OpenWRT compatible router in 2022

[halfbytecode]

I am looking for a new router that is OpenWRT compatible and has good WiFi range. Initially I was considering TP-Link Archer A7, but it has a single core CPU and also seems outdated being launched a number of years ago.

Now Archer A6 V3 also seems to supported by OpenWRT now. It is dual core, but is more like an entry level router.

I also looked a Asus routers, but ASUS 58U does not really seem to be available now.

Are there any other routers that I can consider, which are OpenWRT compatible and have a good WiFi range?

 

[halfbytecode]

I just wanted to provide an update. I bought Archer A6 v3 in January for around 2200, but OpenWrt did not work well on it initially. 5 GHz WiFi had slow and buggy performance.

However, around March, I installed a snapshot build which included updated WiFi drivers. The performance has been great after that, in fact I find it better than it was on stock firmware. The WiFi range has also improved with OpenWrt.

The build I am using is SNAPSHOT r19003-43276b60c6.

I believe the upcoming OpenWrt 22 stable release will likely have everything working fine, similar to the snapshot I am running.

I would suggest this router as it has a dual core processor, and newer and more powerful hardware than Archer A7.

 

[venkatachar]

Any idea if it supports mesh? This device is cheap , for 4k you can have a 2 node mesh with 8 gigabit ports

 

[halfbytecode]

It does support mesh functionality on stock firmware, and I believe the same can be replicated on OpenWrt as well.

 

[nishantt6969]

@halfbytecode I am also having the same issue, slow 5Ghz, not going above 250Mbps. Can you tell what speeds you getting on 5Ghz now?

 

[wheatbread]

~100 Mbps Tx on OpenWrt 22.03.0-rc1 r19302-df622768da

 

[nishantt6969]

Can you check the maximum speed it is giving on 5Ghz by any means?

 

[WieldyBinkie]

Any idea if it supports mesh? This device is cheap , for 4k you can have a 2 node mesh with 8 gigabit ports

You can, with this package: wpad-mesh-openssl

 

[halfbytecode]

Can you check the maximum speed it is giving on 5Ghz by any means?

I have a 100 Mbps plan, and I get around 85 Mbps on OpenWrt on 5 GHz WiFi (on the snapshot build I mentioned earlier). With the stock firmware, it was slightly less, around 80 Mbps.

I do not have access to internet beyond 100 Mbps to test this out with.

 

[drtech]

@halfbytecode DO you have Archer A6 V3 or V3.2 ? Also, are there any caveats to installing OpenWRT on A6 (manual mtd write/ssh override) or you can just upload the snapshot image through the web interface directly from stock firmware ?

AFAIK snapshot images don't come with luci pre installed right ?

 

[halfbytecode]

I think mine is v3.0, which is the US version. However, v3.2 is also similar, but from EU region. I don't remember if the v3.0 builds work on v3.2 as well. However, there are also working builds for the router from other regions (BR, JP, etc. if I can recall correctly).

Flashing v3.0 is straight forward through the web interface of stock firmware itself.

Regarding the snapshot builds, yes, they do not have Luci pre-installed. However, I compiled my build online on aparcar's server, with Luci included and WiFi turned on by default.