Yes but please you confirm it yourself too. GL.iNet routers run on OpenWrt, you actually have a lot more control over your DHCP settings than you do with standard consumer routers. Overall, you have a lot more control with all settings.
I'm thoroughly enjoying my Flint 3, definitely like having the 6ghz band which the 3e does not have.
It's cheaper than most wifi 7 tri-band routers and it's very seemless to get pretty much any vpn working with wireguard.
Honestly for a 1Gbps connection with Jellyfin and AdGuard, you don't need WiFi 7 at all. WiFi 6E will max out your connection with room to spare.
A couple of things about your GL.iNet issue - the LAN dropping sounds like it might be a bad unit or firmware bug, not inherent to the platform. Their newer stuff is generally solid but QC can be hit or miss.
For around $200, router + AP in one device:
- **TP-Link Archer BE550** (WiFi 7) - usually around $180-200, 2.5G WAN port, has been surprisingly stable in my experience. Good if you want the "future proof" angle.
- **ASUS RT-AX86U Pro** (WiFi 6E) - might find it on sale near $200. Rock solid firmware, great QoS for Jellyfin streaming, and ASUS-Merlin support if you ever want to tinker.
- **TP-Link Deco BE65** (mesh, 2-pack) - if your house has dead spots. WiFi 7, but mesh adds latency that you might not want for a server setup.
My honest take: return the GL.iNet, grab a used RT-AX86U (original, not Pro) for ~$120 on eBay. It's still one of the best all-in-one units for homelab use. WiFi 6 is plenty for 1Gbps, the CPU handles dozens of devices without breaking a sweat, and Merlin firmware gives you proper DNS control for AdGuard.
The WiFi 7 marketing is mostly about multi-gig backhaul and 320MHz channels which your ISP plan can't take advantage of anyway.
Ubiquiti if you can swing the cost, if you need a good budget option look into GL-iNet Flint 2 or 3, they're more budget friendly but offer a lot of the same features, they're also running on openwrt.
For a non tech person, as much as I love and recommend Ubiquiti hardware, I would probably recommend a GL-iNet Flint 2 or Flint 3. They have all of the more advanced security features, but are less expensive and have a more consumer friendly UI. The biggest limitation is they don't have any dedicated Access Points so depending on the size and construction of the area you want to cover there may be coverage issues. You can buy another one and put it in AP mode though so there are work arounds.
Since they're specifically looking at wifi7 that rules out the Flint 2. Flint 3 would be my recommendation since it's much more consumer friendly than Unifi and can still do all the more advanced stuff through the Openwrt LuCi interface under the advanced options if they want to go beyond the basics. I love my Ubiquiti hardware but it's a fair bit more complicated than the usual consumer needs / wants.
Very stable, raw performance and VPN speed - the Flint 2 is the winner due to its faster 2.0 GHz CPU and superior VPN processing power (up to 900 Mbps WireGuard speeds). It is also silent due to passive cooling. Flint 3e = Flint 3 minus 6GHz band.
Airtie2
