hey fedi, I need a relatively cheap but decent router for robotics

my requirements are roughly:

• 2.4 GHz-capable. 5.8 GHz is a bonus but not necessary
• UI isn't complete dogshit
• range is not super important. the max range it'll be used at is like 10m
• more ports = better. absolute minimum of 3 ethernet ports. would prefer at least four.
• must be powered by USB-C
• must be able to connect to another wifi network and create a hotspot from it

bonuses:

• runs open source software
• more configuration options
• relatively compact

budget is not super hard, but somewhere around $50-$100

@solonovamax OpenWrt One!

• 2.4 GHz: definitely. I think it does 5.8 too but I'm not sure
• UI is pretty good because it's just OpenWrt - completely open source
• Only two Ethernet ports but you could always combine it with a comparatively dumb network switch
• Can be powered by USB-C
• "must be able to connect to another wifi network and create a hotspot from it" not entirely sure, but if my MT7922 can do it, I'd guess the OpenWrt One's MT7976C can too

or like, where would I go to find good recommendations for something like this?

if I were to search for it, I'd probably get like

• GAMING ROUTER 9000 SUPER GAMER HIGH PERFORMANCE
• super big name common generic router
• overpriced business router
• generic cheap chinese brand router

all of which are affiliate links from a website that pumps out slop
I have no clue where I'd go to find genuine suggestions on good high quality router for a decent price based on someone's actual experience

@solonovamax I’d go for something like a Mikrotik hAP ax S. The only “breaking” constraint is the “must be powered by USB-C”; however, it does come with a standard barrel jack, and there are plenty of USB-PD -> barrel jack dongles you can find online that should be able to power this. The spec sheet states

Powering

Number of DC inputs 2 (DC jack, PoE-IN)
DC jack input Voltage 12-28 V
Max power consumption 34 W
Max power consumption without attachments 11 W

which should fall under the 65w pd standard.

@solonovamax WinBox isn’t complete dog shit. It reminds me a lot of old school *nix GUIs. It also has a native linux app and doesn’t look ancient and decrepit (you don’t have to run it under wine anymore too!). RouterOS v7 is based on the Linux Kernel although I’m unsure about RouterOS v7 being fully open source.

@puppygirlhornypost2 PoE in/out is actually really nice, though I don't think it'll like 48v passive, so I won't be able to replace the two injectors for our antennas with a single injector

@solonovamax Speaking from experience with their ethernet router you should be able to connect to a wifi hotspot and then provide internet from it. I use IP passthrough with my AT&T router (it’s on 192.168.0.254 and my Mikrotik is on 192.168.1.1. The network works fine, i have DHCP client setup on the AT&T router side as my static config broke recently when our IP changed. I also have DHCP server giving out 192.168.1.63-192.168.1.254)

@solonovamax yeah you can use station mode on one band

@puppygirlhornypost2 oh, it's only one port has PoE in and one port has PoE out anyways

@solonovamax like you could connect over 2.5 and then broadcast 5 but im not sure you can do both connecting 2.5 and broadcasting 2.5.

@puppygirlhornypost2 that should be fine

@solonovamax a open source router firmware's table of hardware might be decent

@niko but that doesn't tell me which ones are good (also, which OS? I know there's a couple)

@puppygirlhornypost2 @solonovamax as far as I can tell it’s almost entirely proprietary other than the kernel, and even the kernel sources aren’t published on their website and instead have to be requested by email (and possibly aren’t even complying with the GPL for RouterOS 7, although maybe that’s changed)

which is a shame, since otherwise that looks like quite a nice router