I’ve converted my Asus PN40 mini pc into an openwrt router. Everything seems to be working fine. But since the pc has only one ethernet port I’m using a noname USB to ethernet converter as the second NIC for WAN. Is there a better solution? Are proper USB ethernet adapters a thing? Preferably with Intel chip?

Also i can’t get the PC’s intel 9000 series wireless chip to work in AP mode. I have hooked an old edimax repeater to the lan port as wifi AP but it’s a wireless N device.

Should i invest on a better AP? My ISP connection is capped at 300mbs. Can you recommend a cheap wifi 6 AP?

Also I have 2 internet connections.

Is it a good idea use the wifi in client mode, connect to the first internet through wifi and bond its internet connection with the wired wan?

Thanks for you help in advance.

  • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.orgEnglish
    4·
    1 year ago

    USB to ethernet converter as the second NIC for WAN. Is there a better solution?

    Since your ISP is 300 Mbps, you could use a VLAN for your WAN without being limited by a 1 Gbps ethernet port. I did that on a single-NIC thin client I was using as my router, and it worked great for my 400 Mbps service. You’ll also need a VLAN-capable switch to pull this off though.

    Basically, create a VLAN in your switch for the WAN. Configure one port on your switch so that its untagged traffic gets tagged for the WAN VLAN. Plug your ISP modem into that.

    Configure the switch port your router is connected to so that it’s a trunk port with the WAN VLAN available to it. In OpenWRT, make a new interface on your physical NIC (eth0.X) where the .X is the VLAN number you created for WAN. Set that new port as the WAN and put it into the correct zones and enable masquerading for it.

    Also I have 2 internet connections. Is it a good idea use the wifi in client mode, connect to the first internet through wifi and bond its internet connection with the wired wan

    I don’t know that I’d call it a bad idea, I had a similar setup with a mobile hotspot but I didn’t bond it; just used it as a backup connection I could switch to if needed (main ISP down, etc).

    If your second connection is available over ethernet, you could create a second WAN VLAN and bring it into OpenWRT like I described above. Them use mwan or something to manage them.