this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2024
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[–] randombullet 71 points 3 weeks ago (14 children)

I still don't understand why this isn't a 2.5G WAN and 2.5G LAN. Is it assuming that people are going to be using it as a router on a stick with a 1G WAN?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 weeks ago

most likely because this device is mainly for wifi use, and/or limitation of the SoC.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 weeks ago

You want your $90 wi-fi router to do what now?

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[–] [email protected] 51 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Just pulled the trigger, only had European plugs in stock. I've got adapters so np. I'm getting it to replace my Raspberry Pi router that I've been using for a few years.

*Edit, I should say I'm a huge fan openWRT despite the fact that 15 years ago I managed to brick my linksys router so bad it actually caused sparks to shoot out the ethernet jacks. I flashed the wrong model firmware.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

That's amazing, for software to be able to cause that!

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 weeks ago

Power over Ethernet is a helluva drug

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago

And also highly unlikely in the way described lol

[–] [email protected] 35 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Of course, I just bought a new router, your all welcome

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Thank you for your sacrifice.

Which router did you go for, by the way?

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I'm glad it's open hardware as much as open software, but I think I'll wait to see what the OpenWrt Two looks like.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 weeks ago

This is cool

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

The next router I’m getting!

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

There are use cases for this router, but please don't get the plastic clone sold by the same Chinese company that assembles the real thing. (The plastic clone costs a third, but doesn't have detachable antennas and doesn't accept mainstream OpenWRT because it uses an almost unknown CPU.)

Myself, when I need a high capability router (for me "capability" typically means "range") I turn towards a Raspberry Pi and Alfa AWUS1900 wireless card. Yes, it lacks in throughput (USB is a severe bottleneck)... but with a bit of tweaking, you can talk out to 2 kilometers if terrain allows. :)

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

If only it were a useful hardware configuration.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 weeks ago (12 children)

So, how is this any better than the Router Mini PCs you can find in Aliexpress (random example)?

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

Most of those run OpenWrt or PfSense. Assuming the hardware is well-supported by the open source software it runs, there's a argument to be made that there's no difference. There's always the risk of them using some weird chipset that won't be supported in a year's time. The only difference is that the OpenWrt One is specifically designed for OpenWrt with well-supported hardware.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Isn't RAM like the biggest bottleneck in routers causing bufferblaot and packet loss?

How does the article not mention how much RAM this device has?

[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (3 children)

Packet loss occurs when a router has to drop some packets because the buffer to store them is running out because the link where they are supposed to go is overloaded.

Bufferbloat is the issue where you make your queues too deep, i.e. you allocate too much RAM to buffering, while the cause of the buffering still exists, so the deeper queue just fills up anyway, so you haven't improved anything, and have induced extra latency on the packets that do make it trough.

Deep buffers can help in situations where you have a step down in link speed, but only bursty and not sustained overloading of the slower output link.

The big bottleneck in router hardware is more about TCAM or HBM memory used to store the FIB of the global routing table. Since the table has grown so much the devices with less high speed memory can't hold the table anymore, and if they start swapping the FIB to normal memory your routing performance goes to shit.

So not all of your concerns seem to apply to this class of device, but of course you're right, The Register should have mentioned the RAM.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)
[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (9 children)

What's the point of having 1G on WAN and 2.5G on LAN? Traffic won't hit the LAN port until it's routed to the Internet, yet the WAN port is the bottleneck.

Edit: Seems like I switch up the port speed but my point still holds as the bittleneck still exist.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (4 children)

The LAN and WAN ports aren't labelled as such on the device and can be configured to do anything. The 2.5Gb port can also be used to take in PoE so for a lot of people - myself included - this will be the only port that's actually used, or at least the port that will be used the heaviest. The reason, I think, that it's configured as WAN by default is so that the LAN port can be used to plug a laptop in directly without disconnecting the whole network.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago

This person knows openwrt haha.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Tranfering between devices on the LAN.

Edit: Wait, no, it's the other way around. 2.5 on WAN, and just a single 1GB LAN port. That absolutely doesn't make sense.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago

This is a common setup for WiFi routers, where the idea is that most traffic will be on WiFi.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Mmh only two Ethernet ports? I guess it’s for people who use mostly wifi only?

[–] [email protected] 59 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It's just the router, I guess. Provide your own switch for more ports.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Exactly this. With VLAN tagging you can plug that single 2.5Gb connection into a 48-port managed switch and effectively have up to 47 different NICs if that's what floats your boat. They'd all share the 2.5Gb but that's still more than a lot of small networks need.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It’s a router, not a switch.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (3 children)

Well the router I use today has 4 ports (and a built in modem for that matter, but I don’t use that).
I understand I can use a switch, but that means I’ll have to buy a switch in addition to this to replace my router.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Which is not a bad thing, it’s more unix if you will. Router is a router, switch is a switch.

You provide your own switch and you choose the features: port count, port speed, vlan, etc — or get a 10€ switch if you don’t care. When a port breaks you replace the switch alone.

Multifunction tools are generally a tradeoff where you buy immediate convenience and pay with more ewaste and more money in the long run.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] randombullet 19 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

The audience of this router most likely already has a standalone switch within their network.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

GTFO, clicking on "buy now" two times results in some shop which has "aliexpress" as the official partner.

This can't be a product from the sources mentioned, can it?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago

It says its a BananaPi product, and BananaPi uses aliexpress as a distributor according to https://www.banana-pi.org/web/index.php?topclassid=155&classid=155&lanstr=en&wap=1

checks out afaik

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago

The price is right for sure, but it's still sad they didn't shoot for wifi 7. It was a pretty big leap in latency reduction.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

It would be nice if they would make one with 4 or more LAN ports with at least one of them 2.5G and no WiFi. I need multiple access points to get enough coverage. The built in WiFi is useless to me since it won't integrate nicely with Unifi.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 weeks ago

You can hook it to a switch and a Wireless AP.. Now your networking is modular.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago

I love the specs and the pricing. Will definitely check it out.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago

Is it available only though aliexpress?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago
[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago

I need this router.

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