Are you tired of your wireless router dropping your internet connection at the worst possible times?
It turns out you can build your very own router that'll perform a lot better and
it's a lot simpler to do than you might think. But why does store bought and ISP provided routers tend to be so unreliable in the first place?
So, a typical wireless router is actually three devices in one.
The actual router part is what moves traffic between the internet and the gadgets in your home.
All those LAN ports on the back of it serve as a switch,
which allow multiple wired devices to connect to the same home network.
Finally, there's a wireless access point, which enables wi-fi through those antennas that stick
out of the top. Unfortunately, these three-in-one routers can be a little bit like one of those
restaurants that tries to serve food from three different parts of the world.
Instead of doing one thing well, they do three things... just okay.
A big reason is because the CPUs they contain are usually underpowered and can get
overwhelmed if you have lots of devices connected to your network. More specifically, commodity routers often have CPUs based on older ARM designs.
Even on higher-end routers, such as these two, that cost hundreds of dollars and promise you the moon,
if only. The chips are only about as powerful as something you'd find in a low-end smartphone.
In this case, it's a Cortex A53 from 2012.
No wonder so many routers drop out with as much data as we suck down these days.
And that isn't even counting the underpowered wi-fi. I want my 4K Netflix!
But do you need a bunch of high-end hardware to build something better?
Mercifully, the answer is no. Typically, a home-built router is basically just a PC that's running a special operating system.
Just about any reasonably modern PC will do. If you've got a multicore X64 CPU from the last 10 years or so and a modest 4GB of RAM,
you likely have enough to build a system that will run circles around your old router,
and will be a heck of a lot more reliable and nicer to look at.
This means a DIY router can live on anything from a newly built desktop to an old laptop
you've kept in a closet to one of those small mini PCs that aren't much bigger than a cup of coffee.
But I wouldn't recommend anything with an ARM CPU, as operating system support for those chips is still rather poor,
and we're trying to make our lives easy here. But there is one special thing you need to make sure you do have.
Your DIY router needs to have at least two Ethernet ports,
one for WAN, or your internet connection, and one for your home LAN.
You can then buy an inexpensive switch and connect it to your LAN port
to get your other devices onto your home network. Because remember that whole your router is more than one device thing?
That's what we're doing here. The piece is coming together.
If you're using a desktop, you can easily add a second Ethernet port
by buying a separate PCIe card, which can usually be found for cheap on sites like eBay.
And if you get a card with more than one port, you can even put different devices on separate LANs for added security.
So like if an attacker compromises an unsecured device like a TV or camera,
your more sensitive devices like PCs will be protected.
It's okay to play favorites here. But if you want to keep things simple and just keep everything on one network,
the best practice is to buy a switch instead of a multi-port card.
Since using a card like that as a switch, or bridging,
is one of the few things that can overwhelm your CPU and her performance.
Now it's time to talk about our third Amigo, the wireless access point.
You can actually just use your old router as an access point by putting it in AP mode,
but you'll usually get better performance if you buy a dedicated access point.
There are lots of options out there. Just get a well-reviewed one with the range and bandwidth you need,
hook it up, and you'll have a fully functional and powerful home network.
But what about an operating system? Windows 11?
No. Probably the most popular option for DIYers is called PF Sense,
which is a completely free and open-source router and firewall solution.
It's based on a Unix-like operating system called FreeBSD
and offers a GUI similar to an off-the-shelf router, but with way more features so that you can have maximum control over your network.
I mean, it's your network. It even offers optional packages that can perform functions like intrusion
detection and ad blocking. Some other operating system options are OPN Sense,
which is a fork of PF Sense with some additional security features, and Sophos XG for Home,
which is a free version of a paid firewall aimed at commercial users.
But whatever you go with, make sure you have compatible hardware.
All of these options play very nicely with Intel network controllers,
and less so with other brands. So it's good practice to make sure both the Ethernet port built into your motherboard
and any PCIe cards you use are connected to Intel controllers.
And no, they did not pay us to say that. And if you still have problems getting your ports to work on PF Sense,
try OPN Sense instead, as it uses a newer version of FreeBSD
and tends to support some of the newer Ethernet controllers built into motherboards.
Do keep in mind though that setting up PF Sense or OPN Sense
isn't quite as straightforward as just connecting a $30 router from Walmart,
but as long as your goal is just to get up and running without doing anything too fancy,
it's not actually a very difficult process. And there are plenty of good how-to guides online
that show you how to get your Ethernet ports configured properly. Both operating systems have plenty of documentation to help you along as well,
which we'll link in the description below. And remember, if you can't get it working,
just unplug it and plug it back in.
And that'll fix it. And that'll do it for this video.
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