Banana Pi launches $30 OpenWRT Wi-Fi 6 Router with WPA3 protection, optional PoE

Banana Pi is now selling a fully built Wi-Fi 6 router with some solid features for just $30 excluding shipping via Ali Express. This router uses OpenWRT firmware and dual-core Arm A9 Processor-based Triductor TR6560 SoC with Triductor’s TR5220 WiFi 6 chipset. 

The company has been selling this WiFi 6 router board on its own, but now you can buy an out-of-box unit that contains an enclosure for the board with six external antennas, Ethernet cables, and a power adapter with either EU or US plugs. The only difference here is that one of the LAN ports is removed. 

The specifications of the Banana Pi BPI- Wi-Fi 6 router are as follows:

• SoC – Triductor TR6560 dual-core Arm Cortex-A9 processor @ 1.2 GHz with LSW (Line-Card Switching) and hardware NAT up to 5 Gbps
• WiFi chipset – Triductor TR5220 WiFi 6 chipset
• System Memory – 512 MB DDR3
• Storage – 128MB SPI NAND flash
• Networking
  • 1x Gigabit Ethernet WAN port with optional PoE support
  • 3x Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports
  • 2.4 GHz WiFi 6 (802.11ax) 2×2 MIMO up to 573.5 Mbps
  • 5 GHz WiFi 6 (802.11ax) 2×2 MIMO up to 2401.9 Mbps
  • 4x external antennas
  • WiFi supports AP and STA modules, WPA, WPA2, WPA3 security
• Debugging – 6-pin debug UART header
• Misc – Power button, Reset button, WPS button, 9x LEDs
• Power Supply – 12V DC via power barrel jack
• Dimensions – SBC: 137 x 107 mm

The router supports the 802.11ax bandwidth protocol and provides WPA3 password protection. Power over Ethernet is optional and can be added via a module, but it needs to be soldered. Banana Pi’s wiki page specifies that its 2.4G signal works up to 40 meters to provide 573.5 Mbps bandwidth and 5G works up to 160 meters up to 2,401.9 Mbps. 

Banana Pi responded to a query on YouTube that it sells the router boards pre-installed with the OpenWRT firmware, so it is probably safe to assume this would be no different with the fully built router. 

OpenWRT is currently finalizing its router specification that will pass on to its vendors, but the specifications are very different as it was based on a MediaTek SoC and has certain feature sets aimed to cost about $100. At the time of writing, there was no further information about OpenWRT One routers, but all Banana Pi had to do in this case was to sell its existing router board as a complete package. The code was written seven months ago and had the RC8 SDK update two months ago, according to Github’s log.

While it may not have exclusive features, this router costs much less than many others you can find at retail. At the time this is only sold in China-based e-commerce websites like Ali Express, however, a much higher-spec Banana Pi board-based router is currently available via Amazon that’s sold as a kit and likely needs the firmware to be uploaded manually.