Hardware advice, non wifi router

After some advice.

I'm currently on Virgin 600M, I have 2 Unifi ac-lite AP's and a 24 port gigabit switch.

I'm looking for a new router that hasn't got wifi (no point just to disable wifi), but is fast enough for the current connection, and for any future upgrades (CityFibre are building out locally).

With 3 teenagers and probably upto 20 devices online, wired and wireless, I work from home using the usual VPN, teams, teamviewer etc. I need something that will not be stressed!

I've got a Ubiquiti edgerouter, but its struggling at times when everyone is online (gaming etc). Done the hardware offloading etc, but its still slower. I've got a samknows whitebox and it's only getting 4-500 Mb with the edgerouter, with the hub3 its 600-670Mb.

I was looking at Mikrotik hEX S, anyone have any experience of one? I dont really need PoE, but would be nice. I'm intending to add some IP CCTV cameras, probably wired.

Cheers

Phil

I don't have an answer, but one additional point to consider is PPPoE. It uses more CPU to NAT and then encapsulate every packet than it does to just NAT.

As a wholesale network I am assuming ISPs on the CityFibre FTTP network would require PPPoE as they do on the Openreach network FTTP. One of the oddities of Virgin is that the network only connects to one ISP so no requirement for encapsulation.

The website Small Net Builder often does performance tests including WAN to LAN of various routers. I haven't looked recently, but worth a check.

The Mikrotik hEX is basically the same as an Edgerouter X.

I would suggest the Ubiquiti ER-4 which is more than capable of routing 1 Gbps through a PPPoE connection.

I've actually got a ERpoe-5, max throughput was 300Mb ish. Ive been on the ubiquiti forums and its about right, even with hardware offloading. Once anything else is enabled its even slower.

It gets VERY hot, I had a fan running next to it, apparently its normal!

If you are happy with crafting configurations the non-wireless Mikrotik RB4011 has been reported as easily handling gigabit throughput, the RB3011 tops out at around 600Mbps.

Ubiquiti have a track record of abandoning product lines,or announcing short end-of-life/end-of-support dates, so that is something to consider. They seem to have lost their original design and support teams and seem intent on pushing their idea of what people want to market, rather than what people actually want - I suspect that some of the EdgeRouter/EdgeSwitch product lines will be dropped in favour of the UNMS-managed routers and switches currently in development.

On a CityFibre connection I've recently had installed I use pfSense router that I built myself.
This may be something you could look into.
Thanks Dan

In reply to a post by tdw42:

They seem to have lost their original design and support teams and seem intent on pushing their idea of what people want to market, rather than what people actually want - I suspect that some of the EdgeRouter/EdgeSwitch product lines will be dropped in favour of the UNMS-managed routers and switches currently in development.

I tend to agree and on the access point front, frankly underwhelmed by their WiFi6 AX product releases. The UAPnanoHD successor is just not up to snuff. Disappointed in them.

I can recommend OPNSense for the software and you can choose hardware to meet your requirements.
For 1gbit I would look at a Protectli 4 port device but it will run on pretty much any x86 hardware - https://protectli.com/vault-4-port/

Thanks for the advice.

I've been looking at PF Sense, but the setup looked a bit daunting!

Ive got an old i3-2400 PC, Ive loaded PFSense, need to configure it and get another network card I think?

Ill have another look once I have some more time!

Cheers

It is simpler than it looks, it can be complicated when using additional packages.
I'd recommend a NIC like this and to not use the onboard NIC.

NIC

Thanks
Dan

Great thanks.

Ive got a 2 port gigabit NIC already!

Ill give it a go.

Cheers

+1 for pfSense

The setup isn't too bad, as most things don't need changing. The beauty though is once you know your way around pfSense, even if you later upgrade to some different hardware, you just put pfSense back on it and can even restore the configuration. So it's a learning curve you only need to do once.

Have you considered moving to a faster edgerouter model? The 5-POE only has a 500Mhz CPU, wheras the ER-4 has a 1Ghz CPU. Or there's the ER-12 if you want to stick to a model with an internal switch.

https://www.ui.com/edgemax/comparison/