Banana Pi OpenWrt One - WiFi 6 Official OpenWrt Router Mainline Support,MediaTek MT7981B SoC 1GB DDR4 RAM, RJ45 Port

The best enterprise grade wifi router that you can ever get, beats all the rest: I can't list all the amazing things here, go check out reviews on youtube but they are: unlimited and forever updates, opensource, a full linux running on it, possibility to install any software or server on it (uses package management system), no limits of what it can do, lots of RAM, lots of storage, expandable with additional storage, A/B partition scheme (so you can't brick this one, as you can always fall back to partition A if you update the firmware in partition B and it breaks), very powerful CPU (dualcore 1.4 ghz), OpenWRT preinstalled: Offers THE SAME IDENTICAL INTERFACE NO MATTER WHICH ROUTER YOU HAVE IT INSTALLED ON (that is totally unheard of with the idiotic wifi routers from big companies, where each any every device must have a completely redesigned GUI, which is insanely annoying) They absolutely only thing that is bad: Only 2 Ethernet ports (instead of the 6 that normal routers have), so you need an additional switch. I don't understand the reason for this, as Ethernet ports cost almost nothing. But for the little over 100 dollars cost you get a extremely capable wifi router that has enterprise grade functionality that would would pay thousands for if you bought it elsewhere. Thanks to Linux as an OS, it never crashes and will keep running basically forever.

This is an amazing open-source little device! Excellent router. The OpenWRT software on it is a bit difficult to understand though (not a fault of this product, as the software is open source), but it works VERY well. If you're a novice network person, this may not be for you, although simple setups are probably easy to setup. The PoE port works perfectly with my TPLink switch, although the PoE port is designated as the WAN port (but you can swap this), which is probably not very useful, since it would likely connect to a cable-modem or other upstream bridge that doesn't provide PoE power. The USB front ports are also a bit confusing, as the USB-A port is for firmware updates. and the C port is for other things. Overall the speed is great, the build quality is excellent!

Cool product, didn't know it existed until recently. Love supporting Raspberry Pi and open source software. You can do a lot with this device and OpenWRT. I watched a few tutorials of setting up Banana Pi, and in some of them users were switching around pins, flashing Nand stuff, etc. Fortunately this comes with all that done and OpenWRT working out of the box. Most new routers enable a non-password protected WiFi signal to set things up. This didn't, but I guess that is expected. I had to use an Ethernet cable for setup. So make sure you can do that. Customizing/tweaking OpenWRT for complicated network setups is another story. It's definitely not plug and play, so don't expect that. For tech hobbyists and IT professionals, it's great. Tip: once you get a working setup, you can download your configs, and attempt to tweak more. If you get lost/break connectivity, just reload the configs that worked and keep tinkering. This really boosted the signal and speed and works well for what I wanted to accomplish in the network setup ideal for the environment I'm in. I'd say this works like a $200 - $250 Wifi router. This costs less but you will need to invest the time to get things running the way you want.

Great router for those that are tech savvy and like to control their router setups.

If you set up your own network or are interested in learning, I don't see how you can do better that this. If you are not exclusively wireless, you will likely need an ethernet switch in addition but I think that it is better to have a separate device for that anyway. I especially like the serial USB terminal connection. It makes working with the system so much easier. For some reason it even gives me a few extra frames per second from a wireless web camera compared to the cable company box. So it is fast as well. It came with a recent version of openwrt but a new version was released since then so I updated it. The update was easy and a lot less tense than usual since i had absolutely no worries about bricking and Knew the new version was compatible. Finally, If you want to work with software or hardware network development, I don't have to tell you this is THE router to get.

Quality build and the easiest router to flash with the OpenWrt firmware without risking a bricked router, after all, it is an OpenWrt One router. ;)

Initial setup was a bit confusing, but after reading the online docs it wasn’t too bad. It hasn’t given me any issues after first setup. I had been using netgear routers for years and I would always find bugs causing connection issues or what I thought was an ISP issue… usually just me fighting cheap router demons. Openwrt has a lot of cool features and it’s been very reliable. No connection drops and it works great for the 20+ wireless connections. Like that it’s open source and I can do whatever I want with it. Might look into the r3 or something with more option later, but a decent all around router for the money. Signal also had decent range, my house isn’t huge, but I get signal in my driveway through at least two walls and the garage door about 30 feet away

How To Connect: Connect the router to your modem and to your Linux PC. It ought to connect to the internetwork automatically. Set a long root password. Activate Wi-Fi and change the default SSID name (the name of your wi-fi network), which is factory set to "OpenWrt", to whatever name you want ('coz you don't want hackers in the neighbourhood to know you are using OpenWrt) and create long password for it. [If hooking up a switch to the single out-LAN ethernet port, then make sure the switch has an external power-brick, because the switch needs to have an internal CPU, which needs a power source, for the switch to work in knowing how to split the single signal into two or more separate signals [some pattern like that]; you gotta connect the switch and hook it to your devices [eg. digital landline phone]; but then you then got to unplug the switch's power, and then plug it back in for it to work.] IMPORTANT! Inside the router, the firmware factory-release version is a developer's SNAPSHOT version, along with an outdate kernel. It works well, but you MUST flash a Stable release. Snapshots are daily development builds for developers to test the router to see if it turns on (and whatever else they have done with it); these builds receive NO security updates after they are built, lack any support, and prevent you from easily installing extra packages later due to changing kernel versions. You shan't get any automatic updates (Snapshots represent a frozen point in time and do not get patched for newly discovered vulnerabilities). With the factory Snapshot build, you can only install packages (like kernel modules or extra utilities) from the exact same day the snapshot was built; and once a newer snapshot replaces it in the repository, standard installations will fail due to checksum mismatches. Snapshots are automated builds that are untested from the main development branch. You don't want it! You want the STABLE firmware and kernel version (kernel comes with the firmware update). How to Flash (update) a Stable Release: Since your OpenWrt One likely shipped with a snapshot, transitioning to a stable release is the best practice for a set-it-and-forget-it router. Steps: 1) Open Firefox browser and open the LuCI interface. 2) Download the Image: Go to the OpenWrt Firmware Selector on the OpenWrt official world-wide-web-site, search for OpenWrt One from drop-down menu (so you'll get the version made for OpenWrt One router, and download the sysupgrade image. In my case, it looked like this: "openwrt-25.12.5-mediatek-filogic-openwrt_one-squashfs-sysupgrade.itb" 3) In LuCI, goto System --> Backup / Flash Firmware. Scroll down to Flash new firmware image, and choose your downloaded ".itb" image file. 4) You'll get this pop-up message (my screen): Flash image? The flash image was uploaded. Below is the checksum and file size listed, compare them with the original file to ensure data integrity. Click 'Continue' below to start the flash procedure. Size: 10.75 MiB MD5: {they'll show a long string of numbers and letter here} SHA256: {they'll show a crazy-long code of numbers & letters here} 5) In OpenWrt website, navigate to the Official OpenWrt Downloads directory for your router's build (https://downloads.openwrt.org/). You'll get a messsage like this: Welcome to the OpenWrt download area. Follow the links below to find the appropriate directory. Stable Release The current stable OpenWrt 25.12 release is linked below. It is adviced to use the latest available release if possible. OpenWrt 25.12.5 Released: 2026-06-29 6) Click on the latest version. In my case, above, the version was "OpenWrt 25.12.5". The link sends you to a page saying, "Index of (root) / releases / 25.12.5 / targets / ". Scroll down to "mediatek" and click on it ('coz mediatek is what the OpenWrt One router uses). You'll now get the page "Index of (root) / releases / 25.12.5 / targets / mediatek / ". Click on "filogic". You'll now get the page "Index of (root)/releases/25.12.5/targets/mediatek/filogic/". Scroll down to: "openwrt_one-squashfs-sysupgrade.itb" Next to it in the second column you'll see the sha256sum value. It should match the sha256sum in 4) above. If not, then do not install firmware! 7) Uncheck the box that says, "Keep settings and retain the current configuration" to ensure a clean transition, because you don't want to keep the Snapshot firmware configuration. You'll then get a pop up like this: Flashing… The system is flashing now. DO NOT POWER OFF THE DEVICE! Wait a few minutes before you try to reconnect. It might be necessary to renew the address of your computer to reach the device again, depending on your settings. 7) Wait a good fifteen minute just to be sure. The Message shan't go away; it's continuously say, "Flashing..." and it'll have a spinning icon always going because the browser shall not update because the router has been rebooted (make sure there's a green light in front of the router). It has indeed been flash, despite the message never going away. So, just close the browser. Open the browser again and re-log into LuCI. You'll be prompted to with the option for something like to automatically check for updates when signing-in. Agree to it and save it. 8) You'll notice a notice at the top that says to create a root password again (because it's a new firmware and OS kernel has been installed); create root password and log out. You're all set with the latest and greatest Stable firmware and OS kernel that everyone uses! You'll also have to activate wi-fi again, and re-enter your SSID name and wi-fi password again. 9) Subscribe to the OpenWrt mailing list (make sure in gmail, when you open up a new message to write you select "Plain text mode" in "More options", because the OpenWrt mailing list filters out HTML messages (because spam is written in HTML), and you'll be blocked from joining the mailing list. Check your spam box for the confirmation-to-join email and make it not spam. 10) Learn--really learn!--every pattern you can about OpenWrt and the OpenWrt One router, through the OpenWrt forums and YouTube videos. This wonderful learning--real learning!--shall better yourself and enrich your life, clearly! There's so many cool patterns you can do with OpenWrt with the OpenWrt One router! Yes! A whole new world awaits you... !!! NOTE: Has only one (1) output LAN port for ethernet cable and so I could not connect my digital landline phone to it (it was either connect my desktop PC to the router or my digital phone but not both. So, I had to buy an ethernet switch/splitter. This one: "Gigabit Ethernet Splitter 1 to 2, 1000Mbps RJ45 Internet Splitter 2 Port with 3.3FT LAN Cable, Dual Network Adapter for Cat5e/6/7/8, Support 2 Devices Simultaneously". I had to also buy a brick power supply adaptor for the switch, which was this one: "AC to DC 5V 3A USB C/Type-C Power Supply Adapter, 5 Volt 3000mA Power Cord Adapter for Raspberry Pi 4 Model B 1GB/2GB/4GB and More 5V 15W Office or Home Devices,UL Listed FCC". You must use a powered splitter/switch 'coz inside is a processor that needs power to tell how the signals are to be split (in my case, one signal from the internet going out to my desktop PC and the same internet signal going out to my digital landline phone). Sure, I could have used my desktop PC's built-in wi-fi capability to connect to the router, but I prefer ethernet cable hence the switch/splitter set up. To connect ethernet switch to OpenWrt One router LAN port: 1) make sure ethernet switch/splitter power is unpluged & connect ethernet cable OpenWrt One router LAN port then other end to IN ethernet switch/splitter; 2) connect ethernet cable from one of the switch's/splitter's OUT ports to desktop computer ethernet LAN; 3) connect ethernet cable from digital phone (or from analog-to-digital adaptor that's connect to a land-line phone) to switch's/splitter's second OUT port; and 3) plug the switch/splitter power outlet. Computer should now auto connect to internet and digital phone should work, too (sometimes for digital phone to work, unplug modem and adaptor, wait a minute, then plug back in; or, which worked for me, I unplugged the switch's/splitter's power and then plugged it back in and the phone worked).