Switched from a big name router to a weird one my friend built and my internet hasn't dropped in 4 months

I always bought the same popular brand for my home wifi because the ads said it was the best. My connection would cut out at least twice a day, and I just thought that was normal. My buddy, who builds custom PCs, gave me this plain black box he put together with open-source software for my birthday. I was super skeptical, but it's been running solid since January without a single reset. It made me realize I was just paying for the name and the shiny plastic shell. Has anyone else ditched a mainstream tech brand for something niche that actually worked better?

3 comments

3 Comments

nathana4819d ago

Totally get that. I ran an old Netgear for years and it was a constant headache. Swapped it for a generic mini PC running pfSense that I got for cheap, and it's been rock solid. The big brands often skimp on the actual parts inside the plastic case.

the_andrew19d ago

My buddy had a Linksys that kept dropping his video calls. He found a used Dell office PC for fifty bucks, threw a second network card in it, and installed OPNsense. Thing hasn't needed a reboot in months.

lunakim9d ago

I used to believe you needed a brand name router for good performance. After my own constant dropouts, I tried a small PC with open source software. The stability is just on another level.