I have since reconfigured, however I first used my hAP ax2 as a straight ethernet router, with otherwise superfluous WiFi as the management portal rather than reserving any ethx.
In a sense each Mikrotik router is exact in its hardware, not expandable and always with some complaints about “but it has no USB/SFP/2.5Gb” or some such. The strength is being able to configure in ROS any and all of routing, wireless (including virtuals) and switching functions in practically endless ways.
I recently installed a Hex R as an internal firewall for my trusted devices. I made no before-and-after measurements but observationally access to servers is unimpeded in a 1Gb network.
I think the point is that WiFi module costs money that could have been spent elsewhere (better CPU, 2 Gbps eth1-CPU link etc) or just excluded to make the price less.
I have several hAP ac2 devices that I’m using as routers only, WiFi is disabled. It has a great CPU for the price and a USB port. Sadly, it’s very low on RAM (but works for my purposes). When ax2 came out, it became another good choice as a router precisely because it’s more powerful than hEX and much less expensive than RB5009. I wish they kept USB port. I would also prefer hEX form-factor for a router.
I agree with the OP that there is no middle ground router between hEX and RB5009. I hoped L009 would be that router, but its routing performance is noticeably worse than ac2 while the price is 50% higher.
At the moment it appears ac2 and ax2 are filling that middle niche. Since WiFi is not used in this scenario anyway, and routing performance between the two is about the same, it comes down to whether you need a lot of RAM. If you don’t, then ac2 might be a better choice due to lower cost and a USB port. For a long time ac2 was a very good deal at $70, then a few years ago MikroTik raised the price.
I was also disappointed with hEX E50UG since I wanted a similar performance as ac2, even if it was also $80. However, when we think of hEX refresh as what it really is - a refresh, not a new model - one cannot dismiss it’s a nice move from MikroTik to offer a better performing device for the same price. And yet if you are releasing new hardware, it’s an opportunity to perfect a popular model. I wonder if MikroTik had to sacrifice some things to meet the price point of the old hEX. I would rather have a better CPU, better CPU link, IPSec offload even if it raised the price $10-20.
Commodity hardware, used as heart of MT devices, often already include everything needed for WiFi and only extra hardware needed are a few antennae … in simplest form they are realized as PCB antennae, or they are actually 3D metal structures soldered on PCB. Either way the cost is a few cents. And that’s exactly how hAP ax2 is made (ax3 is different, it features pigtails, connectors and external antennas, adding a few dollars/euros to the manufacturing cost).
Since now days largest market is “wireless routers”, it’s quantity which drives price per unit down … and makes such chipsets relative and absolute cost bargains. So it’s actually cheaper to take SoC with wireless included and disable wireless function than to take equally performant SoC without wireless … because unit price of wireless-less SoC will actually be higher.
Thanks bro, this really helped me fix my problem. I have a FTTP(500M) circuit but I can only get 200-300Mbps with ether1 as WAN. And With same configuration, just make ether2 as WAN, I can get 600Mbps!!!
So what can ether1 be used for??? We just get a 4 ports router?
I used it to connect a printer. 100Mb connection so I’m sure the CPU will not have a problem with it.
Keep in mind old Hex is also something odd in router mode with 2 buses connecting to CPU (1/3/5 on one bus and 2/4 on another).
In switch mode, all 5 ports can be connected together.
Now I remember, about two years ago I used Hex (RB750Gr) for a short period and then the achievable internet speeds were incomprehensibly low.
However, I quickly migrated with mikrotik to the PC platform and did not delve into this problem.
Is hAP AC2 free of the “ether1 as uplink” problem?
The EdgeRouter X and X-SFP can be configured to use dual 1Gbps CPU/switch links, allowing for up to 1Gbps/1Gbps routing throughput. https://github.com/openwrt/openwrt/pull/10238
CONFIRMED
I’ve just upgraded 2 days ago to Hex Refresh from the HAP AC.
I have the following configuration
4 VLANs
CAPsMAN for two APs
PPPoE GPON synchronous 1 Gbit internet connection
Permanent OVPN Client to a vacation home
The Dude running constantly with discovery jobs set at 10 minutes
Arround 35ish constant clients
Here’s a link to a speedtest i took just now, mind you, i sometimes get higher speeds. https://www.speedtest.net/result/17329439796
With the hAP AC doing the same tasks i rarely surpassed 800 Mbps.
I say you go for it if you don’t plan on doing much more than i do with it.
However, i was also streaming my surveillance cameras through an OpenVPN connection and having a video enabled teams meeting though a VDI session at the same time. Those are also quite a lot of packets that need to be processed.
I can confirm that this workaround works for me. I noticed this issue when doing speedtest on my mobile phone by wifi and external AP connected to e50ug (it is MR47B3). No matter which cell phone (with wifi6, wifi4) speed was 100mbps.
Previously I had hap ax2 and he did not have such problems, so I was suspecting that something wrong was with e50ug.
Hap ax2 will be used for something else, that’s why I bought E50UG
