The Flint 2 has some pretty decent specs such as 4x2.5GbE ports. It doesn't hurt that it supports OpenWRT. If I have no need for the wireless aspects, is it worth buying a Flint 2 as a wired router? Can I build or buy the equivalent of OpenWRT from AliExpress or Amazon if there are alternatives out there?
I'm still learning about networking. My home is already wired with Cat5e. I want to get a managed PoE 2.5GbE switch. I intend to add security cameras that use PoE. Can I use the managed PoE switch with the Flint 2? Will I be able to create VLANs?
GL.iNET make some really good travel routers. Their home networking enterprise has been much less impressive to put it politely. If you can afford it, then just go for the best and thank me later. You will also definitely have much more fun learning about networking with the Unifi ecosystem.
If you like vanilla OpenWRT the chipset in the mt3000/6000 is the officially supported chipset of OpenWrt so it’s always got the latest version. As only a wired router I wouldn’t use the closed source firmware but open source I would
I was looking at the OpenWRT One too. That is cheaper and it does seem like it'll be supported for a long time. How does that chipset compare to the Flint 2?
I'm not against using the GL.iNet firmware, but if they ever discontinued support and you seem to indicate that the Flint 2's chipset is officially supported by OpenWRT, then I guess I'll have long-term support?
Are you aware of any other OpenWRT-supported router with similar or better specs than the Flint 2, but cheaper? I just want to know if the Flint 2's pricing is competitive with its peers.
Oops, you're right. Can I extend the number of 2.5GbE ports with another switch? If so, will the Flint 2's 2.5GbE bandwidth be split amongst all the ports in the switch?
Well there are alternatives non gl products having similarities, since i moved to a bigger house i wanted a extra AP, i went with a Zyxel T-56 from Odido, wifilinks sells them for a pretty cheap price.
But these routers are originally marketed as privatised isp routers by Odido/T-mobile their raw firmware won't even give internet, it will not be easy to flash, you likely need UART to serial and use the follow this guide:
Also Odido makes it harder now, there is a new version of their firmware which locks it, but if that is what you refer as cheap and you are willing to spend extra time on it, go for it , normally the price is the same or lower than other routers with the same chip, like asus ax6000 etc, so yes it is competitive with the exception for the T-56 that is a little different story
In your opinion, is the Flint 2 with the latest vanilla/mainline OpenWRT better than even the OpenWRT One as a router? The specs are clearly better. At the same price point, is there anything similar or better than the Flint 2 with OpenWRT?
Best is to look into the cpu, the amount of cores + how many mhz/ghz they do.
And if it is a mediatek chip, or qualcomm, mediatek is better supported because the calibration / firmware blobs are public and one of the developers has close tights to Mediatek directly.
Qualcomm doesn't public their calibration firmware, most of it is either ripped from original router firmware (atleast that is what I think), alot of bugs can happen and it can take a really long time a router gets support, feature sets like NSS offloading are out of the window unlike Mediatek, and there might be alot of vague issues nobody could explain.
And then you can look to all the other things such as is a nvme drive support needed?
For wifi versions it's basically this:
For each wifi version it takes minimum to one year or more to stabilize, so if you buy wifi 7 now the chance is that you will get a very bugged device, instead wifi 6 would be a better choice for stability, back when wifi 6 was out alot of issues got fixed in wifi 5, there is a pattern here
So there is not a yes but also not a no, it's important to do you research about the router
It's also possible you go for just a x86 nuc, some have similar price but require more attention for support to drivers and alot of research, it really depends on your use case.
Check out the Brume 2. Pair this with some access points and it will work. You can do VLANs however it's more involved as you will need to do the VLANs on both the router and switch level.
I currently run a Brume 2, 2.5gb managed switch, 2x PoE Access points running off my other 2.5gb PoE switch.
The Brume 2 only has 1gbe lan so traffic on the LAN hitting WAN will only be able to get 1gb however on local I can transfer at 2.5 speed as my traffic is going via switch. I can achieve my Full ISP speeds which is currently around 550mbits and the little Brume doesn't even break a sweat. It sits there and pulls around 2w which is also going to be less than a flint. I'm in awe of just how good this router is and the price....well it's cheaper. I bought the plastic model which also cheaper.
Actually the Flint 2 only has 2x 2.5G ports, one of which is reserved for WAN. The rest of the LAN ports are all 1G. The Flint 3 however has 2.5G LAN ports.
Regarding VLANs, yes of course. You can configure them in LuCI.
You can run vanilla OpenWRT on the Brume 2 but why wouldn't you want to use the glinet firmware? The whole advantage of the glinet firmware is its ease of use with regards to VPN routing, Parental controls, adblocking and more.
Yes, I know, but I'm assuming the F2's 2x 2.5GbE WAN ports can be used simultaneously. True or not? I intend to plug a cellular modem and fiber optic Internet into the two WANs with cellular as the backup in the event of failure.
As long as GL.iNet supports the product, sure, but once it abandons the product, which seems normal for a lot of these Asian companies to have little to no long-term support, I want to flash it to OpenWRT to have a secure and private product. We have so much e-waste these days. Without support from GL.iNet and OpenWRT, I'll have to get rid of the product due to potential security issues. I don't upgrade networking equipment like with phones because it's not necessary. So whatever I build now, should last 5-10 years. Or look at it this way, if I'm paying for gigabit internet and my networking gear is working flawlessly to give me gigabit speed, then why upgrade? Unless I need more speed, which I doubt based on my current use cases, the only other thing I'm worried about is security updates.
, normally the price is the same or lower than other routers with the same chip, like asus ax6000 etc, so yes it is competitive with the exception for the T-56 that is a little different story 
