In fact, there are simply too many choices for egress devices, ranging from dozens of yuan to thousands or tens of thousands of yuan. Depending on each person's different needs, the choices can be described as highly diverse. Therefore, this article is written solely with my personal needs as the starting point, and everyone should ultimately make their choice based on their own actual needs.
My requirements are summarized as follows:
Support multi-dialing (this is the most basic requirement, as my home broadband can do 3-dialing~)
Support flexible flow control and traffic splitting settings (with multi-dialing, this requirement naturally arises)
Dynamic DNS client (must support at least Alibaba Cloud DNS, Tencent Cloud DNS, and Cloudflare)
Support virtual machines and Docker (optional, preferably supported)
Support udpxy (for unrestricted IPTV viewing)
The DHCP mode of the WAN port supports Option 60 and Option 61 (authentication methods for IPTV vary by region; if it is PPPoE authentication, this is not needed)
IPv6 (actually, there are many features to detail here, but we won't mention them for now)
No Wi-Fi function needed (I use a separate wireless mesh device setup)
Stable and hassle-free (if it is to serve as the egress device for a data center, stability is the top priority)
The first 8 points basically rule out almost all normal home broadband routers, so my only choice left was a soft router. I have also tried OpenWrt/LEDE among them, but I wasn't very used to the configuration logic, and installing plugins was also a hassle. The main egress device is not suitable for constant tinkering; stability is first (so I use a separate machine as an upstream router to implement other features), and ultimately, I chose iKuai.
Actually, for friends whose home broadband does not have a public IP, the requirements for the main router do not need to be too high: as long as it is stable and supports IPv6, it's fine, because other features can be implemented via a "bypass router" mode. Of course, I do not recommend this "bypass router" usage mode (professionally speaking, there is no such concept at all), but from the perspective of applicability, the "bypass router" usage mode is indeed the most convenient, though the most convenient is not necessarily the best.
So, which usage mode do I think is the best? You can refer to the article:Soft Router Series: Discussion on the Best Deployment Scheme for iKuai + OpenWrt (Goodbye, Bypass Router)。
Due to my profession, when I worked in pre-sales, the products I sold included link load balancing features, so I had a comparison in mind. In this regard, iKuai can be considered extremely powerful in egress link load balancing. Most importantly, it completely fits the domestic situation (the foreign brands I sold before always suffered from local incompatibility). As for other features, although I don't use them, they can already be described as very comprehensive. The most critical point is that the free version provides these features, and the free version even allows you to open support cases (see if you are impressed), which is why I ultimately chose iKuai.
But what are the disadvantages of iKuai? First, it is not suitable for people who like to tinker, as you cannot install custom plugins, and the virtual machine and Docker features are relatively weak; if you need new features, you can only wait for upgrades. Second, iKuai is a product of a formal enterprise, so don't count on certain features. Therefore, if you want one device to implement all features, iKuai is not suitable, which is why many netizens online use virtual machines to run iKuai combined with other soft routers in bypass mode.
Ultimately, my solution is a single hardware device running iKuai as the main router, and an ASUS AC86U as the upstream router (not an intranet bypass router). (For a detailed description of iKuai's features, see:iKuai Soft Router Series - The Strongest Multi-Dialing Soft Router: iKuai）。
P.S.: I have also made dual preparations now. In addition to the AC86U currently in service, I have also set up OpenWrt via a virtual machine to serve as an upstream router backup, so that even if the AC86U fails, there is a redundancy measure.
For related articles on OpenWrt, see:OpenWrt Soft Router Series: Detailed Tutorial on Deploying OpenWrt (23.05.2) on PVE、OpenWrt Soft Router Series - 3 Must-Install Essential Tools: openclash+sftpserver+tailscale Installation Tutorial、Soft Router Series: Discussion on the Best Deployment Scheme for iKuai + OpenWrt (Goodbye, Bypass Router)。