[Cialug] Wi-fi recommendations

[David Champion]

Again, if you take that cheap Linksys and replace the stock firmware with
DD-WRT, OpenWRT or Tomato, it will probaby run much better. I've done this
for friends that had the WRT-160n's for instance, they didn't work worth
anything with the stock firmware. Installed DD-WRT, it's been running for
over a year with no problems.

They almost all use a similar processor chip, they may have smaller amounts
of RAM on the cheap versions so you need to install a version of DD-WRT
with a smaller footprint, but that's not a problem unless you're trying to
run extra stuff like Asterisk on it.

If you'd like, we can do a DD-WRT demo at an upcoming LUG meeting. We did
one in the past, showed how to set it up as a router, wap or wifi bridge.

-dc


On Mon, Mar 10, 2014 at 12:33 PM, Matthew Nuzum <newz at bearfruit.org> wrote:

> I will toss out one more point to consider... buying the cheapest router in
> the line of whatever brand you pick is probably going to lead to
> frustration. For example, I had an old d-link router that worked for most
> basic stuff, but if I started using BitTorrent sometime between an hour or
> 24 hours later the router would crash. Turns out that some routers get
> stressed out by activities that open many network sessions. They get hot
> and eventually need a reboot.
>
> Going up a notch or two in the price point usually gets you a device with
> more RAM and a better CPU and they are going to hold up to a variety of
> network activities, including those that aren't on our radar this year but
> next year will be all the rage.
>
> I suspect this is why people will say, "I hate Linksys, love D-link" and
> then the next person says "I hate D-link, love Linksys" etc. There was a
> dark-age of router development probably 2008-2009-ish where cheaper was
> better and they cut a lot of corners on the hardware. A lot of brands were
> using drastically different hardware even in the same models.
>
> It's probably still happening on the low-end products, so I'll just say I
> won't buy a $50 router again except for very special cases (i.e. a travel
> router).
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 10, 2014 at 12:08 PM, jim kraai <jimgkraai at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > scott, that's a lotta bang for $25
> >
> > /me googling dd-wrt support for that router ...
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Mar 10, 2014 at 11:53 AM, Scott Yates <Scott at yatesframe.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > I have one further point to make in all these comparisons.
> > >
> > > Stability has been spotty among a LOT of the different brands I have
> > tried.
> > >  Typically d-link, belkin, and a LOT of linksys routers require
> periodic
> > > power cycling.
> > >
> > > I will say that netgear appears to be an exception, along with Cisco,
> > and a
> > > company called tp-link.  I am sure there are others, but as you noted,
> > most
> > > people expect their devices to run without thinking about it after the
> > > initial config.
> > >
> > > Here is a link to the TP-LINK router I bought and have been VERY happy
> > with
> > > in case you want to check it out.
> > >
> > > http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004UBU8IE
> > >
> > > If you don't want to buy a more expensive Cisco, and are uneasy with
> > > TP-Link (I had not heard of them myself, but DO like their gear), then
> I
> > > would recommend doing your best to find a router that supports DD-WRT,
> as
> > > it is probably the most likely to be stable, run on more inexpensive
> > > hardware and has a large community.
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>
>
> --
> Matthew Nuzum
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>
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