Mono Gateway (that's its name, it is a 10 Gbps router)

[Carlisle R.]

I have been seeing videos about it on YouTube lately, those behind it seem to have documented more or less the way they developed it and its manufacturing: https://www.youtube.com/@tomazzaman/videos

I was wondering if anyone knows anything about this, because it is a $600 piece of kit, for a router alone! I am just using the router + WiFi AP unit that my ISP provided me with, I have 1Gbps symmetric fiber link that's more than enough for my needs, although I have been thinking about getting a mini-PC or similar to experiment with it as a router. I just haven't had the time to explore it all, the learning curve seems steep and I still don't know much about networking.

Anyway, this thing is supposed to have an open source-like approach to it, maybe that's why it is expensive (for me at least), but I think there are routers that can do 10 Gbps with similar features for less money. They say it will ship with OpenWRT, but that other things will be supported too.

These are its specs from https://mono.si/:
 

Quote

 

CPU: NXP Layerscape LS1046A, 4 cores, 1.6 GHz

RAM: 8 GB, 2100 MT/s, ECC support

Networking: 2x SFP+ 10 Gb, 3x RJ-45 1 Gb

Wifi (I think not included?): 1x M.2 Key-E connector for Wifi 6.0 2x2 MU-MIMO, 1x M.2 Key-E connector for tri-radio (Wifi 5.0, Bluetooth, Thread)

Storage: 32 GB eMMC for Operating System, 64 MB NOR flash for Bootloader

Debugging: JTAG connector, 100+ test points throughout the PCB, UART USB-C port, Status RGB LED

Power: USB-C PD 3.0

Connectivity: 1x USB-C 3.0 port

Active cooling support: Yes, 2 4-pin PWM 5V fan headers

 

 

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

There are many routers out there. From a Raspberry Pi all the way up to that above.

I always say, if you know Linux/BSD well, PFsense, OPNSense or OpenWRT is a great tool.

@BudManmay be able to help here.

 

[Moved to Networking]

[Carlisle R.]

On 12/11/2025 at 16:00, Mindovermaster said:

There are many routers out there. From a Raspberry Pi all the way up to that above.

I always say, if you know Linux/BSD well, PFsense, OPNSense or OpenWRT is a great tool.

@BudManmay be able to help here.

 

[Moved to Networking]

I am afraid I don't know Linux at all, I am always keen on learning something new, I just need to find some time haha. pfSense and OPNsense are the ones I was recommended to look at, but I haven't got any hardware for now. I'll get something during Black Friday this year to experiment with perhaps, but what I have right now is enough for me really. It is 7 clients and they are all wireless except for the desktop which I have wired, the ISP box handles them all well.

Thank you for moving the post by the way! I was unsure where to write it. I chose the hardware section ultimately because it was about a piece of hardware, so it felt apt, I hadn't seen there was a section for networking.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

I have OPNSense on my ZimaBoard. (right)

ZimaBoard was only ~$120. So it's not anything like $600

[+BudMan MVC]

On 12/11/2025 at 14:41, Carlisle R. said:

afraid I don't know Linux at all, I am always keen on learning something new

What does not knowing linux have to do with pfsense or that other one. Both are modified freebsd distros.

Both are gui based firewall router distros - ie a web gui. You don't have to know anything about linux or freebsd to use them.  Can you follow a bouncing ball install? Where you answer yes/no sort of questions, or put in some info. Have you ever installed windows or macos? The install just not as pretty looking

Once either of them are installed - its pretty much just a gui. Sure you can go to the prompt and run some stuff - but you should never really have to do that. Just like with windows or macOS.  How often do you use command line with them.. Sure you can, but how many users even know you can use commandline to do stuff in windows. 

You understand all the soho wifi routers are running some linux variant.. You just use the gui they provide to manage them - pfsense and that other one same thing.

[Carlisle R.]

On 13/11/2025 at 11:49, BudMan said:

What does not knowing linux have to do with pfsense or that other one. Both are modified freebsd distros.

Both are gui based firewall router distros - ie a web gui. You don't have to know anything about linux or freebsd to use them.  Can you follow a bouncing ball install? Where you answer yes/no sort of questions, or put in some info. Have you ever installed windows or macos? The install just not as pretty looking

Once either of them are installed - its pretty much just a gui. Sure you can go to the prompt and run some stuff - but you should never really have to do that. Just like with windows or macOS.  How often do you use command line with them.. Sure you can, but how many users even know you can use commandline to do stuff in windows. 

You understand all the soho wifi routers are running some linux variant.. You just use the gui they provide to manage them - pfsense and that other one same thing.

I didn't even know pfSense wasn't Linux! 🤦

I will get something to play with soon and see how it all goes. Back when I was looking into learning about networking my home network was a bit different, the ISP had given me a single "box" where the fiber cable plugged in and it did everything, wired and wireless networking. That's when I was told it could be difficult to add anything like that to the network because I would need the credentials that the box the ISP gave me had to authenticate in the fiber side of things, or that it would only work with that hardware because it was using its MAC address for authentication, something along those lines, I am afraid I don't recall. I remember looking a bit into it, but the web UI wasn't showing anything like that.

I suppose my mind got stuck in "those custom router setups are tricky" and never looked into it again. Nowadays I have two units provided by the ISP, one where the fiber cable is plugged in, and from that box there is a wired Ethernet cable that goes to the router and WiFi AP one, so it should be easier.

[+BudMan MVC]

Even if the isp device(s) do their thing, you could quite often put it in to bridge mode, where it doesn't do any nat and provides a public IP to the router device you plug into it.  Even if you can not put it into bridge mode you could run in a double nat mode.  Not the best possible solution, but works - and unless your wanting to do something a bit off the beaten path a double nat shouldn't be a problem.

 

 

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

Depending how DIY you wish to get, you could certainly put something small together for less than $600 that will support 10GbE nics.

The Lenovo Tiny 1L Mini PC's for example make great pfSense / OPNsense devices for the home.
What's special about these is you can get a PCIe riser for certain models, such as the Lenovo M720q. This allows you to install either a 4x 1GbE, 4x 2.5GbE or 2x 10GbE nic. - perfect for a low powered router / firewall.

If you do decide that's something which interest you, the thread here is a great reference for PCIe hardware supported by the various Lenovo Mini PC's: https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/lenovo-thinkcentre-thinkstation-tiny-project-tinyminimicro-reference-thread.34925/

I've got a Lenovo M720q with an Intel i350-T4 v2 nic. This has just worked for years, only ever rebooting when theirs a new version of pfSense.

If I ever get internet faster than 1Gbps I can just upgrade the nic and keep using my current hardware.