On Sun, Dec 15, 2019 at 11:39:54AM +1100, Brian May wrote:
This is my router:
https://www.ui.com/edgemax/edgerouter-pro/
I am not sure what its CPU is. I think though it should be able to cope with PPPOE at fast then 3Mbps.
If they don't list the specs, they're probably not very good.
My Cisco 877 is past end of life[*], so would like to replace it with something more recent (and capable of NBN speeds for when I eventually get FTTN). Currently looking at the Cisco Rv134w-e-k9-au it appears it supports [...]
IMO, you'd be much better off with a good 2nd NIC in your linux box, and have linux handle the routing, firewalling, etc. a cheap realtek nic like mine(*) would do, or use something better like an intel or broadcom.
This isn't going to help. I still need something to terminate the *DSL connection.
The 2nd NIC is for plugging an adsl modem. e.g. my setup was that I had eth0 for my LAN and eth1 for my billion 7404 in dumb bridged mode. pppoe ran on eth1. I assumed that you had a similar setup, didn't realise you had an edgerouter. IMO, you're better off with a little linux box with two good ethernet ports (intel or similar) than with either the edgerouter or the cisco. there was a thread here a year ago about some very nice low-power AMD APU models (which are now long-obsolete), but you could build something similar with a ryzen 3200G or similar APU for not much more than a Cisco RV345 ($389). CPU $145 + about $150 for a motherboard + RAM (about $60 for 2x4GB) + case & PSU (varies). depending on whether the m/b has two NICs, you might need to buy a second one. you could shave off $100 or maybe $150 if you look on ebay for second-hand last gen (Zen 1 or Zen+) ryzen APU systems. lots of people built low-end gaming rigs with the ryzen APUs and will be looking to upgrade to Zen 2. or build something out of spare parts for next to nothing :) but you don't need to spend that much - see below.
even a recent model home router (tp-link, asus, netgear, etc) running openwrt/lede would be better. i'm tempted to get one of these myself now that I no longer need ADSL, so that I can separate my server from my gateway box.
Won't these all have poor CPUs and reliability?
They're getting pretty good. Most current models have 2 or 4 core ARM or MIPS CPUs running at 700 - 1000 Mhz. Probably better than your edgerouter. and your cisco 877. Given that I used to build internet gateway boxes for entire schools on 386 or 486 CPUs running at 100 Mhz or less (and also running bind & squid and apache and other stuff) back in the 90s, that should be more than adequate for a home network. For about $150 you can get a openwrt router (TP-Link, Asus, Netgear, D-Link, etc) with a VDSL modem and 4 or 5 gigabit ports. Most VDSL chipsets also do ADSL2 - but it's worthwhile checking whether the model you're considering supports ADSL. If your NBN service is either FTTC or FTTP, you won't need the modem after you upgrade to NBN. If it's FTTN, you will need VDSL. some examples: $ msygrep -p gigabit router vdsl 129 D-Link (DSL-3785) Wireless AC1200 Dual Band MU-MIMO Gigabit VDSL/ADSL2+ Modem Router 139 Asus (AS-DSL-AC52U) Dual-Band Wireless AC750 VDSL / ADSL2+ Modem Router + 4 x Gigabit Switch 149 TP-LINK (Archer VR400) AC1200 Wireless Dual Band VDSL/ADSL Modem Router with Gigabit Ports 169 TP-LINK (Archer VR500v) AC1200 Wireless Dual Band VoIP VDSL/ADSL Modem Router 4 Gigabit Ports 175 D-Link (DSL-2888A) PYTHON Wireless AC1600 Dual Band VDSL/ADSL2+ Modem Router + 4 x Gigabit Switch 189 TP-LINK (Archer VR600) AC1600 Wireless Dual Band VDSL/ADSL Modem Router with 4 x Gigabit + USB 199 TP-LINK (Archer VR600v) AC1600 Wireless VoIP VDSL/ADSL Modem Router with 4 Gigabit Ports 219 TP-LINK (Archer VR900) AC1900 Wireless Dual Band VDSL/ADSL Modem Router with Gigabit Ports 429 Asus (DSL-AC88U) AC3100 Dual Band VDSL/ADSL Gigabit WiFi Modem Router It's possible to find slightly cheaper models without wifi, but you don't save much. it's easier to just disable/ignore the wifi iface if you don't need it. i had my house wired with cat-6 back in 2000, but I find wifi useful for phones and tablets. Last I looked into it, the Asus models have little or no support from openwrt/lede but some of the TP-Link and D-Link models were supported. That was about a year ago, so things have probably improved since then. I'm tempted to get one of these myself so I can move the routing and firewalling functions off my server, and on to a dedicated box. It's not good practice to have server and firewall in one unit, but until recently the available routers were either grossly underpowered or grotesquely over-priced. I'm still not entirely convinced that I wouldn't be better off just building a mini-itx ryzen APU box with two NICs. It would be massively overpowered for the job, and would cost twice as much or more, and use a lot more power but I could run debian on it instead of openwrt - for me, that's a **HUGE** benefit. OTOH, the little openwrt-capable boxes are cheap, tiny, use very little power, and are probably adequate for my NBN 100/40 connection....it's not like i'm maxing out the connection all the time, my usage is very bursty - occasional bursts of big downloads, but almost idle most of the time. And without the requirement for VDSL, I have a lot more options for a little router - starting from about $80.
Wonder how they compare the Cisco RV134W, which is also a low end VDSL2 modem/router. Apparently it is a Linux based OS, although I am doubtful of openwrt support. It also was wifi, which is not something I want.
probably at least as good at a fraction of the price. For cisco gear, you're paying mostly for the brand name....and that's especially true for cisco's little home routers, which are just linksys routers with cisco branding (cisco bought them out several years ago), and linksys stuff is basically the same as d-link, tp-link, etc. probably not as good, since they don't to compete with the others on specs & features due to the cisco branding.
Last time I went the openwrt route, I had a hard time trying to judge a product that is available,compatible, reliable, up-to-date, and sufficient for my requirements (would like one that can cope with NBN 100/40, although I am sceptical of ever reaching such speeds...). Apparently there are not many *DSL modems that support openwrt.
that was my problem for years. *wrt etc were focused on wifi, adsl was (at best) a secondary consideration.
Although I do trust openwrt more then some of the proprietary rubbish firmware I have seen. In the past some of the bugs I have seen in some versions of CISCO IOS amaze me, and make me think no testing was done.
I don't trust proprietary software at all. and especially not router firmware. it's why I won't ever use cisco or similar at home.
Hmm. Just found this post. The sender looks familiar :-). What did you end up using for a modem?
https://forum.openwrt.org/t/good-vdsl-modem-for-nbn-in-au-also-lede-fail2ban...
By the time NBN arrived here in Coburg, I figured out that I didn't need VDSL (because it's FTTC here, not FTTN, which presents an ethernet interface on the customer side). I switched over to NBN back in Sep this year - I just unplugged my Billion modem, plugged that NIC into the NBN box, and ran dhclient. There were a few teething problems for about a week, but it's been running fine since then. I switched from iinet to aussie broadband for NBN. iinet used to be good, but they got bought by TPG - they weren't able to route my /24 networks, and they weren't able to provide VOIP service unless I used the little router they provided with whatever insecure firmware it came with (not openwrt). They **had** been doing both of those things for me for nearly 10 years, but their NBN service was provisioned using TPG's system, not iinet's legacy system. I had to pay for a "business" service from ABB but that was only $10 more (or maybe $5, I can't remember) per month than "residential" to get the routing (they treated it as a variant of their "static IP" offering), but that was no bid deal - I was already paying extra at iinet for a business service. BTW, the answers I got from that post were mostly useless. craig -- craig sanders <cas@taz.net.au>