband providers. From WiFi 5 to WiFi 6, right now selling point is WiFi 7, even though only a small amount of devices support it and even fewer WiFi routers on the market provide this technology.

My router processing power, storage and memory are enough for the near future, and I don’t want to go and search for OpenWrt that got WiFi 7 but also met all other requirements. This is very difficult and becoming very expensive.

At my work, I am using dedicated WiFi devices to create a mesh network. The main device is connected to the router by a LAN cable. WiFi works independently to OpenWrt but all remain managed from the router end (DHCP). This allows me to upgrade the technology of the WiFi network, when needed, independently of the router. The network, all computers connected via cables, can work uninterrupted for longer.

At home, I made the same approach. Due to the unreliability of Askey (RAC2V1K) WiFi chips, I decided to go with TP-Link RE700X to create my home wireless network (WiFi 6).

I need to admit that TP-Link RE700X met all the expectations thrown at it and reduced the burden of WiFi from my OpenWrt router. It has great speeds and range.

I use different SSIDs (WiFi network names) for 2.4GHz networks and 5GHz networks.

Of course, I have set this device into Access Point Mode and I have disabled DHCP, so all still rely on the OpenWrt to manage the network IP addresses, traffic etc.

At work, WRT3200 have two USB ports, one 2.0 and the other 3.0. I utilise them both, once for 4G backup and the other to connect the APC backup battery.

At home, I just need one port, but it has to be USB 3.0, as I am using it to incorporate extra storage in my local network.

Most of the devices that I am using at home are connected using a Wireless network. Over the wire, I got only connected to my TP-Link RE700X and Apple TV (however I can move back to Wireless with it). So, apart from the WAN port, I will need at least 1-2 spare LAN ports on my “perfect” router, but even this can be sorted by adding a simple unmanaged switch.

2.5Gigabit Switch like TP-Link TL-SG105-M2 cost £69.99, where Gigabit Network Switch like TP-Link TL-SG105S cost around £16 on Amazon UK.

OpenWrt One

Not far back (29th November 2024), the people behind the OpenWrt project presented their first device dedicated to OpenWrt and called it OpenWrt One.

It is great to see that there is a dedicated device available and in an affordable price range, however, I didn’t find it interesting for me for a few reasons.

It has a Dual Core processor that should provide enough processing power for most users.

I got in past Linksys MR8300 that was equipped with a Quad-Core processor but rated at 717Mhz and its performance (processing power) was poor.

Here is a first lack of this device. 256GB of storage without “obvious” options to extend it, quickly will disappoint users who want to add more packages to it and make their devices work for longer. I noticed when working with WRT3200 (256MB) at work and RAC2V1K (512MB), this will require some compromises. Getting a device that is created in the mind of OpenWrt and has been limited at the start is a bit disappointing. I understand that they want to maintain a good ratio value for money, but still, I doubt this will work for a long time, and I will let you know why.

Theoretically, you can expand that and use other storage options, like through M.2 2242/2230 socket for NVMe SSD (PCIe gen 2 x1).

At least this device is equipped with enough RAM, that satisfy the majority of users yet still, in conjunction with low storage is a shot in the foot at the start.

Another shot into the foot of this device is equipping it with a slow USB port 2.0.

That’s crazy, as even devices like Raspberry Pi incorporated USB 3.0 a while back. Ignoring the WiFi capability of this device (as I described at the start), I don’t see the point for me to invest in OpenWrt One where Raspberry Pi 5 (released on 23 October 2023) will do a better job (and when they, on 9th January 2025, announced model with 16GB RAM).

The device, is not like a typical router, only with two LAN ports, one that will be utilised for the main internet connection (WAN, 2.5Gbit) and the other for local network (1Gbit).

We all used to have at least 5 ports, one WAN and 4 LAN ports. This limitation will throw us into the need to implement a switch if we want to connect more than one device over the LAN cable. Even though this is the compromise that I will understand, advanced users, will have this in place already.

As mentioned, WiFi is not needed for me on the OpenWrt router itself, and I personally, with the current speed of implementation of the new WiFi standards, would strongly suggest dropping Wifi support and the cost of it put towards greater storage and faster USB port.

It’s a shame that OpenWrt One will not be something that I would recommend, however, the hopes are not lost.

One thing worth mentioning here is that OpenWrt One is not officially supported in the Current stable version of OpenWrt 23.05. There are works in progress with version 24.10, which at the time of writing is in the rc5 stage (Release Candidate 5). Not a big issue as I expect 24.10 will be finalised in no time, but that means that the device is released, but not designed do implementation into the production environment yet.

I started to look further for a device that would more likely meet my needs but would not break my budget.

I have always been interested in a company called GL.iNet and their devices that, by standard, are supplied with their software that works based on a bit outdated but modified OpenWrt software (21.02, released on 4th September 2021).

Their devices are widely supported in the OpenWrt community allowing us to put the latest stable version of OpenWrt and making it a great base device for implementation of OpenWrt in production.

However, over the past, the devices (especially the ones in the budget range) dragged behind in their specifications and the one that I found, that could potentially replace my RAC2V1K or WRT3200, was beyond my affordability.

Things changed recently when the company presented some refreshed devices. I am not monitoring their products daily and only when OpenWrt One was released did I search for something that they offer, to find a potentially perfect OpenWrt router.

GL.iNet Brume 2

Brume 2, or GL-MT2500, is not a new device (released October 2022), but when first Release Candidate version of upcoming OpenWrt 24.10 was released, added support for GL.iNet GL-MT2500 point me to check what it is and how much it cost. I was positively surprised but at the same time, I started to question the point of releasing the OpenWrt One device after all.

Brume 2 carries the same processor as OpenWrt One.

Here is a big difference. For OpenWrt and storage of packages, you are equipped with 8GB (8192 MB) storage. Compared to 256MB on OpenWrt One, this is a no-brainer.

This device is equipped with 1GB of DDR4 RAM (1024MB), the same as OpenWrt One.

Compared to OpenWrt One, it has USB 3.0 as opposed to 2.0. That is a huge difference and quite a crucial aspect for people like me, who want to utilise it to connect a USB hard drive for network file storage.

Similar to OpenWrt One, it contains only 2 ports, WAN with 2.5Gbit and LAN with 1Gbit. As mentioned, I will probably require a switch to connect more devices in my network by wire, but that’s not a problem after all (as mentioned earlier).

Brume 2 does not have any WiFi capability, but that’s a benefit for me. As I mentioned at the beginning, with the current state of development of WiFi standards, if I want to move from WiFi 6 (OpenWrt One) to WiFi 7, I will just need to change my TP-Link RE700X rather than replace the whole OpenWrt router.

Interestingly, OpenWrt officially “just” added support to Brume 2 in the upcoming 24.10 where on official website it stated that is working based on OpenWrt 21.02, which is probably directly modified by GL.iNet company for their devices.

I will not be interested in using their software and rather I would like to jump into their hardware once 24.10 becomes a stable version (expect to happen in the following weeks).

As mentioned earlier, when OpenWrt One was releaser, their creators wanted to create an All-In-One device compromising on components to maintain price range.

They added Wifi but sacrificed it with poor storage and a slow USB port. This landed them at a price tag of $89 (approx. £73) after virtually applying a 50% discount, on AliExpress, on the price that was never there!

Brume 2 is available in two versions, one in a plastic case and the other in aluminium alloy.

The aluminium alloy is a bit more expensive, costing £63.90 compared to ABS plastic, which ranges at £50.90 in official store.

Going on budget, £50.90 (even £63.90) is a great price for such a piece of hardware. Even if you need to invest in a Wifi device (like the TP-Link RE700X that I got), still, for the long term, I found it a better approach than investing in OpenWrt One.

Once I decide to move away from WiFi 6 into WiFi 7, I will not need to do anything with my OpenWrt device (Brume 2) and will just replace it with such devices:

• RE800BE (BE19000 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 Range Extender)
• RE655BE (BE11000 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 Range Extender)
• RE550BE (BE9300 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 Range Extender)

Or, being on budget, I will more likely look into:

• RE235BE (BE3600 Dual-Band Wi-Fi 7 Range Extender)

When I started thinking about replacing my RAC2V1K, I was also thinking about the power consumption of my current device. Prices of energy go up so badly, hence every watt saved is crucial.

RAC2V1K is powered by 12V DV 2.5A, the maximum peak usage is 30 watts.

Brume 2 uses a standard USB-C Charger rated at 5V 2A, which is 10 watts maximum needed for the device.

OpenWrt One utilised USB-PD at the rate of 15V 2A, that’s 30 watts.

For now, I am not replacing anything yet, as I am waiting for the stable release of OpenWrt 24.10, but I have a plan already, of what to use (which device) for that purpose.

The year 2025 looks exciting already.

The stable version of OpenWrt 24.10.0 has been released on 6th of february 2025.