FRITZ!Box 7490

A 7490? FritzBoxs seem to last forever. I also like how long they give software updates to old hardware.

I have a 7590 with my father's old 7490 as a mesh repeater in the basement. (The 7490 has somehow a broken DSL modem it seems, but still works flawless for anything else)

Why not use the 7490 as a repeater and the AX86U as the router (i.e. just swap the hw)? If the landlord’s WiFi signal is WiFi 5-only, then using a WiFi 6 device to receive is just wasteful. Even if the landlord has a WiFi 6 capable router, WiFi 5 may still be a stronger and more stable connection depending on the location of that router and where you can place your repeater

Quick disclaimer: I know my setup is extremely niche and probably not relevant to most people, which is likely why there’s so little information about it online. 😅 So here’s my situation: I’m getting my internet wirelessly from my landlord’s network (long story), and unfortunately, running a physical cable is not an option anytime soon. Here’s the catch: I want to have my own subnet with separate DHCP, so I can assign my own IP addresses and keep my devices isolated — meaning my landlord shouldn’t be able to access my network. At first, I used a Fritz!Box 7490, which technically supports this setup (as far as I understand, that would be called WISP mode), but it only supports Wi-Fi 5, which made the connection very unstable. Then I bought a Fritz!Box 6690, not knowing that all newer Fritz!Boxes no longer support true router mode via Wi-Fi uplink. So I had to return it. Instead, I went with the Asus RT-AX68U due to its many configuration options. It technically supports using Wi-Fi as the internet source, but only in repeater mode, which is very limited — no DHCP server, and I can’t even disable Wi-Fi if I wanted to. My current workaround: I’m running the Asus router in repeater mode, then using its LAN port to connect to my old Fritz!Box, which creates its own subnet. This actually works great and the speed has improved massively (from 50 to 400–500 Mbit/s!) thanks to the Asus router’s better Wi-Fi performance and hardware. BUT: Since everything still passes through the Fritz!Box 7490, I’m still limited to Wi-Fi 5 speeds on my client devices. ⸻ So here’s what I’m asking: • Is there a way to configure the Asus RT-AX68U to work as a fully independent router while getting its internet via Wi-Fi uplink? • Or is there a different router that natively supports this kind of WISP setup with full routing, DHCP, and Wi-Fi 6? Thanks a lot in advance for any help or recommendations!

Thanks you! I even got a Raspberry Pi, which I could use as a DHCP server, as far as I can tell from my brief research. Unfortunately, my ASUS router doesn't support OpenWRT, which others here recommended, so I’m definitely going to look into it further :)

A refurbished Fritzbox. You can get them from a Dealer cheap That's what i am using at home, a 7490, runs stable.

While I dislike that they're hiding a lot of stuff for the sake of user-friendlyness they still have a great ecosystem. E.g. my old 7490 still happily routes my 600mbps fiber connection. I reently added a used 7530AX as wifi repeater and the setup took all of 5 seconds (press button here, press button there, done).

Fair. Then again, I am using a 10 year old router myself (AVM FRITZ!Box 7490)...

You don't have to oversell it, it's a decent router from EU, but very limited, handholding and not very secure.  List of CVEs https://app.opencve.io/cve/?vendor=avm

Both renting or buying are valid options. The telekom routers are not bad. The advantage of renting is that they will replace the router if it breaks or if for reasons of modernization you need a new one, but both of these cases are rare. Fritzbox are generally easy to use and seen as reliable; also they get software updates for a long time usually - at least in the past it was usually 10 years after the introduction of a model, possibly even more. However the manufacturer of Fritzbox (AVM) has been bought by an investor last year (I believe, maybe even 2023), so it is quiet probable that the software update policy will worsen. I still would buy a fritzbox though if I would want to buy a router. Which router you could buy depends on what technology your internet access is. The most common ones are DSL or Glasfaser (fibre). Some buildings have cable internet.

GenieACS works fine with fritzboxes. What exactly does not work for you? How do you feed the ACS URL to your boxes, do they even register in the ACS?