Hi Folks,
I host a nextcloud instance, a NAS, and a few content portals for things like ebooks and music (internal only). I’ll be migrating Smartthings to Home Assistant eventually. We’re going to be upgrading to fiber soon and I have the opportunity to rebuild my wife’s network with a long term outlook (we’ll likely be here for years). Currently we have an older eero mesh system over cable internet. My desk is right where the cable currently comes in so all my Ethernet devices can live near the router.
My question is this:
What am I missing out on as a self-hoster by using whatever equipment metronet gives me?
What am I missing out on as a regular internet user by using the default equipment.
Am I likely to be annoyed about where the fiber comes into the house?
If it makes sense to buy my own router or access point(s), what is a reasonable balance between “daddy Bezos please read all my emails” and “you’ll never be secure until you build a router from custom circuit boards you custom ordered and hand assembled in a secure area”.
I’d like to avoid complex configuration, but if I can surface advanced options when needed, that would be great.
My Linux knowledge is intermediate. My networking knowledge is begintermediate.
I would suggest getting a router that runs OpenWRT or OPNsense. That will let you configure anything you need to. It’s open source firmware so it will respect your privacy.
If you go with OPNsense, you will need separate access points since it runs on a PC. The Unifi access points work well for that.
I’m ashamed to admit I totally forgot about ddwrt/openwrt. It’s been a decade or so since I messed with that. Good call.
OpenWRT and dd-wrt are very different. OpenWRT is as open as can be and dd-wrt is designed to be more compatible with Broadcom though special licensing.
Basically stick with OpenWRT or OPNsense. With OpenWRT you need to manually update to get security patches which can be inconvenient. I’m not sure about OPNsense.