pcWRT

[moral212]

Hello All,

New to the forum. I've been looking to upgrade my network with a little more focus and privacy and security. Post research and deciding against Ubiquity after their lack of customer privacy concerns I've been looking at the pcWRT (https://www.pcwrt.com/) . Features include DNS adblocking (like pi-hole), VPN client and server, several VLAN capability, no subscriptions or logins required. And its inexpensive.

https://routersecurity.org/ seems to think its a pretty good option.

Has anyone had experience with it? Have any thoughts on it?

Another note is the cloud over the maker which is a bit odd. There is no info on who or where its made except after some light digging one can find the seller is Big Xi LLC...

Any input is much appreciated!

 

[Randall Stephens]

Hello All,

New to the forum. I've been looking to upgrade my network with a little more focus and privacy and security. Post research and deciding against Ubiquity after their lack of customer privacy concerns I've been looking at the pcWRT (https://www.pcwrt.com/) . Features include DNS adblocking (like pi-hole), VPN client and server, several VLAN capability, no subscriptions or logins required. And its inexpensive.

https://routersecurity.org/ seems to think its a pretty good option.

Has anyone had experience with it? Have any thoughts on it?

Another note is the cloud over the maker which is a bit odd. There is no info on who or where its made except after some light digging one can find the seller is Big Xi LLC...

Any input is much appreciated!

Have you looked into pfsense? If you don’t need vpn support it will run on a potato.

 

[Meeho]

Have you looked into pfsense? If you don’t need vpn support it will run on a potato.

Or https://opnsense.org

 

[Randall Stephens]

Or https://opnsense.org

Another great option.

 

[byusinger84]

I use pfsense at over 150 sites with 250-1000 users each. It's free99 and has a TON of features.

 

[moral212]

Have you looked into pfsense? If you don’t need vpn support it will run on a potato.

Or https://opnsense.org

Thanks for the responses, yes those are the other options I am considering aside from pcWRT. The out of the box hardware cost differences are significant ($400 w/o AC vs $129 w/ AC) and I wasn't really planning on building my own hardware, a potato however I can do. Looking into OPNsense a bit more at the moment but am still considering pcWRT, unless anyone thinks its just not worth the downsides.

 

[Randall Stephens]

Thanks for the responses, yes those are the other options I am considering aside from pcWRT. The out of the box hardware cost differences are significant ($400 w/o AC vs $129 w/ AC) and I wasn't really planning on building my own hardware, a potato however I can do. Looking into OPNsense a bit more at the moment but am still considering pcWRT, unless anyone thinks its just not worth the downsides.

Get a used dell optiplex, Small Form Factor or larger, then add a genuine intel low profile NIC.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-OptiP...GB-DDR3-500GB-HDD-WIN8COA-NO-OS/313016313370?


I got my pfsense up and running on an optiplex for around $130 shipped.

this way you can pick which access point for AC you want, and upgrade whenever you want, all while keeping your edge of network router up.

 

[IdiotInCharge]

For a smaller footprint, there are fanless and other tiny computers available with CPUs ranging from Intel's Atoms up to more recent Core CPUs. Likely to cost as much or more than the Optiplex, but also more compact and new. I went for silent myself and generally speaking, you only need something with two good ethernet NICs (that means Intel), at least two fast or four slow cores, and some RAM and storage.