OpenWrt One now officially available as new open-source router board

The OpenWrt One has finally reached open sale, having debuted at the start of the year. For context, the OpenWrt Project has been around for some time as an open-source router software solution. However, the One is the first hardware that OpenWrt has released, which it created in collaboration with Banana Pi.

Ultimately, the OpenWrt One is a relatively simple unit. For instance, it features just two RJ45 Ethernet connections despite being advertised as a router. Moreover, only one of these is 2.5 Gigabit. By contrast, the second is limited to 1 Gigabit. On top of that, the OpenWrt One offers up to Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, not the newer Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7 standards. For reference, the router also contains the following other hardware:

• MediaTek MT7981B (Filogic 820) chipset
• MediaTek MT7976C dual-band modem
• 1 GB DDR4 RAM
• 256 MB SPI NAND flash
• 16 MB SPI NOR flash
• M.2 2230/2242 slot (PCIe 2 x1)
• 1x USB 2.0 Type-A (host)
• 2x USB Type-C (1x power/1x console/device)

Nonetheless, the device has a few tricks up its sleeve, not least its open-source software. Namely, the OpenWrt One can boot a recovery image if the board's onboard image becomes corrupted. As a result, the router should be difficult to unintentionally brick.

Furthermore, the OpenWrt One supports MikroBUS expansion, Power over Ethernet (PoE) and RTC battery backup. Incidentally, the router should be compatible with cases designed for the more expensive Banana Pi BPI-R4 (curr. $128 on Amazon). Currently, the OpenWrt One starts at $68.42, albeit without a case. By contrast, adding a case increases the device's cost to $89.