TechFuel HQNetworking
Home network upgrades, 10GbE guides, firewall selection, and budget gear picks. From basic switches to full rack-worthy setups.
Networking guides
Home network upgrades for people who want their bandwidth to match their use case, not their fantasy. Coverage spans 1G to 10G to 25G, with budget tiers and an honest answer to “do you actually need this?” at each step.
Articles here cite throughput numbers from a 2024–2025 home test bench (most of that gear is now retired — see Colophon) plus published third-party measurements with named sources.
Speed Tier Decisions
2.5GbE vs 10GbE for the Homelab in 2026: Which to Buy
The 2026 case for and against 2.5GbE vs 10GbE in a homelab: price gap, real throughput, when the extra cost pays off, and why most should start at 2.5GbE.
Networking10GbE Homelab Networking on a Budget: A 2026 Guide
Build a 10GbE homelab link for $50 with used Mellanox ConnectX-3 cards and DACs. Three full-stack tiers, four switches compared, plus when 2.5GbE is enough.
DNS & Filtering
AdGuard Home + Local DNS on Proxmox (2026 Setup Guide)
Set up AdGuard Home as your homelab DNS server on Proxmox: ad-blocking, local *.lan resolution, DHCP, and an optional Unbound recursive resolver.
TutorialWireGuard Self-Hosted VPN on Proxmox (2026 Setup Guide)
Run your own WireGuard VPN in a Proxmox LXC: server setup, phone and laptop client configs, split vs full tunnel, and an honest comparison to Tailscale.
Firewall & Routing
Homelab Firewall & Router: pfSense vs OPNsense vs MikroTik
pfSense Plus, OPNsense 26.1, MikroTik RouterOS 7, and UniFi 4.1 compared on a real homelab bench: throughput, IDS, multi-WAN, and where each one falls down.
TutorialOPNsense on a Mini PC: Firewall Router Setup Guide (2026)
Replace your ISP router with OPNsense on a cheap mini PC: install, set up WAN/LAN, DHCP and DNS, enable IDS/IPS with Suricata, and connect your homelab.
TutorialVLANs for the Homelab: Network Segmentation Guide (2026)
How to set up VLANs in your homelab: isolate IoT, separate a guest network, add a management VLAN. Covers OPNsense, MikroTik, and Proxmox VLAN-aware bridges.
Budget Gear
More from this section
Best Wi-Fi 7 Routers (2026): 3 Picks That Make Sense
Three Wi-Fi 7 routers ranked by 6GHz access, multi-gig ports, radio layout, and live price: the best value, wired-first, and flagship picks.
NetworkingSSH Port Forwarding: -L, -R, -D and Why Your Reverse Tunnel Only Works Locally (2026)
Local, remote and dynamic SSH forwarding, ProxyJump, and the GatewayPorts default that silently rebinds your reverse tunnel to loopback without telling you.
NetworkingHeadscale: Self-Hosting the Tailscale Control Server (2026)
Headscale needs a public IP and TLS on 443 — it cannot live in your closet. What it takes to run one, and the honest case for not bothering.
ComparisonTailscale vs Cloudflare Tunnel for Homelab (2026)
Tailscale vs Cloudflare Tunnel compared for homelab remote access: who decrypts your traffic, protocol coverage, client needs, CGNAT, and the run-both split.
ComparisonZeroTier vs Tailscale (2026): Layer 2 Switch or Plug-and-Play Mesh?
ZeroTier vs Tailscale in 2026: do you need a Layer 2 virtual switch or the simplest secure remote access? Free tiers, self-hosting, speed, licensing.
ComparisonNetBird vs Tailscale (2026): The Self-Hosted Mesh VPN Question
NetBird vs Tailscale in 2026, decided on the question that matters: do you want to own the control plane? Homelab cost, policy, and speed tradeoffs.
ComparisonWireGuard vs OpenVPN for the Homelab (2026): A Self-Hoster's Decision Guide
WireGuard vs OpenVPN for self-hosters, not VPN shoppers: architecture, real router benchmarks, road-warrior vs site-to-site, and the TCP-443 case.
ComparisonTailscale vs WireGuard (2026): Which One Should You Actually Run?
Tailscale vs WireGuard in 2026, decided on the question that matters: can you port-forward? Homelab tradeoffs on CGNAT, setup, speed, and control.
ComparisonOPNsense vs pfSense (2026): Which Firewall Should You Actually Run?
OPNsense vs pfSense in 2026 on what matters: licensing, UI, plugins, security cadence, and real homelab bench numbers. A focused pick, not a spec dump.
NetworkingWi-Fi 7 for the Homelab and Home Network in 2026: Is It Worth It?
An honest 2026 look at Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be): the 46 Gbps marketing number vs real throughput, why MLO matters more than speed, and who should actually upgrade.