OpenWRT compatible router in 2022

[halfbytecode]

I am looking for a new router that is OpenWRT compatible and has good WiFi range. Initially I was considering TP-Link Archer A7, but it has a single core CPU and also seems outdated being launched a number of years ago.

Now Archer A6 V3 also seems to supported by OpenWRT now. It is dual core, but is more like an entry level router.

I also looked a Asus routers, but ASUS 58U does not really seem to be available now.

Are there any other routers that I can consider, which are OpenWRT compatible and have a good WiFi range?

 

[MrGordon]

Yeah that's in a way true, 1 GB RAM is not really required. My hap ac2 with 256 MB RAM, I've barely seen it using more than 50-75 MB 😅

The hap ac2, I purchased back in 2018 from EuroDK. Almost 5 years now, I don't think there's any hope to get it replaced. Any fix would need to be DIY I guess. Maybe will open it up and see if there is anything obviously wrong. But I will reach out to Mikrotik support and see if they have any suggestions to self repair, they've been helpful in the past, they added support for a Jio LTE device based on my request.

Yeah. the hap ac2 was also super stable, runs for months together without a reboot, until it got messed up

Yeah, it was this Artis DC UPS which was working fine for many months. Then one day the connected devices stopped working, and I was away for a month so couldn't check on it as well. When I got back, the DC UPS was in a power on/off loop, the connected devices turn on for a second and then off. This would have repeated for a month. Luckily my ONT was fine. If I was home, probably wouldn't have been an issue.

Anyway Artis will be replacing the broken UPS, so that's good I guess. But will definitely not leave it running unattended.

 

[albonycal]

Jio LTE?? did they add support for the USB virtual ethernet thing that JioFi has?

 

[MrGordon]

@albonycal Yep, it was the Jio JMR1040 device. It would show up under LTE

v6.44 [stable] is released! - MikroTik

forum.mikrotik.com

*) lte - added support for JioFi JMR1040 modem;

 

[albonycal]

That's nice, so technically it will work for all devices that do the same thing right?

 

[MrGordon]

@albonycal Not necessarily, cause the device probably need to be switched to the right mode. In Linux you can achieve this using usb-modeswitch with the right parameters.And the parameters for each device varies.

btw I reinstalled RouterOS on my hap ac2 using netinstall (which formats the disk and installs it clean). Have put it back to service, hopefully it doesn’t crash.

In other news, the Mi Router 4A Gigabit is available for Rs 1299 today.

Mi Router 4A Gigabit Edition 1200 Mbps Router - Mi : Flipkart.com

Buy Mi Router 4A Gigabit Edition 1200 Mbps Router only for Rs. 2999 from Flipkart.com. Only Genuine Products. 30 Day Replacement Guarantee. Free Shipping. Cash On Delivery!

dl.flipkart.com

 

[albonycal]

It says 1,099 now

 

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[albonycal]

@MrGordon is the Mikrotik stable after the netinstall?

 

[MrGordon]

@albonycal The Rs 1099 price is from a seller which doesn’t seem to ship anywhere. I tried a bunch of PIN codes.

Regarding the Mikrotik, so far so good. Been some 48 hours, no crashes yet. Hopefully the netinstall fixed it.

 

[albonycal]

So looks like it was just a software issue

 

[MrGordon]

Yeah I was suspecting some sort of software corruption. I had tried updating the firmware from the UI a bunch of times already but that didn’t really fix it. I thought doing it from the UI should also flash it properly. But it appears when you do a netinstall, it does a full format and then flashes the firmware. During this process if there are any bad NAND blocks, it would be omitted and spare blocks would be used.
Another thing I did was, instead of restoring from the binary backup, I used the command export and applied that.

So yeah if you see unexplained random crashes or odd behaviours, do a netinstall and flash the latest firmware and then do a restore from an export.