I’m looking to add a mesh router to my residence that is connected to my ISP modem.
Can someone suggest a good option?
At first I was looking at the Asus XT8 given its advanced performance capabilities and overall good reviews, but was worried about its “AIprotection pro” that apparently is a baked in software from Trendmicro. I think you can turn it off, but not sure how trustworthy that is?
Then I was looking at GL.inet Convexa-B (GL-B1300). The hardware is older, but I suppose it’s a worthy trade off until they release an upgrade (there is a newer model called Velica but apparently it is panned by users for poor performance). If anyone has this model, can they speak to its performance and max speeds I can expect? It lists a max of 30 mbps over openVPN, which confuses me because my laptop with protonVPN app can easily do 300+ with openVPN. Not sure the difference, but I am not very experienced with networking.
Thanks!
Router based vpn is typically slower than single points. Takes processing time to handle the encryption, especially with multiple clients. If you are only interested in a von for laptop, I’d stick with using the app on that.
I have a had great performance with the tplink deco line of mesh systems
You can look into a standalone router such as a firewalla, then using any mesh nodes in AP mode. The firewalla would handle all routing, VPNs, adblocking, etc. And the mesh nodes would handle wifi connectivity for your devices only.
Look into setting-up a pfSense or OPNsense firewall and use whatever mesh WiFi system you like in AP-only mode for your WiFi. pfSense also has a great add-on package called pfBlockerNG to block ads and malicious websites better than AdGuard or NextDNS (because it’s firewall-based and can block by IP address as well as DNS).
Check out the Glinet flint 2
Orbi. They have wifi 7 now (ofc you’ll need wifi 7 devices to make it worth it.
Excellent speed and features with Firewalla Gold. I maintain multiple tunnels for personal devices, TVs, and guests with zero issues.
ET12 Asus FTW
Trend micro is fine, you are being paranoid
Ah gotcha. That makes sense.
You are using Proton VPN with TPLink? I can look into that.
This looks like the way to go for me, thanks!
I have this set up but use Pi-Hole for the Local DNS.
Yeah, I used to use ProtonVPN wireguard on top of pfSense+ along with pfBlockerNG, works like a charm!
This looks like the way to go. Looks like they sell their own hardware as well (netgate). Is the benefit over something like a Firewalla is that it is open source?
Looks like a great router, but unfortunately I need a secondary node with Ethernet ports to cover another part of my residence.
Both would do the job just fine. Firewalla is more geared towards the home user/consumer, and is more user-friendly in that sense. Since you mentioned you’re not very experienced with networking, I’d recommend the firewalla over the pfsense, since it would be much easier for you to setup and configure.
The flints can supposedly mesh and have extra ports. I was a beta tester of one and it works wonderfully. Also uas ad blocking from AdGuard home.
Oh cool, I will look more into it, thanks!
Did you have Adguard home and proton vpn running on it at the same time?
