New Router Purchase

[Donald Mac McCarthy]

I left the SOHO router game a number of years ago. I can't tell you what
the best consumer/prosumer routers are, but I can let you know what I
did a few years ago that changed me to an enterprise like architecture
for an affordable price.

 - Supermicro 8-Core Avaton mini-server with 16GB RAM and an SSD running
pfSense (~$500)
     This is a gigabit capable firewall even when running light IDS,
OpenVPN server, and routing. The avaton is also light on the power
budget. You can also use an old dual core desktop and get into the
250-350 Mb/s range.

 - Ubiquiti UniFi 24 port 250W PoE switch. (~$200)
     This is a very capable managed switch that will happily power
multiple UniFi APs or other PoE devices. It has some basic layer 2 and
layer 3 management. The edgerouter has more features, but comes at a
higher pricetag.

- Ubiquiti UniFi AP-AC-PRO access points (~$150 each)
     These will need a controller to get them set up properly, but it
does not always need to run for them to work. It will need to be powered
on to make config changes and update the APs.


Those 3 were what I started with. I was so happy to finally separate
functions of WiFi and routing apart, as being able to run multiple SSIDs
on different segments was an aim I had. I have since grown a small
server and VM farm in our laundry room and separated out many more of
the features from the pfSense. I do think I have hit the threshold of my
Wife's tolerance of servers in the laundry room. That is something you
may need to factor into the risk assessment before going down this road ;).

It does cost a bit more than the ~$300 I paid for my last higher end AC
prosumer nighthawk router, but I actually have controls in my home
network now. My kids aren't always a fan of them. That may be somethign
else that you put in the risk assessment.

My $0.02....


Mac

techlists at phpcoderusa.com wrote on 10/26/19 12:10 PM:
>
> Hi,
>
> It appears I am having Internet router problems.  Occasionally I will
> not be able to access the Internet for a few seconds to a minute or
> so.  This morning I was not able to access the Internet at all. 
>
> I am with Cox and have a home office business account.  I called Cox
> and they suggested bypassing my router and connect directly to their
> modem.  That worked.  Based on that I think my router is going bad.  
>
> I had turned off the modem and the router for a maybe an hour or so
> while I did other things.  I now have access.
>
> I would like a secure router.  Cox says almost any modern router will
> be secure.  Security is a big issue.  When I look at all the WiFi that
> is available in my neighborhood I see maybe 10 routers.  That is scary! 
>
> Since I have a business account that allows servers I have been using
> port forwarding.  I am a programmer and occasionally I fire up my
> laptop turned server for testing. 
>
> I also have set up my WiFi to only accept those devices that I have
> configured by MAC address. 
>
> Any toughs on my pending router purchase?
>
> Thank you so much for all your feedback!!
>
> Keith 
>
>
>
>
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