I have a home network consisting of several raspberry pis, a Roku, and a total of 4 laptops and smartphones.
Currently, I have the ISP provided router/modem in bridge mode which I’ll refer to as my modem. This is connected to my own ASUS wireless router/Access Point which I’ll refer to as my access point (AP). The AP supports about 900Mbps. I’m fine with this bottleneck for now as I intend to upgrade my AP in the future
My goal here is to purchase a router that supports the 1.5Gbps that’s coming from my ISP’s modem. I’d like to use it to set up a VLAN and tinker with, with the ability to connect 4 devices in addition to my access point.
The problem I’m facing is that I haven’t yet found a router that’s <$200CAD which supports 1.5Gbps. There are probably brands I’m unaware of, so would you fine folks be able to recommend me a router?
Lots of routers on AliExpress that you can get for between $200-300 USD. If you want to run PFSense, then you need an option with an Intel NIC. Search for i226-v, that should narrow it down. Most routers that don’t specify their NIC use a cheaper one from Realtek or some other brand. Those also work fine, but they’re a little sketchy with PFSense so you should plan on installing OPNsense or OpenWRT if you get one of those instead. Topton is a popular brand with a decent reputation, look for those. They’re also on Amazon with a markup.
Another option would be a pre-built router from Firewalla, Protectli, or PFSense. Those cost more but they don’t require you to flash your own firmware, and they come with a warranty and customer service, etc.