MikroTik hEX RB750Gr3 5-Port Gigabit Router

Extremt mångfasetterad router till ett extremt lågt pris. OBS, inget wi-fi inbyggt i denna. Kopplade trådlösa accesspunkter till den med ethernet. Läs på mycket om routerOS före du köper. Jag kommer aldrig gå tillbaka till “NetOnGiganten”-lösningar igen.

Update: 8/7/2024. After nearly 4 years of nonstop usage I can say this is the best (inexpensive, high performance and trouble-free) home networking product I have used in the past 25 years, because 1) I have never needed to reboot it (it would run for hundreds of days until a power outage or an ISP outage), 2) I have never needed to update the firmware to fix a problem – not once, and 3) it’s got excellent performance. It’s been simply setup-and-forget. Now that I have upgraded to 1 Gig fiber up/down, it is still keeping up. During a speed test, it gets ~940/930 up/down and would only use about 40% of the CPU during the test.

Here’s a detailed review:

Great value for the money. Can do 1 Gbps full-duplex on 2 of the 4 LAN ports (eth2 and eth4, more details later) and runs fairly cool. I bought an Edgerouter ER-X, but returned it because it can’t do 1Gbps full-duplex, and was looking at EdgeRouter ER-Lite and ER-4 routers. But those cost 2 to 3 times as much, run quite warm, and are much bigger in size.

Even though the Web (and Windows) interface is pretty complex, I was able to get online within 5 minutes using the Quick Set setup page (just set WAN IP to automatic and change LAN IP, DCHP range and password). This default configuration sets up a firewall that blocks all external WAN traffic not originated from LAN. The only additional setup I did was to enable UPNP (WebFig IP->UPNP->Enabled=Check. Then Add Interface: bridge=internal, ether1=external).

Initial speed test using iperf3 showed WAN->LAN speed as only 1Gbps half-dulex. When using iperf3 in bi-directional test, the speed was only 450/450 up/down simultaneously. This was with WAN connected to eth1 port and LAN connected to eth3 port.

After looking at the Mikrotik online document “Block Diagram with disabled switching”, I realized that I need to move the LAN plug to either eth2 or eth4 port to get the full 2 Gbps CPU to Ethernet bandwidth. This is because the CPU has 2 lanes of 1 Gbps each, with one lane connected to odd numbered ports (eth1, eth3 and eth5) and the other to even numbered ports (eth2, eth4). This means to get 2 Gbps bandwidth, the CPU must read from one lane (eth1/eth3/eth5) and write to the other (eth2/eth4) simultaneously, or vise versa.

I tested this theory and found that it is true. With WAN at eth1 (default config), when I moved the LAN plug to eth2 or eth4, I got 920/920 up/down simultaneously, but only 450/450 up/down simultaneously when I moved the LAN plug to eth3 or eth5. Test setup: iperf3 in bidirectional mode, using a Synology NAS and an Asus desktop connected to WAN port via a switch, and a MacBook Pro connected to LAN port.

Overall, I think this port/bandwidth limitation could be easily overcome, and this router is a great value for the money/space/power.

Update: 10/31/2020. Discovered that in the default setup, hardware switching is disabled, which means that LAN to LAN traffic is handled by CPU, and WAN to LAN upload/download speed will be affected by LAN to LAN traffic, i.e., eth2 to eth3 traffic. To check: Click Bridge->Ports->ether2->Status->Hw. Offload (check or unchecked, default is unchecked). There are 2 ways around this: 1) Use a 5 or 8 port switch for ALL LAN devices and then connect the switch to the RB750Gr3 (eth2 or eth4), or 2) change the bridge Protocol Mode from RSTP to none (don’t do this if you are not sure you should). RSTP protocol is used for loop prevention in large networks by automatically disabling certain ports in smart switches (or routers) that cause the loop. But using this protocol disables hardware switching on the MT7621A chip in RB750Gr3. If you only have unmanaged switches then they probably don’t support RSTP anyway (unless you have a mesh network in your home.)

with change to apple ios 14, many l2tp-ipsec vpn’s from many firewall routers failed. this microtik with routeros >6.0 works!
not for the noob, but its more easy to config then cisco catalyst. in fact this router is perfect to learn the networking technologies. the router comes with full routeros license with all functions and lifetime upgrades included.

not only CLI, but using the wintool almost all configs are possible. a lot of documentation and a good user forum is available

This small box handles my routing firewall requirements very well. vpn’s, vlans, ip routing. established home,game,office,guest segments. throughput is good, especially with the fast track technology
(i use tp link switches in addition)
lot of functionality for good price.

This router has NO wifi capability!!! Ethernet only!!

This review is mainly for other users like myself who are NOT router specialists and are looking for a 1 Gigabit router to connect up to 4 devices via ethernet to your internet modem. There are many reviews by people who do use and understand this device’s advanced features (which are many!).

There is excellent documentation at the manufacturer’s website including a Quick Guide. I mention this because the only complaint that I have about the device is that it comes in a small box which requires that the included printed documentation ends up in a 2 inch by 2 inch booklet with EXTREMELY small type! 🙁 I could not read it. But you can find the same information online in a very readable format.

The router comes without a password preset for the admin account. This is a big security hole that you really should fill as soon as possible. You can access the router using your browser via the IP address provided in the documentation. Click on the Quick Set tab and set a password for the admin user. You will probably have to scroll down to see the Password box which is at the bottom of the default settings. I highly recommend that you save that password however you save your other important passwords so that a year or two from now, if you become curious and or knowledgeable about using the advanced features, you will be able to log in and look at them!

Right out of the box, the router works great to connect multiple (up to 4) devices to the internet! 🙂

I ran internet speed tests with a single PC connected directly to my modem. Top results were 482 and 483 Mb/s. Ran speed tests from the same PC once the router was connected to the modem and the PC connected to the router. Top results were 485 and 486 Mb/s. Connected a second PC which immediately received an internet address. Ran speed tests simultaneously on both PCs. Results were in in the 483 to 485 range for BOTH PCs!! So there is no slow down connecting through this router in its default mode! 🙂

Users using advanced features and encryption will probably have different results as there is overhead for encryption.

But in default mode, the router connected immediately to my modem. It then assigned IP addresses to both of the PCs that I connected to it via ethernet cables and provided excellent internet service to both of those PCs.

I have been using the router for about 3 weeks now and have had no issues at all. Highly recommended!