Banana Pi - BPI-R4 Wifi 7 Router board

The OpenWRT One is decent, I have it for the same reason. But maybe the new Flint router with OpenWRT has an even powerful CPU which would allow you to comfortably run CAKE at gigabit speeds and even run Suricata or an application firewall if it was supported. So here are the models I suggest: 1. **OpenWRT ONE** [https://openwrt.org/toh/openwrt/one](https://openwrt.org/toh/openwrt/one) 2. **Flint 3** [https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-be9300/](https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-be9300/) 3. **Banana Pi BPI-R4** [https://wiki.banana-pi.org/Banana\_Pi\_BPI-R4](https://wiki.banana-pi.org/Banana_Pi_BPI-R4) The cheapest and nicer for hackers is the OpenWRT One, open hardware, etc. You also support OpenWRT as a project. It is meant to be good for bufferbloat, but I personally would like a bit more of CPU, maybe additional ethernet ports, but I love the device, also you cannot brick it in most scenarios. The BPI-R4 is the next best option if you are looking at something you can own and have it working without caring about what vendors might do. Next best option after the OpenWRT ONE. You can add Wifi 7 support if you want and it will support insane speeds. The Flint 3 a commercial option, very nice as well, you can probably flash OpenWRT but their os typically is based on OpenWRT with customizations and works out of the box for anything you want. Never had one but I heard good things about the Flint 2 when I was deciding what router to buy, I preferred the OpenWRT ONE in the end.

Bpi-R4 with case/etc. is $159 as long as you don’t need WiFi. Otherwise go with the flint 2 or openwrt one.

It's not perfect, but the Banana Pi r4 supports a wifi7 card and it's shaping up nicely.

This! Comes with a modified version of OpenWrt out of the box and you can flash the version with open source drivers through the web UI. No hassle with ftp servers or workarounds to gain ssh access, it is wifi 6 though. Just to name a few more options: - Banana Pi BPI-R3 (Almost the same hardware as the GLinet 6000 but more expandable, the enclosure needs to be bought separately) - Banana Pi BPI-R4 w. wifi 7 module (Wifi 7, although it comes with a hefty pricetag and is still in development. Also doesn't come with an enclosure) - OpenWrt One (Less powerful processor and wifi hardware. It's marginally cheaper than the MT6000, is expandable and offers some nice features in case you brick it ) All of the options above are more or less intended for tinkering, although I suppose you could daily drive any of them. If you just want a product intended for consumers with a stable openwrt release, you should go with the GLinet MT6000. If you are just going to use it as a router and firewall, you could also go the opnsense/pfsense route.

I tried the BE14 on BPI r4, but couldn't get wifi 7 to work. My pixel 9 can only connect to it with wifi 6.

There are no good wifi 7 routers. I think the Bannapi is the only one and reviews are mixed. I get 400mbps about 1500ft from my router through walls in a pretty radio congested space on my MT-6000. I’m perfectly happy for $100. All of my gear that needs more bandwidth has either fiber and SFP+ or SFP28 optics on the other end or a 2.5/5/10G base-T (the normal Ethernet jack) running to it. 500mbps on my laptop when I’m just roaming around the house, or on my phone or iPad? All good. The 6ghz band is emptier but it’s also attenuated (blocked/weakened) even worse than 5ghz is by any obstacles. TLDR- you probably don’t need wifi 7, maybe go with a good wifi 6 box.

Running a BPI-R4 right now as gateway/router/AP combo. Performance is good and for 250€ you will find little else with good performance and OpenWRT support. Using a GPON SFP stick for fiber Internet. Having the CPU and memory headroom is also nice. Currently running a samba share and VPN gateway as well. There is a note in the OpenWRT docs though about poor Wifi 7 performance punching through walls due to a relatively weak power amplifier. I do have any problems with it because I have drywall interior walls.

Probably, but the BPi-R4 has trash radio interfaces, so ditch it and get a Flint 2. Speaking from this exact experience, I can tell you that good WiFi 6 is *wildly* superior to bad WiFi 7. The BPi-R4 ships a very old OpenWrt firmware with closed-source drivers that works *okay,* but only at close range; with any meaningful distance or wall penetration, speeds crater. And its WiFi 7 is broken in the latest OpenWrt. You'll have a better time if you get a Flint 2.

Can confirm the BPI-R4 (with be14 wifi 7 NIC module) is NOT for the faint of heart. I’m still trying to get mine to play nice with max tx transmit. It seems the current Linux driver (mt7995e) has an issue with setting the max allowed transmit power incorrectly (limiting it to 6-7 dB when it should be capable of 23 dB at 5 & 2.4 GHz). There does seem to exist a patch to the driver that fixes it though that I’m going to play around with.

There aren't any. BPI-R4 would be your only guarenteed option right now, and any other Filogic 880 targets as they come out, since it's under development and mt76 drivers are improving.