$16 Banana Pi BPI-WiFi5 router is powered by Siflower SF19A28 dual-core MIPS SoC

Banana Pi BPI-WiFi5 is a low-cost WiFi 5 AC1200 router with four gigabit Ethernet ports powered by a 1.2 GHz Siflower SF19A28 dual-core MIPS SoC coupled with 64MB DDR2 and an 8MB flash.

It’s not the first low-cost router from the company, as the Banana Pi BPI-WiFi6 Mini was introduced this summer for $30 with Triductor TR6560 SoC, and with the Banana Pi BPI-WiFi5, they’ve now introduced a lower-end WiFi 5 router going for just about $16 plus shipping on AliExpress or $29.99 on Amazon.

Banana Pi BPI-WiFi5 specifications:

• SoC – Siflower SF19A2890S2 dual-core MIPS processor @ 1.2GHz
• System Memory – 64MB DDR2 RAM
• Storage – 8MB flash
• Networking
  • Switch – Airoha AN8855R Gigabit Ethernet switch
  • 1x Gigabit Ethernet WAN port
  • 3x Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports
  • Wireless
    • 2.4 GHz WiFi 2×2 MIMO up to 300 Mbps
    • 5 GHz WiFi 2×2 MIMO up to 866.7 Mbps
    • Frequency bands
      • 2.4GHz – 2.4GHz to 2.4835GHz
      • 5GHz – 5.150GHz to 5.85GHz
    • Antenna
      • 2x 3.5dBi external 2.4GHz antennas
      • 2x 5dBi external 5GHz high-gain antennas
• Misc – Reset/WPS button
• Power Supply – 12V/1A via 5.5/2.1mm DC jack
• Dimensions
  • PCB: 97 x 65mm
  • Router: 148 x 94 x 34mm excluding the antennas

Banana Pi has not provided an OpenWrt image yet, but still shared some information in the wiki including a GitHub repo for the 1806_SDK which has not been updated in over two years [Update: selecting the release2.0.0 branch shows some updates in the last few weeks and months]. There you’ll find source code for u-boot, Linux 4.14.90, and OpenWrt 18.06 surely leading some to ask “What year is this?”. But don’t worry as we’re told that “Banana Pi work closely with Siflower to make this product a fully open source wireless routing product”. Considering that the MIPS architecture has gotten very little love in the Linux kernel in recent years, I would not expect the Siflower SF19A28 to be ever well supported by mainline Linux, and there will be a security risk of using this router on your network.

We’re also pointed to the official SiFlower documentation, but it’s in Chinese only and has not been updated for a few years. Needless to say, most people should stay away from this router despite the attractive price.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.

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