Project pfsense – Custom VDSL Router

Posted on by

With the left overs from my failed mini-ITX build I have come up with project pfsense. The idea is to use the hardware as a VDSL modem router by using pfsense, a BSD based router firewall open source software. I tried pfsense using a Gigabyte GIGABYTE J1800N-D2H motherboard, 2.41Ghz dual core SoC Celeron processor with a BT openreach ECI modem to test suitability and the results were quite good.

The firewall logs showed a lot of activity being blocked but the main purpose for gaming was where it really stood out for me, it performed much better than the BT smart hub (Home Hub 6). My connection seemed more responsive including when browsing websites. pfsense offers a lot of options and services such as VPN support (OpenVPN) which will be useful later on but seeing as it performed well on the 10W SoC Celeron processor I will use the Asus Z170i Pro Gaming motherboard with a Celeron G3900 in the Node 202 case.

The openreach modem is a little dated so I plan to use a VDSL2 modem PCI-E card from DrayTek, the VigorNIC 132. It’s a fairly new product with very little reviews so hopefully it will work well with my ISP / cabinet.