I’ve been running OpenWRT on my routers for a while now. It started off as just an experiment on my Mi Router 3c, but it now forms a very integral part of my homelab.

I’ve since helped set up OpenWRT on a lot of different routers for my friends’ home networks, giving old routers a new lease of life and making it more secure.

Of the different routers I’ve come across that support OpenWRT, Xiaomi ones tend to stand out to me:

  • They’re fairly cheap
  • Easily procurable in most markets
  • Have very very decent specs for the price point, and,
  • Aren’t hard to put OpenWRT on

I think I’ve only seen routers from TP-Link come close to this level of support for OpenWRT, but their hardware variations often throws an axe when it comes to OpenWRT support.

What are your thoughts, and what do you run OpenWRT on?

  • ijeffMEnglish
    4•11 months ago

    I’m just stuck with either the stock firmware or a modded Merlin build on my AX86U. Love the thing though.

    What I find ridiculous is how many wireless access points require online accounts these days. Not being a requirement was a major factor in my decision to pick up this ASUS. I also didn’t feel comfortable with running hardware from a Chinese brand or anything with opaque automatic updating given my area of work.

    • @inspector
      OPMAEnglish
      3•11 months ago

      I recently pulled cables around the house to kind of make the Internet experience better at home. One of the considerations in getting a new router was for it to be supported by OpenWRT for the last 2 major releases.

      I found that it becomes a lot more easier to find good routers when you know good software is going to work on it no matter what. Ended up going with a new gen Mi Router 4C. Opened the box, set it up to get the STOK code, and immediately flashed OpenWRT on that.

    • @[email protected]English
      3•11 months ago

      I just installed merlin on my AX58U. It’s seems to have fixed my smart connect settings. Stock firmware would have my devices disconnecting like crazy. Merlin works as expected

  • @[email protected]English
    2•11 months ago

    Just got two Xiaomi AX9000’s. Now flashed Openwrt 23.05.0-rc2 to these routers. Running 802.11s mesh, all 4 radios utilized on each of these two bad boys. Perfect setup.

    • @inspector
      OPMAEnglish
      2•11 months ago

      I don’t think that model is available here in my country :(

      Would love to create a full mesh network, but it’s hard to find multi band devices with OpenWRT support in my country ATM