Recommend a Tomato or DD-WRT Router

[Tsavo]

I need some recommendations for wireless routers that I can put Tomato or DD-WRT on.

All I'm going to be doing is squirting 7mb internet to 3 PC's and nothing else...no VPN, et cetera.

Thanks. 🙂

 

[Emulex]

P2P? More ram like 128mb (rare in most routers) is necesary
you going to put a cheap gigabit switch in front of it? or load up the router with switching? (hint: buy a rosewill or cheapie gigabit and let the router just route/abstract switching to its own dedicated role).

Wifi quality: it sucks - ballz - hairy ones - if you could match the chipset of all 3pc's wifi to the router chipset (broadcom,marvell,etc) then you would get better performance. otherwise its going to suck. unless you live on a farm with nobody near you. lol.

I'm about ready to put a pc together to do routing/snort/etc and move my WRT600N (DD-WRT) to role of AP. The wrt610N has 128meg (wrt600n has 64mb) and i can still run it out of ram and have it reboot or crash.

If you were to schedule your router to reboot automatically every night at like 3am - you'd probably get alot more reliability - dd-wrt and tomato both leak ram.

dd-wrt more so as you add features from basic.

That's bout the gist of it - tell us what you are going to do - if you are going to P2P alot of PUBLIC DOMAIN linux distro's be honest man.

 

[JackMDS]

Buffalo WHR-HP-G54

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833162134

Asus WL-520GU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833320023

Both are Very Good. The Asus is less expensive and have regular performing Wireless, while the Buffalo has High Power Wireless

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Entry Level Buffalo, Asus, and Linksys GL Routers can be Flashed with 3rd party free firmware.

If you need extra features (other than the Power Boost) take a look at Tomato and DD-WRT.

If the features that you need are available in Tomato Flash with Tomato.

Tomato features - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato_(firmware)#Features

Otherwise, use DD-WRT.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/What_is_DD-WRT?#Features

It is much easier to Flash Tomato than DD-WRT, thus to avoid frustration and Bricking risk I would recommend to casual “Flashers” to go with Tomato.

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As an indirect side Note.

Routers are actually small computers with very weak CPU, small memory, and the Firmware acts as the OS.

Just like you do not expect using a NetBook for D Gaming, do not expect Entry Level Router to perform well under the load that is generated by heavy P2P downloads.

Taking into consideration the big savings done by the "Questionable Downloads", One can spend few hundred $$ on a "real" Router.



😎

 

[coolVariable]

Why dd-wrt/tomato when you are not using it for anything?

 

[kevnich2]

Well IMO, especially with the linksys routers, ddwrt or tomato improves the reliability of the routers. Even if you never use any of the features, instead of having to power cycle the router all the time, it just works. I have one wrt54gl still in service that's been going for like 12 months now without a power cycle. This same router with stock linksys firmware had to be unplugged I'd say every 2 or 3 weeks on average.

 

[Tsavo]

Why dd-wrt/tomato when you are not using it for anything?

Where did I say I wasn't going to be using it for anything? If I wasn't going to use it for anything, why would I buy one?

:thumbsdown:

 

[JackMDS]

Well IMO, especially with the linksys routers, ddwrt or tomato improves the reliability of the routers.

Same is with the Asus, it is generally better with the 3rd party firmware.

Only the Buffalo High Power is good as is if addition features are Not needed.


😎

 

[RebateMonger]

I have one wrt54gl still in service that's been going for like 12 months now without a power cycle. This same router with stock linksys firmware had to be unplugged I'd say every 2 or 3 weeks on average.

I'm not saying that isn't your experience, but I'm shocked. I've had a lot of sites with WRT54G routers and those routers seemed pretty reliable. I don't kow if ANYBODY ever called me about a problem that required a Linksys WRT54G reset.

Note, though, that all the WRT54G routers I worked with were several years old. I've never even seen a "modern" Linksys router. Heck, I miss my first Netgear router, from around 1997. It was a blue-box version, cost about $110, and I don't think I EVER reset it for the three years I used it. My next router was a "modern" Netgear WiFi router, in a silver plastic case, and it required frequent resets.

 

[Obsoleet]

I took Jack's advice some time ago and got the Buffalo and flashed to Tomato. This thing is a horse. Never needs power cycled or anything. Fast. The range covers my entire BLOCK.

Most people cant even get their wireless to cover their own house. Makes me realize how sad most home routers are.

I was also looking at the Asus, due to the 32MB ram vs the Buffalo 16MB (thought it'd be better for P2P).

Buffalo works fine for P2P for me. I'm not a heavy downloader by any means though.

If you don't get the Buffalo, and you decide against it due to heavy P2P downloading.. save yourself hundreds on a good Cisco setup by just building a dedicated PC for a router with a gigabit switch. That will handle your illegal activities just fine on the cheap.

But I'd still get the Buffalo for an AP.




Buffalo + Tomato FTW. May the gods shine their blessings upon JackMDS.