router News - Page 2 of 39 - CNX Software

January 6, 2026January 7, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Broadcom updates its Wi-Fi 8 access point chips portfolio with BCM4918 APU, BCM6714 and BCM6719 dual-band radios

Broadcom Wi-Fi 8 chips BCM4918 BCM6719 BCM6714

Broadcom has just announced the launch of its next-generation chips for Wi-Fi 8 access points at CES 2026 with the BCM4918 Accelerated Processing Unit (APU), and two new dual-band Wi-Fi 8 radios: BCM6714 and BCM6719. The last two build upon the Broadcom BCM6718 WiFi 8 tri-band SoC with different antenna configurations, namely 4×4 2.4GHz and 4×4 5 GHz for the BCM6719, and 3×3 2.4GHz and 4×4 5 GHz for the BCM6714, and integrated 2.4 GHz PAs. The AP4918 builds upon the AP4916, but I was unable to obtain information about the improvements from a company representing Broadcom. Broadcom BCM4918 Wi-Fi 8 APU BCM4918 key features: High-performance Quad-core Armv8 CPU complex for general-purpose software workloads Integrated Broadcom Neural Engine (BNE) for on-device AI/ML inference and acceleration Advanced networking engines to offload both wired and wireless data paths, enabling complete CPU bypass of all networking traffic Integrated cryptographic protocol acceleration end-to-end data […]

December 30, 2025December 30, 2025 by Debashis Das - 5 Comments

Add four Gigabit or 2.5Gbps Ethernet ports to the Raspberry Pi 5 with this expansion board

Waveshare PCIe TO 4 Ch Gigabit for Raspberry Pi 5

Waveshare PCIE TO 4-CH Gigabit/2.5G ETH Board (B) is a 4-port Gigabit or 2.5 Gbps Ethernet board designed for the Raspberry Pi 5. This board connects four RJ45 ports to the Pi’s 16-pin PCIe interface and also includes a mounting option for the Pi5 Connector Adapter (C). The only limiting factor is the Pi’s PCIe Gen2/Gen3 x1 interface, as the 2.5GbE ports share the available bandwidth and cannot operate at full speed simultaneously. The Gigabit Ethernet variant features Realtek RTL8153 USB to Ethernet controllers, while the 2.5GbE variant relies on RTL8156 controllers, and both integrate a VL805 PCIe to USB bridge chip. The board also includes status LEDs for link and activity indication, and draws power directly from the PCIe interface without requiring an external power supply. The device is plug-and-play and supports Raspberry Pi OS out of the box with no additional drivers required. Applications include routers, firewalls, network […]

November 14, 2025March 12, 2026 by Debashis Das - 22 Comments

Turris Omnia NG Wi-Fi 7 router features dual 10GbE SFP+, mini PCIe slot for 4G LTE/5G, runs OpenWrt-based Turris OS

The Turris Omnia NG is a high-performance Wi-Fi 7 router with a mini PCIe slot for 4G/5G modems, two 10GbE SFP+ cages, a 240×240 px color display, and a D-Pad button, running OpenWrt-based Turris OS, and designed for advanced home users, small businesses, and lab environments. Built around a 2.2 GHz Qualcomm IPQ9574 quad-core 64-bit Arm Cortex-A73 CPU, the Omnia NG supports Wi-Fi 7/6 tri-band connectivity. Additionally, it features four 2.5Gbps Ethernet ports, two USB 3.0 ports, NVMe storage support, and includes a 90 W power supply for attached peripherals. Other hardware highlights include rack-mount supports, a metal chassis, and antenna arrays for 4×4 MIMO operation. It comes 10 years after the original Turris Omnia open-source router was launched on Indiegogo. Turris Omnia NG Router specifications: CPU – Qualcomm IPQ9574 quad-core Arm Cortex-A73 processor @ 2.2GHz Memory – 2 GB RAM Storage 8 GB eMMC storage M.2 socket for NVMe […]

November 11, 2025December 31, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Giveaway Week 2025 winners announced!

CNX Software’s Giveaway Week 2025 has just ended and we’ve now ready to announce the winners. We offered some of the review samples we tested, and three companies joined us offering new samples, namely Banana Pi with two router boards, VOIPAC with an industrial development kit, and RAKwireless offered two of their IoT development kits for the fifth year running. Besides the aforementioned prize, we also included an ESP32-P4 development kit, a dry switch from SONOFF, a Raspberry Pi CM4-based HMI with a 915MHz LoRa module, a 5-inch Raspberry Pi Touch Display, and two USB PD voltage indicators on both CNX Software “International” and CNX Software Thailand. You can see all prizes shown below. Without further ado, here are the seven winners of Giveaway Week 2025 on CNX Software (English): M5Stack M5Tab – Ed Elecrow Pi Terminal – Tom Banana Pi BPI-R4 Lite router board – Stef 5-inch Raspberry Pi […]

November 7, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Nexalta Guardian NXG0042AI – Qualcomm IPQ9574-based networking solution with 10GbE, WiFi 7, 5G, local AI (Crowdfunding)

Nexalta Guardian NXG0042AI is a large networking and IoT gateway “monster” powered by a Qualcomm IPQ9574 chipset offering 10GbE and 2.5GbE networking, WiFi 7 support with up to five concurrent WiFi radios, up to four/seven 5G modems, up to 52 (e)SIMs, and two on-board Compute Module slots for Rockchip RK3588 or NVIDIA Jetson SO-DIMM system-on-modules. The main board (XWR A1) also offers 25Gbps WAN fabric, three MCUs for BMC, power management, and cryptography, M.2 slots for NVMe storage or AI accelerators, two mSATA sockets, HDMI video output, USB ports, Starlink satellite support, and a range of IoT protocol options such as LoRaWAN, 5G RedCap, UWB, Bluetooth LE, and so on. Nexalta Guardian specifications: Main SoC subsystem SoC – Qualcomm IPQ9574 quad-core Arm Cortex-A73 processor @ 2.2GHz processor System Memory – 2GB DDR4 RAM Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, 64MB NOR flash SoM sub-system 2x 260-pin SO-DIMM sockets for: Turing RK1 […]

November 5, 2025November 7, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 392 Comments

Giveaway Week 2025 – Banana Pi BPI-R4 Lite

Mediatek Filogic 850 2.5GbE WiFi 7 5G router board

The third prize of CNX Software Giveaway Week 2025 is the Banana Pi BPI-R4 Lite router board, which will be shipped directly to a randomly selected winner by the company. It’s powered by a MediaTek Filogic 850 (MT7987AV) quad-core Cortex-A53 network processor, coupled with 2GB DDR4 and 8GB eMMC flash, and equipped with four gigabit Ethernet ports, a 2.5GbE RJ45 WAN port, and a 2.5GbE SFP cage. It can also be extended with WiFi 7 and 5G cellular modules thanks to two mini PCIe sockets and an M.2 Key-B slot with USB 3.0 interface. The board also features a 16-pin MikroBus GPIO header with UART, I2C, SPI, PWM, and other signals to connect one of the over 1000 Mikroe Click modules available. As its name implies, the BPI-R4 Lite is a cost-down version of the Banana Pi BPI-R4 introduced a few years ago. The documentation has improved since the last […]

October 22, 2025October 22, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

Broadcom unveils WiFi 8 chips for access points and clients

Broadcom has recently revealed its first WiFi 8 (802.11bn) chips with the BCM43109 for wireless clients such as smartphones, laptops, tablets, and automotive devices, the BCM6718 designed for residential and operator access applications, and the BCM43840 and BCM43820 made for enterprise access applications. Broadcom BCM43109 WiFi 8, Bluetooth 6.0, and 802.15.4 client chip Specifications: IEEE 802.11bn compliant Dual-stream spatial multiplexing data rate of up to 5 Gbps during single-band operation and 5.25 Gbps in RSDB mode Up to 320 MHz channels for the 2×2 5 GHz and 6 GHz radio, and 20 MHz channels for the 2×2 2.4 GHz radio STR MLO and EMLSR support Scan radio enhances 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz channel performance Dual-core Bluetooth 6.0 with 2G, higher band SDB with HDT, and support for future Bluetooth versions IEEE 802.15.4 supporting OpenThread, ZBOSS, etc. Host interface PCIe Gen3 x1 for WiFi UART for Bluetooth PCM and I2S […]

October 20, 2025October 20, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 22 Comments

$165 Banana Pi BPI-R4 Pro board offers 2x 10GbE SFP+ cages, 7x 10GbE/2.5GbE/GbE RJ45 ports, WiFi 7 support

The Banana Pi BPI-R4 Pro is a new router board based on MediaTek Filogic 880 (MT7988A) Cortex-A73 SoC offering two 10GbE SFP+ cages/RJ45 ports combos, four 2.5GbE RJ45 ports, two Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, and optional WiFi 7 support via the Banana Pi BPI-R4-MIC-BE14 dual mini PCIe module. As its name implies, it’s a Pro/upgraded version of the Banana Pi BPI-R4 board first introduced in 2023, which doubles the memory to 8GB DDR4, doubles the SPI flash’s capacity to 256MB, and adds a few networking ports, M.2 expansion slots for a total of six, and a few other minor features highlighted in bold in the specifications below. Banana Pi BPI-R4 Pro specifications: SoC – MediaTek MT7988A (Filogic 880) quad-core Arm Corex-A73 processor @ 1.8GHz with AI-powered packet accelerator called TOPS (Tunnel Offload Processor System) System Memory – 8GB DDR4 Storage 8GB eMMC flash 256MB SPI NAND Flash MicroSD card slot 2x […]