alt Hacker NewsThere are no cheap commodity routers that can run OpenWrt, have modern Wi-Fi features, and are reasonably available (in the sense that you could buy one if your router fails).
OpenWrt is vastly superior to the proprietary software in commodity routers. Proprietary software gates software features behind more expensive models, even though the cheap hardware can handle them.
You also get software updates. Your hardware doesn't become a paperweight when the manufacturer refuses to fix a known, actively exploited vulnerability.
You'll get new features, for free.
> You're not attaching this monstrosity to the ceiling. I would hide it, but whatever.
The enclosure is open source as well. You can build/print your own enclosure if you'd prefer, or get any enclosure for the Banana Pi BPI-R4.
They can't just ship a board without an enclosure, because it won't pass certifications.
For a around two years there, the dynalink dl-wrx36 was selling between $50 & $85 for comparable/better hardware. Still running a pair with an nss-enabled fork. Still effortlessly maxes out a gigabit fiber line with qosify.
Configured it so the 2.5gbe port connects towards the lan where a cheap wifi 7 AP can broadcast the additional signal if anything feel like it needs it. But practically speaking nothing does.
While the openwrt one was a decent experiment, it was far from the only hardware in the price range that had stellar openwrt support before/after it came out. And one thing people seem to forget about with a lot of options (like banana pi options) is that the range & falloff can be terrible. The openwrt two is apparently delayed & going with a different manufacturer.
Openwrt is great if you are willing to customize the software especially. The fact that it can be used as an actual wifi client in a pinch is also a lifesaver.
Long-long term availability is a different problem, but different manufacturers move on.