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You can also entirely bypass purchasing a router and dedicate an old desktop PC with something like an Intel i350 NIC to run an extremely budget-friendly pfSense setup.
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You also can entirely bypass purchasing the device from Netgate, and instead, purchase something like a Protectli Vault FW2B or Protectli Vault FW4B which will allow you to easily install pfSense on it and run your own router/firewall hardware. You can get pfSense working with Wi-Fi, but the general consensus (from Netgate) is that external access points will function better. You can purchase supported hardware from a company called Netgate, but the key point that you need to be aware of is that the hardware offered is generally a router and firewall ONLY. pfSense HardwareĪs mentioned above, pfSense is a software solution, rather than a hardware solution. We’re going to break down the different hardware choices you have below.
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We’re going to break down this debate into various sections so that you can learn some of the key differences between both of these devices.
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