Since #1 son is home from college for spring break, I was able to use his computer wired as an iperf3 server. I haven’t messed with iperf before, but I think the results are good using my phone as an iperf client. This is using the Xfinity modem/router and the Netgear WAX625 WAP:



My other son started doing stuff during the 574Mbit/s one.

The new mini pc I’m going to use as a firewall/router will show up today.

Ha, apparently it was sitting on my front porch for 45 minutes:



Not fanless because there seems to be a shortage of the fanless ones.

^^^ curious, which Firewall software did you decide to run on the new mini PC?

missed that part.

I haven’t decided yet. I just spent an hour trying to get the Ethernet ports working. This was complicated by trying to use my youngest son’s custom keyboard which has no arrow, function, number pad, or delete keys. Turns out my really old ZyXEL 5 port switch doesn’t play nice with the new mini pc’s 2.5GB Intel Ethernet ports. They do work with the ZyXEL 8 port switch I have from about the same time period.

I spent a couple hours watching videos on OPNsense, but that doesn’t really give me any basis to choose. I’m open to suggestions. The PC has 64GB of eMMC RAM that currently has Ubuntu preinstalled. It’s set up to dual boot between that and the 2TB m2 SSD that has Windows 11 Pro on it. I figure I’ll install the fire wall software in place of the Ubuntu.

I use OPNsense at home (x86 mini PC with 4 ethernet ports). I also have a travel router that has OpenWRT on it that I use on trips.

I'm not sure exactly how complicated your setup is, but unless you have a reason to need OPNsense then I'd be temped to just go the OpenWRT route since it's simple and runs an adblocker, hosts a VPN, etc.

my setup is this:

The x86 mini PC with 4 ethernet ports running OPNsense
a bunch of unmanaged switches including POE switches
a single EnGenius WAP bought at the suggestion of a fellow forum member here which runs on the main network and also has a guest network which is self contained.
a bunch of cameras, PC's, ipads, firesticks.

on OPNsense I host a VPN so I can get to my camera and PC's from elsewhere
I block ads using the DNS blockers on OPNsense.

that's about it.
Nothing super complex that OpenWRT wouldn't handle.

on the other hand, if you really like to tweak settings, then OPNsense is the way to go.

whatever you choose, use the GRC.com Shields up tool to test your security to make sure there are no holes in the firewall, open ports etc.

What I like to do is separate devices.

I'd like the TVs, thermostat, Roomba, and such on one network with only internet access.

I'd like our computers to access NAS, our printer, and each other on another network.

I'm not sure what to do with the phones and tablets.

I don't want to invest in managed switches and do VLANS because I only have one ethernet wire run to a few locations that have multiple clients. In the family room for example, there's a TV, two gaming systems, and a receiver. This is where one of the Zyxel switches is. Since only one device is really using the internet at a time in this location, I figured a dumb switch works fine. My understanding of VLANS is I would have to get a managed switch and run wires to every wired device which is not practical in this house.

The TVs are wired and wireless. The WAP can keep different SSIDs seperated, but because of the wired TVs, I'll use another WAP hooked to the same switch as the wired TVs.

I realize the box I bought only has 2 ethernet ports. For now, I'm going to use it to replace the router in the xfinity box and use the xfinity box as a modem only. If this works and looks like I can manage it, I'll add another ethernet port or two and test it.

I just got it installed and running on the mini pc:



Just for fun, I have hooked to a switch on my network and the other port is conmected to a TV. The router pulled an IP address, 10.0.0.xxx, from the Xfinity box and the TV pulled its IP address, 192.168.1.xxx from the new router. The TV is connected to the internet and streaming, so the new router is routing. That’s good for today.

my woodworking mind thought of a different kind.

Well, my 25 year old Porter Cable works just fine. I fixed the title.

Edited to add:
It’s officially new router day and St. Patrick’s Day!

It’s connected to the now bridged Xfinity XB7, the rest of my network, and everything seems to be working at least as well as before.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: trapper189,

Update 3:

New smart switch day. I’ve never owned or used a managed switch. It has a 220 page handbook and a 440 page user manual. Neither is multiple languages, so 660 pages in English for a small box with 11 places to plug stuff in. The manual for the Netgear dumb POE switches I bought earlier this month is 10 pages in English.

I’ve read about 100 pages of the handbook and flipped through the user manual. I know they’re in English, but I may just be a dumb switch kinda guy.