Hi Everyone,
I want to increase security alittle with a stronger firewall behind the VM HH5.
This router must be able to allow WIFI and Ethernet connections but I haven't had much experience in this department so I don't want to spend my money on a product that isn't any different or worse off.
Thanks for reading and replying in due time.
Regards
Cosmo
You can get a nice firewall from Zyxel like FLEX200H with wifi AP NWA50AX PRO or a home router like ASUS TUF Gaming AX3000 or ASUS TUF Gaming AX6000
What's the budget?
Loads available, but depends on how much?
The best ones are circa £200+ - all depends what features you want from it - e.g. WIFI 7 support costs more usually than just a WIFI 6 AX router but future proofed for a while. Asus routers have built in WIFI and ones with Broadcom chips inside are usually supported and run better using MERLIN firmware (which is overseen by Asus and at various points they take features and put into their stock firmware. They even prepare the GPL source code and pass to Merlin for his distribution).
You got the top end WIFI 7 beast GT-BE98 which does VLANs and AV and many other things (supported by Merlin's friend GNUTON firmware as UK/Europe model only) down to cheaper ones such as GT-BE96U, GT-BE88U (with SFP port), RT-BE86U - these are all recent models, not older ones with limited firmware lifecycle left. The RT-AX86U Pro or RT-AX86 are great routers but been out for a few years, so their remaining lifecycle of firmware updates is counting down. You do get years with Asus for firmware updates unlike other vendors.
Merlin's firmware features and supported models can be found here:
www.asuswrt-merlin.net
With Merlin/GNUTON firmware you can do things like protect your DNS lookups using TLS and DNSSec, filter out porn/malware at DNS level, supports ADGuard on latest routers too, and install addons that can manipulate firewall rules (iptables) and control adware via Diversion addon. You can force clients to use a VPN connection and/or specific DNS servers even if they have their own configured in the client. You can also create exceptions for specific clients too. There are many other addons too. These are installed by SSH with easy instructions on SNBForums, the link is on Merlin's site under Contact.
Yup I agree with both posts regarding Asus routers.
I despair, this another thread where the OP admits to little or no knowledge in this field yet they want to spend money on a device they so clearly don't understand and will likely struggle to configure.
If a better firewall is required, exactly what functionality is missing from the Hub ? Only when this is in black and white making suggestions as to what if anything to buy might be possible.
So we should all b happy with the hub from a ISP and not learn new things hell why not ban 3rd party routers into the UK while your at it.
"How long is a piece of elastic?" It totally depends on your budget. I have an excellent router, switches and wireless access points with a very good firewall, encrypted DNS and ad blocking, but then it would cost you in the region of £1000. I wanted all my networking equipment to be hidden, no ugly black ‘spiders’ sitting everywhere. The only thing you can see is the ceiling mounted access points and they just look like smoke detectors.
client62 is spot on. What security function specifically do you want to improve?
