BPI-R3 WiFi6 OpenWRT Router Board

In the days before personal computers, my great-grandfather built a crystal radio from scratch. Years later, my mother bought and assembled a Heathkit radio while she was in college, which gave her great pride of achievement.The Banana Pi R3 WiFi router connects with that same maker spirit: "some assembly required", as they used to say in the TV ads. It is a well- packaged, powerful, high-quality device boxed in kit form. It is an excellent value if you are inclined to invest the time to get it assembled and configured.I am thrilled with mine. My WiFi connection is well over ten times as fast as with my old AC router, and I am quite happy with the OpenWRT user experience. Reception is fantastic throughout a large house. I may add an nVME card and use this as a file server. I will also note that the seller (WayPonDEV) responded immediately to my post-sales support questions, and clearly takes customer satisfaction quite seriously.I chose this item because it's the best product I can find that gives me complete control of my network. The Banana Pi R3 is to routers what linux is to computers: a pure experience you control. You can choose to install any system you like, but I chose the latest release of OpenWRT. This is a powerful, versatile, open-source operating system for WiFi routers, distributed entirely for free, developed by passionate volunteers as a labor of love. It has integral support for everything you might conceive of doing with a router: VPNs, DMZs, port forwarding, DDNS, secure file storage with remote access, webservers, databases, etc. As for the Banana Pi R3, it features 5 gigabit RJ45 ports, two high speed SFP ports, 8 antennas, several boot and recovery options, an nVME slot, an NGFF slot, PWM fan controller, tons of I/O headers, status LEDs, a 4G LTE card expansion SLOT + SIM card reader, SD card slot, and several kinds of integrated onboard flash memory. It's like a hybrid between a "Pi" and a WiFi router. With a bit of tinkering, you can get it to monitor the temperature and humidity, open your garage door, or drive a NeoPixel colored light display.Last year my friend asked how she could travel through Europe and work remotely without alarming her employer. With a pair of these routers (one could be the smaller "mini" version), you can establish a secure wireguard VPN to your home network, and no one will be the wiser about your physical location!If you're still excited about this concept but want a preassembled and preconfigured unit, you might consider the OpenWRT one, available from the same vendor. Similarly, if you want the latest and greatest, youcan buy a fully-assembled Banana Pi R4, featuring WiFi 7.Pros and cons of these three related products:OpenWRT one: OpenWRT is preinstalled--much easier setup. Reception range is not as great; this is better for a moderate-sized home. Supports WiFi 6 (AX). Integrated serial console port. Only one RJ45 LAN port. Least expensive option.Banana Pi R3: More powerful and expandable than the OpenWRT one, with greater range. Supports WiFi 6 (AX). Requires assembly and software installation.Banana Pi R4: Available preassembled. Features latest WiFi 7. Most expensive. I don't have one of these so I can't tell you more.Assuming thatyou choose the Banana Pi R3, here is a quick summary of the setup process (complete instructions with screenshots are easy to find online):1) attach the thermal pads and fan using provided screws and tool2) attach the antenna pigtails to the tiny uFL connectors3) attach the other ends of the connectors securely to the case4) slide the motherboard into the case and screw it in5) attach the UART adapter to the serial console header6) image an SD card with the openwrt firmware (available online)7) connect the UART adapter to your computer's USB port8) open the UART in a terminal program like minicom9) set the DIP switches properly for the next step (see instructions)10) insert the SD card and power on the router11) quickly choose the menu option to install openwrt to NAND flash12) turn off the power and remove the SD card13) change the jumpers again (see instructions)14) power on, choose the menu option to install to eMMC flash15) boot openwrt16) run a couple uci commands (see instructions) to enable the wifi radios17) you may need to install "luci" (see instructions) to enable the web-based GUI for managing your router18) reboot the router and connect to the "OpenWRT" via WiFi (no password yet)19) Use your web browser to secure and configure your router (see instructions)If you have no interest in technology and want a product that you can unbox and set up with a single click of the WPS button, this is not the right product for you. But if you want a powerful and extremely flexible router, with tons of capabilities, at an attractive price, this is it!

This is a great bargain as long as you are up to the task of setting up OpenWRT. It is not for the beginner. You will need some Linux/CLI knowledge. At the time of this writing there is no GUI web interface included in the default OpenWRT package, which is still in Release Candidate stage. But, installing LuCI (the web interface) is pretty straight forward. Once you have LuCI installed, the average bloke, like me, will be in more familiar territory. There are plenty of online resources to help you get started. This was my first experience with both OpenWRT and LuCI, and it was not painful to get it all up and running. Static leases and Port Forwarding was simple.Impressions. Fast. Everything on the router is fast. Installs and restarts are mere few seconds. I used this replace a consumer grade TP-Link that absolutely crawled, not just in the GUI, but routing too. I have a lot traffic on my home network with 6 security cameras, 2 servers, all the smart-home stuff we surround ourselves with, Rokus... yadda yadda.. The latency on the LAN and WIFI was really really bad. I was going to segregate the cameras to a separate network, but this BPI is so fast, it wont be necessary.Assembly is required. The unit's metal case is built like a tank. It has a small foot print. The Wifi antenna leads were plenty long enough to hook everything up.The Banana-Pi is really a marvel, and at a great price point. It puts consumer routers to shame with its performance and speed. It really speeds up browsing. I immediately had web sites popping up instantaneously on my PC (milliseconds), all I did was swap out the router.My only regret is that I didn't buying it sooner.

Really enjoyed the challenge of getting this thing working. I've only been using it for a few days, but it seems to work really well as a WiFi access point, using OpenVPN to route all traffic through my VPN. I plan to setup video streaming from a USB drive soon.Things to know:1) Mine came with an odd selection of hardware, and the heatsink/fan was not assembled as the seller indicated it should be. I needed to purchase some screws to assemble the heatsink. Not a big deal, but it wasn't "everything included" like you might expect from a consumer product.2) Documentation is sparse...you'll be digging through online forums...the software is under active development3) As others have indicated, the wires to the antennas aren't long enough to go around the heatsink and allow all combinations of layout. In other words, if you want your 2/5G antennas in a specific configuration, you might need to purchase other wires. The included ones were long enough to work if you aren't picky about which antennas are 5G and which are 2G.4) This board has an issue where the WiFi functions are grounded out (disabled) when the serial connector is attached. You'll need to remove the serial connection and use Ethernet to configure WiFi.Have fun!