Banana Pi BPI-R4 WiFi 7 Wireless Dual-Band WiFi Router Board OpenWRT, with MediaTek MT7988A (Filogic 880) SoC, Support 2X 10GbE SFP and 4X GbE Gigabit Ethernet for NAS Smart Home Gateway (Bundle3)

I purchased this BPI-R4 with Mediatek MT7988A card because it supports WiFi 7 and 10GbE SFP fast links. Plus it support OpenWrt. This makes it an ideal platform for research experiments in high-speed network processing. The MT7988A is supported by OpenWrt, so it's easy to make custom builds. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the product, its packaging, and how it was so easy to put it together. The package includes *everything* you need to build a WiFi access point, including the serial adapter dongle, cables, fan, heat sinks, antennas. You don't really need an SD card like you do for a Raspberry Pi. The hardware was up and running within an hour, and I tested is using an SD card that I had lying around (you don't really need it) with a default OpenWrt downloaded from the Firmware Selector. I was able to first build a basic WiFi7 AP, and then with a 6GHz band enabled with a few tweaks. The Banana Pi documentation and forum was extremely helpful when I got stuck, and I was able to resolve issues (mostly w/ software) with help from customer support and the technical forums. I found it much more helpful than some of the Raspberry Pi forums. The device is compact, so you can put it almost anywhere, even with the antennas attached. I now have a WiFi7 AP at home that supports 6 GHz bands at the fraction of the cost of such routers available in the market. It offers incredible value for money. In fact, I use two for research purposes. I highly recommend it!

I’ve been using this NIC module with the BPI-R4 for several months. Setup with OpenWRT was straightforward, and the module delivers reliable performance. The 6-antenna design provides strong signal strength and good coverage across multiple rooms. I see noticeable speed improvements on the 6 GHz band, especially when streaming and transferring large files. The module handles mixed device types and frequencies well, whether it’s phones, laptops, or IoT devices. Power consumption is higher than typical consumer routers, so it runs warm under load and draws more power, but that’s expected given the performance class. It's a little expensive, but the performance and future-proofing Wi-Fi 7 support make it worthwhile if you need the throughput.

This board has completely exceeded my expectations in terms of both performance and versatility. As a networking enthusiast, it offers everything I need and more. First and foremost, the WiFi 7 support is a game changer. The wireless performance is outstanding, providing ultra-fast speeds across both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. Whether I’m streaming 4K content or working remotely, the BPI-R4 delivers a seamless and lag-free experience. It’s fantastic to see such cutting-edge technology in a product like this. The MediaTek MT7988A SoC is a powerhouse. Running demanding applications like a NAS server and handling multiple connected devices is no issue for this router. It’s clear that a lot of thought went into the hardware, and it definitely shows in the smooth, reliable performance. The 2 x 10GbE SFP ports and 4 x Gigabit Ethernet ports are a perfect touch for anyone needing high-speed, wired connectivity. This setup is future-proof and perfect for high-throughput tasks, from large file transfers to setting up a robust home server. What I absolutely love about the BPI-R4 is the OpenWRT support. This gives me full control over my network and allows me to tailor the router to my exact needs. It’s incredibly customizable, whether it’s setting up VLANs, managing traffic, or securing my smart home devices. The flexibility is unmatched. The BPI-R4 is also the perfect solution for my Smart Home Gateway. It has no problem managing multiple devices simultaneously, offering stability and fast response times. Plus, with its security features powered by OpenWRT, I feel confident in my network’s protection. Overall, this is a highly capable, feature-rich, and customizable router that offers incredible value. If you’re looking for a powerful networking solution for home automation, NAS, or even small business needs, the Banana Pi BPI-R4 is definitely worth considering. I more than happier with my purchase !!

While the vendor does supply their own forked version of OpenWRT - if you want to get actual OpenWRT which is kept up to date and open you're gonna find yourself in a bad spot with this setup. The reason why is that the eeprom has bad transmission power values programmed into it for some reason nobody can understand. There is a thread on github (openwrt issue 17489) that explains this. I did a hexdump on mine, and sure enough it had the same bad values. This is for a card purchased in June of 2029 but the issues go back very early. There are SOME that have the eeprom values set correctly, but do you want to risk getting one that doesn't? Until the banana pi folks come out with a solution to flash the wifi card eeprom with proper values, or openwrt implements a work around, I'd avoid this card.

With the powerful SoC, high-speed network ports and so many expansion slots, Banana Pi R4 isn’t just a router, it has become a homelab Linux server platform. I am running a compiled version of Openwrt 24.10.2 to replace the old TPLINK-AC1900/Openwrt. Everything was so easy to configure, customize and modify. Other than some compatibility issues with different SFP modules, I have not encountered any real issue so far. And It has been stabilized for a few weeks to support 30+ devices in 4 different VLANs, VPN, a media server and more. What is also amazing is the low power consumption. It is truly a wonderful router platform for the next 5+ years with some room to expand. Highly recommend it to anyone who wants to take full control of home networking.

The device unfortunately did not boot the first few times into its OS until I looked up the manual and adjusted the dip switches to have it boot from onboard ROM. The device has WiFi 7, recognizes the card, but from the firmware on the device it would not host any APs that I could connect to. I have been troubleshooting for days now in order to compile openwrt from scratch to throw onto an extra SD card that I have laying around. Would avoid this product if average consumer, if you're willing to get your hands dirty and tinker with the operating system you might want to give it a shot. I think I got unlucky with the unit I recieved but I am committed to trying to make it work.

I've been tinkering with Raspberry Pi's for years, I thought I would take the plunge and jump into the Banana Pi world with processors and hardware that was geared more towards a multitude of tasks. This is working great so far, I'm running a custom version of Ubuntu 24.04 and a virtualized OpenWrt instance. I'm able to also run Samba, Home Assistant and Apache. I'm very happy, and I would recommend this device and this company.

The good: Works well as a mobile hotspot with OpenWRT when a Quectel RM520N-GL is added. Fan is nearly silent. The case gets warm, but not hot. The bad: Wifi is low power and has short range. It is also not easy to get the configuration correct. I don't think the drivers are ready for prime time yet. Still a work in progress. I would recommend skipping the wifi 7 board and adding access points. Also, the SFP ports are picky about what network interface modules are used.