Idiot-proof Gigabit Router Needed. Edgerouter Lite?

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Idiot-proof Gigabit Router Needed. Edgerouter Lite?

Oubadah

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#248456 27-Mar-2019 03:00

I'm in search of a router that will not bottleneck my gigabit connection. I'd like something that will have a reasonable support lifespan (not just receive a couple of firmware updates and then be abandoned after a year). The Edgerouter Lite appears to fit those criteria.

My third requirement is that it's fairly idiot-proof to set up. I've seen the ER-X's wizard, presumably the ER-L is the same? Is an ER-L configured by the wizard (with default firewalls enabled) ready to go and comparably secure to a typical home router.

Jase2985

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#2205448 27-Mar-2019 05:40

the most idiot proof router for a gigabit connection is the Huawei HG659 that a few ISP's offer. just make sure you use access points with the connections because the WIFI has the 16 device limit

chevrolux

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#2205453 27-Mar-2019 07:13

If you like UBNT, look at the USG. Far fad easier to set up.

Edgerouter still hides a lot of its config in the command line.

michaelmurfy

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#2205470 27-Mar-2019 08:03

Idiot proof? The Huawei HG659.

It is potentially the cheapest router that can do full Gigabit speeds.

If you can find one - the Fritz!Box 7490 also does full Gigabit and has good WiFi.

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Oubadah

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#2205511 27-Mar-2019 10:11

Jase2985:
the most idiot proof router for a gigabit connection is the Huawei HG659 that a few ISP's offer. just make sure you use access points with the connections because the WIFI has the 16 device limit

Last year I had the misfortune to have to use a different Huawei router (whatever one they give out for 4G Internet) and it was too far in the dumbed-down direction. It couldn’t even do DHCP reservations.

I want something that takes minimal effort to set up (because I don’t have the time or inclination to learn a bunch of stuff at this particular point in time), but it would be nice to have some future potential for customisation. I know that I can set up an Edgerouter via the wizard easily enough, but I don’t know whether that setup is secure/adequate.

michaelmurfy

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#2205521 27-Mar-2019 10:43

@Oubadah While EdgeOS has a wizard there are other things you'll likely need to do. Just be prepared to learn if you go this route. I still actually recommend the Fritz!Box if you want something easy and feature packed.

What access points are you planning to use? This will be your deciding factor.

Oubadah

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#2205537 27-Mar-2019 11:03

michaelmurfy:

@Oubadah While EdgeOS has a wizard there are other things you'll likely need to do. Just be prepared to learn if you go this route.

Like what? I can think of one, which was the bootloader of the ER-X needing to be manually updated via CLI because for whatever reason they didn't make it happen automatically. I was OK with that.

michaelmurfy:

What access points are you planning to use? This will be your deciding factor.

I haven't decided yet, but I'm leaning toward the Cambium e600. What it definitely won't be is a Unifi AP, because the AP-AC Pro was the flakiest piece of junk I have ever owned. Also, I hated the Unifi controller - having to have the extra server was just a bunch of unnecessary inconvenience that I didn't need. The e600 has a regular web config in addition to their cnMaestro thing. What's putting me off Cambium is the sheer lack of reviews or any kind of talk about them online.

michaelmurfy

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#2205792 27-Mar-2019 18:07

I'm using the Cambium e600 along with the Edgerouter 4 and it is a great combo.

Like I say however - it isn't "idiot proof", the WebGUI is nice on these routers but not everything can be configured under it. If you're needing anything more advanced then be prepared to jump into the CLI.

They're great routers - just not intuitive for your average user. So in your case, for Gigabit UFB the Edgerouter Lite or Edgerouter 4 will suit you fine.

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Oubadah

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#2205833 27-Mar-2019 19:05

michaelmurfy:

I'm using the Cambium e600 along with the Edgerouter 4 and it is a great combo.

Like I say however - it isn't "idiot proof", the WebGUI is nice on these routers but not everything can be configured under it. If you're needing anything more advanced then be prepared to jump into the CLI.

They're great routers - just not intuitive for your average user. So in your case, for Gigabit UFB the Edgerouter Lite or Edgerouter 4 will suit you fine.

I probably should have elaborated on what I had in mind when I said "idiot-proof". If it's only more advanced features that are behind the CLI, then that's OK with me. If I ever need to use that stuff I will be happy to figure it out in time. What has to be idiot-proof is the initial setup, making it a secure basic router. That's why I was asking about the wizard. If I can run the "basic setup" wizard and rely on that to give me a functioning basic router that is no less secure than the average consumer router is out of the box, then I'm happy with that. I just wanted to make sure that that is indeed the case, and that the ER doesn't need any expert knowledge just to make it usable/secure.

Also, since you have the e600, may I ask you if the same applies to that? Is the setup easy? (assuming that I'm not trying to do anything complicated like VLANS etc.)

ANglEAUT

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#2206004 27-Mar-2019 23:17

michaelmurfy:

I'm using the Cambium e600 along ...

Very true: https://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=21770

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Please keep this GZ community vibrant by contributing in a constructive & respectful manner.

Aredwood

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#2206007 27-Mar-2019 23:42

@Outbadah The Edge Router Lite comes with a completely blank configuration from the factory. You need to temporarily set a static IP address on your computers Ethernet adapter to connect to the Edge router for the first time.

Then you need to update its firmware, as the early wizard versions dont support adding the VLAN tag.

Then you can run the setup wizard. You will also need to know whether your ISP needs VLAN 10 tag or not, Pppoe or DHCP, If Pppoe what username and password.

Also, I cant remember if the new wizard version enables PPPOE offloading or not. If not, it will still work but max speed will be around 130mbit. And you will then need to make a CLI change to get gigabit.

If you need something that you just plug in and it works. Then stick with the Huawei HG659 or the Fritzbox as mentioned above.

Oubadah

676 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2206010 28-Mar-2019 00:25

Aredwood: @Outbadah The Edge Router Lite comes with a completely blank configuration from the factory. You need to temporarily set a static IP address on your computers Ethernet adapter to connect to the Edge router for the first time.

Then you need to update its firmware, as the early wizard versions dont support adding the VLAN tag.

Then you can run the setup wizard. You will also need to know whether your ISP needs VLAN 10 tag or not, Pppoe or DHCP, If Pppoe what username and password.

Also, I cant remember if the new wizard version enables PPPOE offloading or not. If not, it will still work but max speed will be around 130mbit. And you will then need to make a CLI change to get gigabit.

If you need something that you just plug in and it works. Then stick with the Huawei HG659 or the Fritzbox as mentioned above.

Thanks, that's very helpful. There's nothing there that I can't manage.

Kiwifruta

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#2206012 28-Mar-2019 01:01

Aredwood: @Outbadah The Edge Router Lite comes with a completely blank configuration from the factory. You need to temporarily set a static IP address on your computers Ethernet adapter to connect to the Edge router for the first time.

Then you need to update its firmware, as the early wizard versions dont support adding the VLAN tag.

Then you can run the setup wizard. You will also need to know whether your ISP needs VLAN 10 tag or not, Pppoe or DHCP, If Pppoe what username and password.

Also, I cant remember if the new wizard version enables PPPOE offloading or not. If not, it will still work but max speed will be around 130mbit. And you will then need to make a CLI change to get gigabit.

If you need something that you just plug in and it works. Then stick with the Huawei HG659 or the Fritzbox as mentioned above.

And enable hardware offloading, this is done via simple command line instructions that are available on the Ubiquiti website.

michaelmurfy

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#2206063 28-Mar-2019 08:26

Well remember, I've got a guide for all of this in my signature :)