PC based Router

Revinval · January 4, 2014

I have watched a few videos on using an old PC as a router and was wondering if anyone had any experience with it. Specifically how the PCIE wireless adapters work in comparison to those on a consumer grade wireless routers.

I have all the parts other than a PCIE wireless card and wanted to know if there was a performance gain or loss when using this method. I would be using it for home use in a non-critical way (wifi that is). Any information range/latency/number of devices connected are all things I am interested in knowing about. Thought this would be a fun project. I am looking forward to your input!

xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt · January 4, 2014

PfSense is great for wired connections, but its wireless is truely awful.

You would be much better off just using an off the shelf access point and wiring it to your PFSense box.

VVlasy · January 4, 2014

Normally I would say go and use RouterOS, since its free version does more than enough for what most people need. But in your case PfSense would be the way to go. But I would honestly go for a Mikrotik Router with AP (Lower Power comsuption, advanced feature set because you get a full routeOS lincense, smaler footprint).

PC routers are used in high user count applications (going into thousands) are you sure you need the PC router?

As i said, I think a dedicated router (E.G. mikrotik) would be more than enough for you. Just tell me what you need and I can recommend the right router for you. Sure, there is the need for a small investment, but you make up for it by saving on your energy bill.

This: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1EA12S9906 has 5 GBit ports on the front, 2 internal antenas, and is b/g/n. If you would want an AC solution, mikrotik also has that, but of course its much more expensive.