Linksys - Linksys Velop WHW01

There are no routers that "use OpenWrt" except OpenWrt One, which I have not as much as seen (but people whose opinions I trust above my own say it's good). In all other cases, you have to install OpenWrt on your own. Next, best FOR WHAT? I just spent some quality time with an AppNeta m70: [https://forum.openwrt.org/t/report-openwrt-on-appneta-m70/240382](https://forum.openwrt.org/t/report-openwrt-on-appneta-m70/240382) Lanner NCA-1513 and NCA-1515 are great, but require some taming: [https://forum.openwrt.org/t/bypassing-bypasses-possibly-a-howto/239934](https://forum.openwrt.org/t/bypassing-bypasses-possibly-a-howto/239934) The post is written about the 1515, but it applies to the 1513 as well. Lanner FW-7551 is good: [https://forum.openwrt.org/t/solved-openwrt-on-silver-peak-fw-7551a-sv1/163479](https://forum.openwrt.org/t/solved-openwrt-on-silver-peak-fw-7551a-sv1/163479) but watch out: it's got an Intel Atom C2xxx processor, which, depending on the manufacturing date, may or may not be susceptible to the AVR54 defect. Sophos 105 / 106 / 115 / 125 / 135 are good. My daily driver, which I've had for about three years now, is an old (2015) Sophos SG 115 Rev 1. Rev 1 is old enough to have a spinning hard drive, which I have replaced with a SATA SSD. Out of the box, it was wired-only, so I grafted in a complete wireless subsystem from a defunct 125w unit... Speaking of 125, 125 Rev 1 and 2 (and 135 Rev 1 and 2) have Atom C2xxx processors, so see AVR54 warning above... I just built a monster 125w Rev 3; replaced the stock QA wireless card with an AsiaRF AW7915-NP and even drilled a hole in the case for the fourth antenna. Now half of me wants an expansion module with a second radio, but the other half doesn't want to pay for it... `:)` Over time, I've converted a bunch of mini-PCs and thin clients to the router duty. Those are very good for situations that require high processing capacity (high-speed SQM, next-generation services, etc.). From the less imposing corners of the OpenWrt universe, I've had pretty good time with Linksys WHW01 (which I now use as an access point), as well as Netgear WAX202 and WAX206.

so, In my house I have the cupboard under stairs where the modem lives. I plug one mesh node into that (it acts as the router) then i have two lan ports. one goes to the lounge and the other to my office. Out of the lounge lan port theres a switch that i plug another mesh node into and the TV, hifi, sky box & xbox. Similar deal up in the office where i plug the final mesh node and hardware my gaming/office PC's. this gives me bullet proof wifi around the house and garden seating area plus hardwired pings on my gaming equipment. mesh is a linksys wifi 5 job

In 220 sqm, you shouldn't need more than 3 nodes, unless you want more coverage outside, but with too many as you've already experience, they will sometime fight for the best signal, even more so when they are just wifi based. If you can get more Cat6 installed, the location of the router (primary node) becomes irrelevant since they will all share the same exact signal with the same bandwidth so you should be able to test it now and confirm better coverage. If you have baseboards, they make 1/4 round that has channels in them where you can hide the Cat 6, and if that's not an option there are some manufacturers who make flat cables. As for me personally, both system have been challenging but that is more related to my own person situation than the hardware. The Linksys Velop system started out great, but as my need for IoT devices grew, the system struggled a bit. I came to find out well after the fact, the nodes which I thought I set up as wired, someone defaulted back to wireless which impact my bandwidth for devices connected to it. I ended up giving them to my inlaws since the coverage at their home sucked and they have been working perfectly since. I moved over to the Night Hawk system on the recommendation of a friend who has their gaming router and overall it has been really good. It took a lot of additional setup and tweaking to get it up and running at full capacity. The biggest challenge I had (again my own issue, not product issue), was I forgot how many of my IoT devices only run off 2.4 gHz. The Night Hawk system (unlike the Velop) has a default SSID that combines the 2.4 and 5 gHz bands. The Velop had these automatically separate with different SSID's. Due to this, some of my IoT devices had trouble connecting and I regularly lost their signal. (see Ring Cameras, smart switches/outlets, etc) so this meant I had to reconfigure my network with customized networks. But on the Nighthawk system this works differently than I was used to. The main 2.4/5 ghz network will always remain, so I had to create a custom standalone 2.4ghz network and then reconnect all my IoT devices to that. This was a tedious effort, but again, this was my fault, not the hardware/software. Since I have finally got all of that figured out, its run flawlessly. I have a 1GB fiber line. If the device is hardwired, I will get 850 Mbps (up and down) on average (www.speedtest.net). On a wireless device it will vary from 100Mbps to 500Mbps which is dependent on how much bandwidth is being used at any give time. The coverage is better than the Velop overall. I have a few friends who have the Orbi systems and swear by them. Since I run a lot of wired, I wanted some more raw high performance in certain locations. (Night Hawk lets you prioritize devices better IMO) I both game and run a home theater server so I stream not only from the net, but also across the network from that service to 4 different locations in the house. Even if they are all running at the same time, the wired connection means they don't bog down and don't impact the wireless bandwidth that is remaining. The Orbi overperforms with wifi only based stuff and provides a stable network across a larger area. From what I understand the setup is also easier on the Orbi. If and when my night hawk system dies, I will seriously consider and Orbi system but thats not going to be for quite a long time.

I ditched my Linksys Velop system for a Unifi Express 7 & Unifi U6 Pro. Much happier with the Unifi system over the Linksys.

I've been using a Linksys Velop Mesh system for the last 6 years. We put our Virgin Media router into modem mode and run everything through the Linksys kit. I was actually thinking the other day that it's getting on a bit but fibre connection is 250Mb and the Wi-Fi delivers that on [speedtest.net](http://speedtest.net) across our flat. (I don't know what the walls are made of but signal was terrible in some parts of the flat without the extra nodes.) We also ran ethernet to each room when we had the place rewired, so the Wi-Fi nodes in each room are hardwired. Works well. I do worry it's getting on, so will check out some of the other recommendations in this thread!

I get by right now with some Linksys Velop. You can find some used for $20-$40 a node. They are easy to set up and very stable if done right.

I had a TP-Link BE85 setup before this and returned it because of constant disconnects which is a known issue with them. I felt like their speeds were higher than Eero but the disconnects and the complexity of three separate SSID’s versus a single one made Eero a better choice. Prior to that, I owned an AMPLIFI Alien setup that I really liked. One of my units started having issues and needed replaced after several years. AMPLIFI has decided not to continue supporting the Alien product anymore so that was stuck on WiFi 6. Before the AMPLIFI setup I owned a Linksys Velop system and it was absolute trash. I don’t think there is a such thing as a perfect mesh system because if there was I would have bought it. That being said, I am sharing the same frustrations as you with the recent firmware updates.

Installed Deco x68s at my place, x55s at in laws, x55 pros at friends, and Linksys Velops at other friends, all hardwired, rock solid and roaming works flawlessly. All of them having 20-30+ clients.

Mesh systems were built for this application. I'm a longterm satisfied Linksys Velop user.

I have just moved to Unifi from Linksys due to the constant issues with the Velop mesh. All wired and seems to be working very well. Even the Mrs is happy