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This means the cable modems they're using have obviously sunk in quality. I have a Motorola SB5100, and it registers my router's MAC Address just fine. These things should be handled by the low-level firmware found in most cable modems (typically a custom VxWorks kernel)

My advice is to go out to the store, and buy the current member of the Motorola SB5100 series, and take back whatever hunk of junk it is they gave out. If you need a router, Linksys WRT54GL plus the dd-wrt firmware can't be beat. No crappy desktop-level software is needed to get such a setup going.

Take a look at the differences between two systems/groups that parallel your questions.

Sveasoft on the commercial side.

OpenWRT or DD-WRT on the Open Source side.

And if you are familiar with the discussions/flame wars around this platform and code, I think it's safe to say there's a market for either one. Albeit, sometimes there's bad blood between closed source companies and the Open Source community, other entities who have profit as their prime motivator instead of passion for the idea have and do work and play well with the community.

At the end of the day, the choice is still yours since it is after your Source.

The installation CD that came with my Linksys WRT54GL router (I tried it out on my WinXP laptop for fun) pops up a wizard that guides you through the setup, turns encryption on for you (possibly WPA2, but I'm not 100% sure) and recommends that you select a good quality password and a non-default SSID.

For normal users, this is by far the best approach, ie. make them setup the router before even turning on the wireless radio. Of course, I flashed mine with DD-WRT and set it up myself with WPA2, a strong passphrase, MAC filtering and hidden SSID (though I know the last to are mostly useless). But for someone like my dad who currently uses a completely unsecured AP (not even WEP) with only MAC filtering enabled, a helpful setup wizard would be perfect. I keep telling him that someone gaining access to his AP would have complete access to all of his network completely bypassing his firewall, but he just keeps on saying that MAC filtering is plenty secure. I even showed him how easy it was for me to spoof a white-listed MAC address and gain access but it didn't budge him one bit.

The way I solved this problem was with a Linksys WRT54GL flashed with DD-WRT 3rd party firmware.

It works very well, and have been easy to set up. It's a cheap, small, quiet, and easy solution to the problem. As a bonus, you also get wireless (which can be turned off).

It does everything my old dedicated router did with less power usage, much smaller form factor, no fan noise and it has a decent web admin interface out of the box. Essentially it's like buying a tiny dedicated Linux router box that actually designed to be a wired/wireless router.

Yes. The v24 beta version of dd-wrt allows multiple SSIDs with different security settings. However, there are some issues with isolating traffic to each SSID using virtual LANs. Besides that, there seem to be some strange issues with the beta versions. That being said, I'm going to try out v24 with a DS tomorrow.

Here's some relevant dd-wrt forum threads:

Create second wireless ssid with different security settings
v24 Virtual SSIDs, Nintendo DS, and AP Isolation

Yes. The v24 beta version of dd-wrt allows multiple SSIDs with different security settings. However, there are some issues with isolating traffic to each SSID using virtual LANs. Besides that, there seem to be some strange issues with the beta versions. That being said, I'm going to try out v24 with a DS tomorrow.

Here's some relevant dd-wrt forum threads:

Create second wireless ssid with different security settings
v24 Virtual SSIDs, Nintendo DS, and AP Isolation

I'll explain the difference: in the Linksys case the company didn't supply source code but did use Open Source software, and the GPL clearly states you have to do this.
Result: Linksys folded and opened its code (this is 2003, mind you) and nowadays we have http://www.openwrt.org/ and http://www.dd-wrt.com/. And I'm sure Linksys doesn't mind all the interest in its products.
In the case of the BSA, they bribe disgruntled ex-workers to rat of their ex-bosses. When they knock on your door they're accompanied by a police officer (at least here) and you're told to leave alone every computer in the office until they've run (yes, run) their little tools.
So, I think I do like the EFF better.

• Supposedly using code from other authors' work and changing to startup strings so that they don't get credit -- so far, this seems to amount to only one part of the product (although a big part), and that's Busybox. Brainslayer claims the change in string was a joke, and it also appears that the author of BusyBox gave him permission for what he did.
• Creating a "special edition" for sale with features that are not included in other versions -- so? I really don't see this as a problem. The code is included. Buy it and redistribute it for free if you'd like.
• Making the web-gui non-GPL -- apparently very old news that the dissenter likes to keep bringing up. This restriction has been removed for a while.
• Including other non-GPL pieces -- I would see this as one of the two valid arguments. However, Brainslayer points out that some versions of the product include proprietary pieces (from hardware manufacturers) that need to be protected. A good example is the Broadcom stuff.
• Requiring product activation on the x86 -- the other of the two valid arguments. I'm not sure this how this stacks up with the GPL. It seems sneaky anyway. But it should be easy enough to download the x86 code and remove the product activation piece. From comments made by Brainslayer, it is an attempt to keep the large corporations from copying the work and then passing it off as their own. Same old problem that any good open source project has, but I'm not sure I agree with the solution. At any rate, he gives out free activation codes to the private users.

re : http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/VLAN_Detached _Networks_(Separate_Networks_With_Internet)#.27.27 .27Assumptions:.27.27.27

Ah, great. Looks like a great summary of the mess that is the original thread :)

Thanks for pointing that out.

Actually, they do have a tutorial to setup separate VLAN on each port in their wiki: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/VLAN_Detached _Networks_(Separate_Networks_With_Internet)

And closer to the GP's request, there's a tuturial to separate the WLAN from LAN: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Separate_LAN_ and_WLAN

Actually, they do have a tutorial to setup separate VLAN on each port in their wiki: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/VLAN_Detached _Networks_(Separate_Networks_With_Internet)

And closer to the GP's request, there's a tuturial to separate the WLAN from LAN: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Separate_LAN_ and_WLAN

This page talks about that specific problem, at least with Linksys routers, and describes a simple solution using the DD-WRT firmware. Just changing a couple of network settings should fix it.

If you're getting a Linksys router you'll want the WRT54gL because that's the model that still runs Linux and has enough RAM and flash to use the full feature set of the alternative firmwares. As for running multiple security setups, I don't think even open firmwares can do that on a single router, so you'd need two. There are features that let you run as a hotspot. I'm not an expert on that so I'm not sure if you can run a single router as both a regular router and a public hotspot. It could certainly be done with two separate routers. Just make sure you run the two routers on widely spaced channels if they are in close proximity, like channel 1 and 11.

Having them on two separate networks is easy. Just leave the LAN IP of one router at the default of 192.168.1.1 and set the other one to use 192.168.2.1 with DHCP on and a gateway address of 192.168.1.1 (subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 on both routers). Any clients that connect to the "insecure router" will get an address on a different subnet.

Oh, and make sure you've turned on the connection encryption features of your BitTorrent client, that can help get around ISP bandwidth throttling, if that's a problem with your ISP.

My Linksys WRT54GXv2 says it has QoS built in. This isn't the low priced model, rather I spent over $130 USD on it. http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Produ ct_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1115416825933& pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper and has a QoS configuration page. After working with support for months to get QoS working, then sending the unit back, I bought a cheap Buffalo as recommended by DD-WRT FAQ - http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Index:FAQ#Whi ch_router_should_I_buy.3F . Ok, the day the $30 USD router arrived, I loaded DD-WRT, setup QoS for VoIP and started calling friends. I'm on /., so it was a short list. At the same time, I ran multiple bandwidth speed tests while chatting. At the end of the conversation, I told them that I'd been using VoIP **and** running a speed test.

There are too many features in DD-WRT to list here. QoS that works, OpenVPN are the main reasons I have it.

Highly recommended to stay away from Linksys. For folks that aren't going to replace their firmware, Linksys is fine, but for those who want to get more than stock out of the hw, don't touch it.

Recommend canceling your order and getting a Buffalo instead. It is less expensive and fully supported. In fact, it is recommended by the dd-wrt FAQ as the best WRT clone to purchase.
Buffalo WHR-G54S is the cheap version - which I have.
There's a more feature-capable version also listed in the FAQ http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Index:FAQ#Whi ch_router_should_I_buy.3F

This firmware solved my QoS problems with my VoIP provider. Ever since installing and configuring the VoIP, it has changed my calls from choppy to perfect. BTW, I have an expensive Linksys that also had QoS, but it never worked after working with linksys support for 4+ months. They finally said, send it back - 3 year warranty. The replacement didn't do QoS any better. BrokenByDesign.

The main advantage of DD-WRT over OpenWRT is that it's more of an out-of-the-box solution. In fact, the default firmware would be recognizable to people familiar with moderate to advanced networking, web GUI and all. DD-WRT also retains some, but nowhere near all, of the amazingly powerful options offered by OpenWRT. Neither firmware is really appropriate for Joe User, but DD-WRT is appropriate for a far broader user base.

I just installed dd-wrt on my Linksys wrt54gl router.

What's really nice is that it gives you a lot more control over routing, albeit with much more added complexity to the interface.

The new software enables snmp monitoring, ssh access, and VLAN control.

my question is, what's the difference between openwrt and dd-wrt?

You might also check out dd-wrt. Offers a lot of the same features. I'm not saying it's better, but it's an alternative...and works with many linksys, buffalo, asus, belkin, etc. And their wiki is a wealth of information on configuration and use of the dd-wrt firmware.

Several people have already mentioned flashing the Linksys with the latest DD-WRT firmware, and I second that. But, I would like to point out an obscure problem that will strike you if anyone at your location is using P2P software like any BitTorrent client (Azureus, uTorrent, etc.) What happens is that the routers aren't designed to handle dozens or hundreds of short-term transient IP connections which occur with these applications. The connection cache on the router gets filled up sometimes within just a few hours and then CRASH!!! The important thing here is that this will also happen with the DD-WRT firmware unless you find and follow the instructions to change a couple of obscure network settings. The first time I tried using a WRT54g with the DD-WRT firmware I gave up after a few days because the router was so flaky I had to reboot it every couple of days. Once I found these settings I tried it again and it's been working for weeks now with no problem.

I have to assume that out of 6 male college students on a fast connection, at least one will be heavily using bittorrent or some other P2P apps that will definitely trigger this problem, and it may well be the only reason that you have to reboot your router all the time. Here are some links, first to the uTorrent FAQ page where I first found a reference to the issue, and then to a page on the DD-WRT site talking in detail about this issue. Both pages have instructions for correcting the settings with the DD-WRT firmware.

uTorrent FAQ
DD-WRT: Router Slowdown

One of the nicest features these open firmwares give you is access to increasing the transmit power of the router's antenna. By just increasing mine by about 25% above normal I was able to get four bars throughout my apartment where I used to sometime lose the connection entirely. If the reason you have two wireless routers is because the one router can't cover the whole apartment, this will solve that issue.

Others have asked already why you need two wireless routers. Besides spreading the signal out I can't really imagine any reason if you're all going through one cable modem. If both routers are set up on the same channel (most default to channel 6) then they will be interfering with each other much more than any outside routers are. Heaven forbid if both routers are set up with fully identical information and you are trying to use the other router as if it were a range extender. That would probably cause additional problems as both routers would be competing to log in the same wireless card at the same time. In any case, just ditch the other router unless you know what you're doing and have a specific reason to be operating two routers in the same area. To have any chance of not interfering with each other you'd have to put one on channel 1 and the other on channel 11.

Applying the DD-WRT firmware may seem kind of scary since there are all those notes about how you can brick your router, but it's really no big deal. Just print out all the installation instructions beforehand along with the instructions for recovering from a bad flash. Before you do the flash DISABLE your wireless card entirely so that it will be impossible to even attempt the firmware update over a wireless connection. That is really the main thing that causes bricked routers. If you avoid doing that and follow the instructions about first only applying the MINI version of the firmware to the WRT54g, you will be fine and you will end up with a much more useful router.

Now, if anyone there has a Mac they can download iStumbler or MacStumbler (I don't recommend the Mac Kismet unless you know how to remove kernel extensions from the command line in safe mode). Run one of those for about 10-20 minutes and it will give you a pretty clear picture of how many routers are nearby and what channels they are using. Pick a channel for your router t

Another way to do this is get a router that uses DD-WRT. It's designed to be much more functional out of the box: install it, pull up the web interface, configure the WAN settings, and go. OpenWRT requires a good deal more knowledge than the average user has; DD-WRT can be installed by a much broader user base and retains some of the incredible functionality OpenWRT offers for power users.

Simple. Get any router than you can install DD-WRT from http://www.dd-wrt.com/ on.

Everything is tweakable, the system is very stable, even in high traffic areas, and you will be able to get it to work reliably (mine does, with 15-20 other access points visible). In fact, I have two, and one serves as a wireless bridge, in a very high traffic area. I've had 40 days or so of up-time.

Even better, you get things like forced QoS, a lot of flexibility in terms of services (DyDNS? Check. Local DyDNS? Check. Excellent Port Triggering? Check. An iptables based firewall? Check. 802.11 briding? Check), and a future-proof, at least in terms of encryption, router (WEP WPA WPA2).

Try DD-WRT. I use it and love it.

dd-wrt will do this. It has a basic web server that normally serves the interface page, but can also be set to serve your own web pages for external requests. It runs on a bunch of hardware, linksys, buffalo etc---but if you want to run a web server make sure you have enough storage space, or add an sd card though that requires a bit of hacking.

dd-wrt will do this. It has a basic web server that normally serves the interface page, but can also be set to serve your own web pages for external requests. It runs on a bunch of hardware, linksys, buffalo etc---but if you want to run a web server make sure you have enough storage space, or add an sd card though that requires a bit of hacking.

Although I use Linux, and OS X, I am not a fan of the Airport Extreme. It has a somewhat limited ability in its configurations. I like the Dial-up feature it has that is not common amoung wifi routers for those without broadband. Although it is not my 1st choice of router.

I personally use a Linksys WRT54GL flashed with DD-WRT. They are a complete solution for work environments, and good for home as well. I can get them for $65 a pop, and resell them for $100, and not charge installation. Since they run Linux, you can do almost anything with it. DD-WRT gives it the same, or similar abilities of a $600 router. You can have a hardware VPN solution in the unit as well. The WRT54GL has 16mb ram, and 4mb flash, along with a 200mhz broadcom processor. Its a nice little box. It is a complete solution in most of the networking jobs I do.

WRT54GL: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82 E16833124190
DD-WRT: http://www.dd-wrt.com/

I must be in the brainless zone today. I cannot find this highly publicized and promoted list of IP numbers. We got articles, we got links, but IP numbers? Ogg not find. Ogg feeling stupid. Embarrass family. Ogg need know if his IP number on list, even though he regularly change router's WAN ethernet number, get new IP from glomcast. Ogg spend much time nmapping spammers. Running nessus. Ogg probably on someone's list as troublemaker. Ogg not care. Tired of UEC not from wild boar.

If you would like to keep scalable TCP windows, you might try flashing your Linksys with DD-WRT or one of the other Linux-based firmwares. One or more of them is bound to have support for it.

I don't know for sure, but if I remember correctly dd-wrt works well on your router. Maybe if nothing else works reflash your router with dd-wrt?

Yes, there are some clear winners, the forums are great, and the compatibility list is: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Wireles sCardsSupported As far as the router, I tend to stick with anything that is supported by DD-WRT http://www.dd-wrt.com/ The best is to find the wireless cards that work perfectly with network-manager right out of the box on the recent version(s) of Ubuntu.

What's the deal with you WPA2 fascists anyway? Why is it all or nothing with you? Ever hear of throttling? For the $60 it costs to use a DD-WRT Linux wireless router, you can both share with your neighbors and reserve enough bandwidth for yourself.

Sorry, I'll take my Linksys WRT54GS (v3) running OpenWRT or dd-wrt. Small, quiet, and wireless!

Well, I have a very similar router wrt54g, and I dont use it wirelessly. I have found that its worth the extra few bucks to get a router if dd-wrt can be loaded on it, so I can have the control of a $500 router (telnet, vpn, QoS, being able to adjust stuff like connection timeout, etc). With dd-wrt one can easily make one of these routers sustain 800+ simultanious connections, not to mention croning wake on Lan, or booting a comptuer remotely.

I've used smoothwall and ipcop in the past and presently I'm using my own debian configuration as a router. However, I will be buying one of these, or at least a similar one that works with DD-WRT, which is a Linux upgrade to the router. Here's why:

• Less power consumption
• More reliable (no moving parts)
• More secure (in theory)
• Can be mounted to a wall instead of taking up a whole shelf
• Harder to hack (smoothwall can be easilly root'ed whereas a hack here would be noticed)

Oh, and the definition of a router is quite simple. It's a device that shifts packets from one subnet to another. So all of these devices are routers. I'd say "internet gateway" was more of a better description for the more featured solutions.

I bought Asus WL500G Premium (wl500gp), a lighter version of the router from TFA. The hype is similar - Download with the PC turned off. The main difference is that wl500gp does not have a storage unit included and the user must attach one if wants to enjoy computerless leeching.

Bottomline:
- nice router - I live in an apartment, and I have all around coverage: 18MBps WLAN connection through a couple of walls, 1 - 1 1/2 feet thick each;
- buggy firmware - (e.g. the only way to set the date and time on router is to use the included and non-functional NTP client, no way to set or check the number of simultaneous NAT connections, no way to modify radio power)
- the Download Master does not work (the torrents fail to start)
- lame online support

I hope that the alternative firmware OSS projects (such as http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/index.php or http://www.wl500g.info/ or http://www.openwrt.org/ will provide a stable alternative.

if I didn't have VPN over wifi thanx to m0n0wall and my RADIUS server...... as such I guess I will wait for N assume my trusty BEFW11S4 (b router) dosn't crap out.

if anyone is thinking of going G the WRT54GL with the dd-wrt firmware is pretty sweet.

whatever you do DO NOT buy a WRT54GS or later model WRT54G models..as they suck pretty much http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WRT54G

Linksys WRT54G with DD-WRT v24 firmware supports multiple ssid's with different encryption methods on each interface
More info:

http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/index.php

For what it's worth, when using DD-WRT with lots of P2P traffic it's recommended that you bump up the Maximum Ports parameter in the IP Filter Settings (under Administration/Management). The default is 512, but many people find they get the best P2P stability by setting it to the max of 4096.

Note that V23 SP1 is 6 weeks old and was not without its share of quirks. Check out the multilanguage updates if you want the latest and greatest:

http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/downloads/index.php ?path=untested_alpha_unstable%2Fdd-wrt.v23+SP1+mul tilanguage/

I would also recommend using the smallest build that meets your requirements. If I'm just running an access point, for example, I find that the new micro build (which does not contain chillispot, nocat, rflow, kaid, samba client, SNMP, IPv6, MMC/SD Card Support, SSH, PPTP/PPTP Client, or UPnP) has everything I need.

We over at the DD-WRT forum have been following this for a while.

As with any other fine F/OSS project, please donate if you find the project useful.

We over at the DD-WRT forum have been following this for a while.

As with any other fine F/OSS project, please donate if you find the project useful.

We over at the DD-WRT forum have been following this for a while.

As with any other fine F/OSS project, please donate if you find the project useful.

It's the dd-wrt project, not WR-DDT. Great package though, I run it on my v4 WRT54G.

Yes you could, and that would be fairly easy. It's called a "repeater" setup.

Get two non-V5 WRT54Gs (V1-V3 WRT54GS would be best, but anyway) on eBay for around $50 each, 2 pairs of high-gain antennas (omni will do if your neighbour is across the street). Install the antennas (unscrew the original and screw in the replacements), go to http://www.dd-wrt.com/ get DD-WRT v23 final (or v23 SP1 Beta if you are feeling brave), flash your routers (get an adult to help you) and enable WDS (or lazy-WDS). There's a wiki if you get lost, or need more details, and a lovely forum if you still have issues.

Cost: 2xUS$50 plus 2xUS$ 19 for the antennas, plus US$2 for beers = US$140.

Note that WDS gives you half the bandwidth available for 802.11g, but it should be more than enough. If you need more bw, you can follow the above minitutorial and put one router @ regular access point/wireless router mode and the other in client-bridged mode, but then you would be limited to connecting to the four physical (wired) ports at the back of the router.

Comcast has delivered me nearly continous 6mb/384kb for some time. More than sufficient for VOIP and a home network with the help of http://dd-wrt.com/ with QOS. Also I have never had any issues with port blocking and I run SSH/VPN/HTTP/Shoutcast/Skype/Vonage off of this connection (low traffic for my personal use). Compared to other companies that have been a pain to me: Sprint, Verizon Wireless, Bell South.. I've always considered Comcast OK as far as service goes. I don't have Vonage anymore to test this out, but my skype calls are working fine still.

Yes. You want to flash with either Sevasoft or DD-WRT firmware on both routers and enable WDS.

I looked into it, and the ease of use of it, along with the feature set, (comparison here) pushed me into going ahead and buying a rev3 WRT54GS. Anyway, here is the link.

Yeah, Sveasoft isn't the way to go. They're not exactly the nicest people one earth. sending DMCA notices to google? Yeah, that's not cool. Anyway, you should check out the DD-WRT project. http://www.dd-wrt.com/ It has all of the features of Sveasoft's firmware, and more. I've been using this firmware for about 6 months now, I've been VERY impressed with it. It has a great interface and has many fewer bugs than its Sveasoft counterpart.

Oh, I didn't bother because it's been mentioned like fifty times in other threads....DD-WRT is probably the best freeware alternative. If you use their firmware, remember to send them some money through PayPal. You don't HAVE to (one of the benefits of free software, after all), but it's a good idea to support projects you use and care about. Sveasoft has made a killing at $20/year/user. If you give DD-WRT the same amount, it'll be used in much better ways... like not trying to put shackles on your wrists to FORCE you to pay the $20. :)

I used the Sveasoft releases until I tried DD-WRT. It is much more stable than Talisman 1.04, and the features like QoS actually work. I suggest you give them a try.

The link I meant to post for dd-wrt (IMO the best firmware for the WRT, mostly because of Sevasofts treatment of customers)

http://www.dd-wrt.com/
dd-wrt