OpenWrt One is the first “officialy supported” router by the OpenWrt project and SFC. It’s a rare event that an open source project ships it’s own hardware so I decided to give it a go. It’s a bit pricey for what it is and currently only ships from China via Aliexpress but hopefully there is a western based distributor in the future.
The router configuration seems most suitable for a “dump AP” or a router with an additional switch. I think the idea is to use 1G WAN to connect the internet side and 2.5G to a (PoE) switch.
I already have a main router set up so I went with the dump AP approach and replaced an old Tp-Link b/g/n AP. I connected the WAN port to my router and then followed this relatively simple guide to turn it into an AP.
I haven’t been following the evolution of WiFi standards in recent years so the speed improvements were rather shocking to me. I took measurements at three different locations in the apartment. Please note that these results are single measurements and don’t measure LAN but internet speed so my uplink is likely the limiting factor for AC tests.
| TL-WA801ND | OpenWrt One ax/n | OpenWrt One AC | |
| Point 1: 6m+wall obstacle. | 37 Mbps | 95 Mbps | 570 Mbps |
| Point 2: 10m+wall and other obstacles. | 1.5 Mbps | 88 Mbps | 320 Mbps |
| Point 3: 7m, no obstacles. | 43 Mbps | 89 Mbps | 660 Mbps |
If you’re looking for a new AP, don’t need the absolute latest standards and don’t mind paying a slight premium to support the project I think OpenWrt One is a decent choice.
Cen