Consumer routers frustrated me for years before I understood why. It wasn’t the hardware—my ASUS RT-AC5300 was perfectly capable for most tasks. It was the assumption baked into every consumer device: that I didn’t need to see what was happening on my own network.

At some point, I wanted my router to do something it wouldn’t do—I don’t even remember what it was now. I tried open-source firmware, which worked for a while, until I hit another wall. Underpowered CPUs, limited RAM, confusing web interfaces, and the general lack of configurability.

The Mini-PC Solution#

In 2022, I ordered a fanless mini-PC with an Intel N5105 CPU and dual NICs. It came with no RAM and no disk—I added 8GB of RAM and a 250GB NVMe drive myself. Knowing very little about router operating systems at the time, I installed OPNsense based on recommendations I’d read online.

It was one of the better decisions I’ve made.

Four Years Later#

In four years of running this setup, I’ve had essentially zero issues. No mysterious reboots, no firmware updates that break things, no “please log into your cloud account to manage your router” nonsense. It just works.

More importantly, it does things that consumer routers can’t—or won’t—do:

Custom Domain and Internal DNS#

I run my own internal domain (cruver.network) with local DNS resolution. Every service in my homelab gets a proper hostname. No more remembering IP addresses or maintaining a mental map of which device is at 192.168.1.47.

Plugins That Actually Extend Functionality#

OPNsense has a plugin ecosystem that includes reverse proxies, ad-blocking, intrusion detection, and VPN servers. These aren’t watered-down consumer features—they’re the same tools you’d find in enterprise environments, configured however you need them.

Separation of Concerns#

This approach separates routing from wifi, which turns out to be a significant advantage. When I want better wifi coverage, I upgrade my access points. When I want more routing power, I upgrade the router. They’re independent decisions now, not bundled compromises.

The Gateway Drug#

What I didn’t realize at the time was that this router would be the first step toward a full homelab. Once you control your network, you start wondering what else you could self-host. DNS today, a home server tomorrow, and before you know it you’re running Kubernetes in your basement.

The router was my first real act of infrastructure ownership. It taught me that “consumer-grade” often means “someone else’s decisions about what you need.” Four years later, I’m running Kubernetes in my basement—and it all started with a $200 mini-PC that just routes packets.