The GL.iNet GL-MT6000 or the Flint 2 is a WiFi router that was surprising when we found the chipset it is running. Inside, it has the MediaTek MT7986AV, which is the same processor found in the BPi-R3 Mini at just a slightly higher price ($139. We had a Banana Pi R3 Mini Kit (Amazon Affiliate) in our cart to build an OpenWRT test platform with, but then realized that the Flint 2 was a similar price at $139, with some hardware upgrades and a nicer design, so it seemed like a better idea. As a result, we bought a Flint 2, found OpenWRT running underneath the GL.iNet firmware, and then put the device through our new network testing.
If you just want to check current pricing or buy a GL-MT6000 Flint 2, here is an Amazon affiliate link.
GL.iNet GL-MT6000 Flint 2 Hardware Overview
This is the WiFi 6 generation router, but given it has 2.5GbE we wanted to test it with our wired testing suite.
The antenna array lifts into place making the front of the unit look like many others with a lot of vents and a box with antenna towers at the rear.
On one side we get vents.
On the other side we get vents and the USB 3.0 Type-A port.
This can be for storage or used for attaching a WWAN modem.
On the rear is where we find most of what is going on. There are two 2.5GbE ports, one for WAN, and one that can be either another WAN Port or LAN1. We configured this as one 2.5GbE WAN and one 2.5GbE LAN port. There are four additional 1GbE LAN ports, a 12V DC input, and a reset button.
On the bottom, we find vents, the login information, rubber feet, and mounting points.
Inside this is a MediaTek MT7986AV chipset solution, the same as we wanted to get anyway in the BPi-R3 Mini setup. There is also a MT7531AE switch inside that is handling the 1G LAN port connetivity. We are keeping this one closed since we are using it to test our future WiFi testing setup.
Next, we are going to switch it up a bit. Instead of going to the GL.iNet management interface, we wanted to show the OpenWRT LuCI management interface.
GL.iNet GL-MT6000 Flint 2 OpenWRT LuCI Management
We will get to the default GL.iNet interface on the next page, but one of the more interesting aspects of this is that in Advanced Settings, you can enable LuCI which is widely used for managing OpenWRT devices.
It took a few seconds to open, but once we were there, we could see we are running OpenWRT 21.02. There is even a page on the OpenWRT Wiki on this device.
Here you can do things like Wireless Channel Analysis.
You can setup the firewall.
And firewall zones.
You can even do things like install packages. Realistically, if you just wanted to manage this as an OpenWRT device, you can. Still, GL.iNet has its management interface on this device as well, so let us get to that.
 and see how this OpenWRT-based device performs and what the software offers){kind=link}