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Ask Slashdot: DD-WRT Upgrade To 802.11n?
First time accepted submitter krinderlin writes "My home network consists of a Linksys WRT54GL for WAN access and a WRT54G version 8 for a wireless bridge for my Blu-Ray and old XBox 360*. Due to a recent move and coaxial jack placements, I can't run Ethernet to the office, so I'm now looking at about 8 wireless clients at any given time. I'd like to start piecing together a network upgrade to 802.11n, but want to keep the flexibility and power of DD-WRT. So what 802.11n routers do you have with DD-WRT? What would you recommend for PCIe x1 and USB adapters? *Because $100 for a 802.11g adapter is pure insanity."
Quite a powerful router, I use it heavily for my VPN. It also allows you to upgrade to DD-WRT right through their interface.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320038&Tpk=asus%20rt-n16
uh hmm check their hw database to see if they support hw with 11n radios?
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=dd-wrt+11n+radio
This router is an absolut beast in terms of range and throughput. The DD-WRT support is terrific and the device is rather cheap.
If you do not absolutely need 450 Mbit/s, but are satisfied with 300 Mbit/s, go with the WNDR3700v2
The Netgear WNDR-3700v2 is powerful, reasonably cheap, and well-supported. It also is the target of the CeroWRT project, which deals with bufferbloat, and should be of interest to advanced users at this point. Bufferbloat changes are also being adopted into stock OpenWRT and the Linux kernel, so eventually will make it to more routers.
Bruce Perens.
Check out the WNDR3700v2. The folks doing serious research into home network performance have settled on this unit. Check out the prices on Amazon's refurbished stock - equivalent to what I was paying for 54GL's back in the day. I picked up a new for the office and a refurb for home.
They have lots of RAM, a decent processor, and dual-band radios. I think it's the 54G for the new decade.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
I had WRT300N for a dozen of months or so, it worked fine. Since few weeks ago I'm using E4200 which is dual band and cannot complain.
Could you not just check the list here:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices
and go with your favourite supplier of quality hardware? Also, bear in mind that some of your connected equipment isn't and can't be N-enabled (PS3 it think from memory). Therefore, you'll want something that can gracefully handle both G and N at the same time (ideally as separately configured wireless networks).
"If A equals success, then the formua is A=X+Y+Z. X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut" - A Einstein.
I have seen the WNDR3700 recommended as being a good option. The hardware itself is relatively powerful, with a 680MHz processor, 64MiB RAM, and 8MiB flash. The 4 internal+1 external RJ-45 ports are gigabit. It costs US$120 from Newegg.com .
I use a D-Link DIR-825 for my home network. DD-WRT can be flashed to it and it runs dual band which is a HUGE deal for me in an apartment setting. Works great!
These TP-Link USB Wireless Adapters have been great for me.
G: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704046
N: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704045
Yes, you CAN run ethernet anywhere you want. I'm guessing that you just don't want to. You can always place it along baseboards, you don't have to drill through walls and floors/ceilings.
My Cisco/Linksys E3000 is running DD-WRT v24-sp2.
So what 802.11n routers
I've ended up replacing most of my previous kit with acquired-from-eBay Apple kit. 802.11n over 5Ghz for some devices, and over 2.4Ghz for others, with fallback to 802.11g for older devices. Airport Extreme for the main routing, with some Airport Express units for the music system. I used one as a wireless bridge for the PS3 for a while, but, since switching to an old Apple TV for playback, everything's streamed fine over Wi-Fi.
Was there particular functionality you wanted, which led you to DD-WRT? Or might other routers be able to do what it is that you need?
do you have with DD-WRT?
None :)
Runs around $80 at most places. Setup is pretty easy and conversion to OpenWRT (which I like better, and seems to be more stable) is very easy.
I've installed refurbed Linksys WRT150N routers ($30-$45 each from Tiger) with DD-WRT in several installations now, including my dorm room at college to act as a wireless bridge the campus 802.11n network, my house and my parents house. I get pretty good signal strength between my basement where the router is and my second floor where the office is with only minor tweaking. I don't think they carry the WRT150N anymore, but whatever replaced it in their lineup should work just as well if not better.
I've been using one with ddwrt for a while, it was pretty simple to get setup and AFAIK it is fully supported.
http://CryoLANparty.com/ A lan I'm staff on!
This question was asked before as I recall. I currently use the Netgear WNDR3700 router w/ Firmware: DD-WRT v24-sp2 (06/14/11) std. It's been pretty solid for me. It's dual band(2.4 and 5.0 Ghz) so you can use your current bridges just fine. As far as USB adapters go, I got a few WUSB600N refurbished for around $30 each, though I haven't any issues w/ any of them at all. For laptop upgrades I very much like the Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230.
I'm not a network admin or anything, so take my advice with a grain of salt. But I've owned a lot of consumer grade wireless routers over the years, and the TP-Link TL-WR1043ND is the best I've had. Plus it has ready support for DD-WRT. No telnet dance necessary - you can hit the stock firmware's upgrade page, point at the DD-WRT bin, and you're done. It has been a rock-stable router (maybe 1-2 reboots in over a year), has gigabit ethernet, great range (3 big antennas), can't say enough good things about it. It was ~$50 back when I bought it.
The only potential downer is it isn't dual-band N. If you browse wireless networks at your house and 50 of them pop up, you might want to spring for dual band. I haven't had a problem though.
I use a WZR-HP-G300NH and it has worked well for me for quite some time. I've probably had it for a good 18 months now. With DD-WRT I am limited to 130mbps instead of 300, but other than that it's rock solid.
I had the same problem a year ago, plus interference from my neighbors routers. I opted for ethernet over power lines. I got a couple of single port netgear XAV101v2s adapters (you can get a pair for $70.99 from newegg) and a 4 port XAV5004 for my home entertainment system. I use the wireless only to hook laptops and cell phones.
I picked up the Linksys E3000 about 3 months ago, popped DDWRT on it and it's been rock solid. I even risked it and picked up the recertified version for $65 shipped from Newegg. As long as you're not going more than about 100' or through more than 5 walls you should be ok.
DD-WRT development is basically dead. There hasn't been an update on their homepage in over a year.
There are unofficial builds in the forums, but even those are at this point old. For example, the "Recommended" version for Broadcom-based devices still includes an ANCIENT release of inadyn that doesn't work with most dynamic DNS providers at this point (nearly all implemented SSL security which breaks with older inadyn.)
Tomato/TomatoUSB are the way to go at this point. (Tomato itself isn't updated much either - TomatoUSB has improved support even for non-USB devices.)
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Check out Ubiquiti for their wifi router (one of the best performers put there) and/or Mikrotik for the PCIe adapters. Both are producing remarkably reliable and cheap products. You won't be disappointed.
http://ubnt.com/powerapn
http://routerboard.com
DD-WRT isn't what it used to be anymore, the build environment is a mess, a lot of drivers are binary only and often you have to dig around in the forums to find which builds are stable. I had a lot of bad experiences with consumer grade wireless routers (Linksys WRT610N... $#!&) and building my own router was the best choice I ever made. You can use OpenWRT on a broad range of devices and it has similar features as DD-WRT and also a very nice web-interface. It runs perfectly on low power embedded PC's such as PCEngines Alix (X86) or Ubiquity RouterStation (ARM). Nice enclosures and also complete pre-built systems can be found on eBay. The best choice for wireless network cards would be Atheros based, using the ATH9K driver in Linux. Ubiquity (www.ubnt.com) makes some very decent high power versions (SR-71 series) and Wistron DNMA92 is perfect as a budget solution (can be found on the pcengines online store). The RouterStation Pro and some of the Alix boards allow you to connect multiple wireless network cards for Dual Band radios. I would strongly suggest to use 5 GHz in addition to 2.4 GHz for the devices that support it. The 2.4 GHz range is overcrowded.
Hmmmmm...valid. DD-WRT is not one of those things you update often. I've been running DD-WRT stably on 54G's of various versions for at least 4 years. I really haven't had any issue with them EVER so I've never really done much other than visit the Wiki and main pages on occasion when flashing a new 54G. I'd not though to check into how DD-WRT was doing on 802.11n devices.
We have a TL-WR1043ND router running OpenWRT and a TL-WN821N USB adapter in our household and never had an issue with either of them. I used to be wary of TP-LINK (bad rep as a cheap-o-brand), but at the time I was browsing for the router, the consensus among Amazon reviewers seemed to be, that while sporting a poorly implemented, official firmware, the device performed really well with any of the usual xWRT variants. That's been pretty much our experience as well.
I have a Belkin N300. I think they go for about $30 bucks now. For the price, you get ,Gigabit wired connections, two usb connections, wireless N and it takes DD-WRT just fine. I have been using it as a wireless access point/ print server/ miniswitch for wired connection/backup disk for a year now and haven't had any issues.
SuDZ
You don't have to use wireless if you don't want too. You said you have coax. There is IP over coax that has a backbone of 100-250MB/s called MoCA. Just ebay it, they have routers and endpoints. You don't need a MoCA router, just endpoints. They work as a switch where each port can be located off a coax line, and the backbone is the coax network.
I opted for Ethernet over powerline in my house, to run from 1 floor down to another. Performance / lag times vary, and it is not as good as I would expect. Sometimes there is certain "lag".
It depends a lot on the wiring in the house, so the system is sensitive in that way. The wiring in my house is good, though.
I have a Linksys WRT310n at home running DDWRT serving as a bridge for my desktop. Setup was fine, no issues for me at least.
On a related note, the reason I ended up setting it up as a bridge for my desktop is that the Linksys AE1000 USB wireless n adapter I bought is an absolute piece of junk. Almost every time I would reboot my computer or come back from sleep mode, the connection speed would drop to a crawl - usually around 30 kbps. It was easily fixed by unplugging the adapter and plugging it back in, but that got old really quickly. My boyfriend has the same adapter and never has any issues with his, but a quick jaunt over to google revealed that I'm far from being the only one with this problem. I'd recommend steering clear of that particular adapter.
I have one of these, been running DD-WRT since late on day 1, no issues. Dual band, dual radio abgn. Might be getting difficult to find, but the high end Linksys routers are a fairly safe bet, and the DD-WRT wiki will answer your questions.
The preceding comment is my own, and in no way construes an opinon of the Emperor of Mankind.
For the stationary equipment (Xbox, Blu-Ray player, etc), use Powerline AV equipment such as http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-XAVB5001-Powerline-500-Adapter/dp/B004DVEW8I and connect one of the adapters to the new wireless-N router. Use the wireless only for your laptops and other wireless clients.
Look at Ubiquiti and Ruckus. Both are doing really interesting stuff.
As noted above check the compatibility list, but also you might want to consider Tomato firmware as it's a bit easier in the interface and has QoS. What it lacks is VLAN support from the web gui (you can do it command line). Development is current though there are a few variants available. I have this on a WnNR3500 running for quite a few months and it is solid as a rock.
One other thing for Wireless N is whether you want a dual channel. If so, there is really only one choice I know works 100% and that's the Linksys WRT320. Dual channel is a challenge because the third party firmwares only work with certain chipsets and as noted above, the development is spotty because these people do have full time jobs as well.
As for adapters, I found USB "n" adapters for $15 on newegg and they are just fine. But I also saw a 100 foot ethernet cable for $7 on eBay so that's another option if you don't mind making holes in your drywall.
Not in the sense that you'll ever actually see 200 Mbs, but that they work in some harsh environments. I can get 6 Mbs over 400 ft of buried ROMEX electrical cord between my parents house and garage which is full of electric motors and spliced lines. I expect the upcoming generation of 1Gb G.hn adapters would hit 10-15 Mbs real world. Not bad at all.
In my house with its 1960's wiring, iperf is showing a consistent 44 Mbs.
Maybe this stuff matters?
I have been using dd-wrt/tomato for years and I agree with some of the other posters, that development is nearly at a standstill.
IMHO, you should switch to a different platform - MikroTik!
The software is *way* more powerful than dd-wrt, has been more stable and performed exceptionally for me. I must admit, there is a bit of a learning curve but there is a lot of guides out there now and they have added a windows-based GUI, as well as significantly improved their web interface, so most basic stuff is point and click now. You can do some really powerful stuff that you would have to shell out big bucks for a cisco or the like.
They have just released a new model that supports 802.11n, using a internal diversified/MIMO antenna that transmit up to 1 Watt! (Most AP's use a 10th of that)
All for only $59! They make the hardware and the software, so you know all of the drivers are going to work.
http://routerboard.com/RB751U-2HnD
You can do stuff like make a separate SSID for guests (without a password), put it on a separate subnet to isolate it from your home network, setup strict firewall restrictions based on bandwith/port/packet shaping rules so they can't run bit-torrent and suck up all your bandwith,etc.
------
You could also buy a 802.11n router, turn off the router mode (disable DHCP) and just use it as an access point. Boom - you get all of the features of dd-wrt (by still using the old model for routing) but use the new one for wireless access. I've also done that for a number of years and it works great.
DD-WRT is not dead but the developers work in the strangest of ways and can't be coaxed toward sanity. If you browse the file directories on the server (many links in the DD-WRT forums) then you can find updated beta builds. The beta builds that we forum moderators recommend is getting old but that is because the newer builds have several major bugs, but you're free to run any build you want.
Just look at the DD-WRT Trac for proof that it's still being developed.
http://svn.dd-wrt.com/timeline
Cheap and effective.
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
This question really belongs on the DD-WRT forums but free advertising is always good.
This question gets asked all the time and the first answer is almost always "you didn't provide enough info" which applies here as well. What features do you want besides 802.11n (802.11n isn't even very specific, do you want simultaneous dual band 802.11n? how many MIMO streams?) such as USB or gigabit Ethernet, and what is your price range? There are MANY options available nowdays and it's not so simple as "buy a wrt54g because it's the only model" like it was a decade ago.
Linksys WRT350N, very happy with it
I recently got a refurb Netgear WNDR3300 from tiger direct for $20 and installed dd-wrt on it. I attached it to my WRT54G (also running ddwrt) via an ethernet cable and configured the netgear as a wireless N 5ghz only AP (no dhcp, instructions can be found in ddwrt wiki)
I see someone else recommended the Linksys E4200 already. I've set up an E3000 (predecessor of the E4200) with DD-WRT and it works great. Very fast CPU, dual band 2.4 and 5ghz, B/G/A/N support with 2.4 and 5ghz simultaneous. It also has a 5 port gigabit switch and a USB port for hooking up a harddrive or printer. 480mhz processor, 64mb of RAM, 16mb flash ROM, it's a pretty powerful router for the price. Most sites have it for $159 or so, but Costco carries it for $130 if you have a membership. Also, I read yesterday, if someone you know has a membership, have them purchase a $10 gift card for you, and you can shop without a membership to use it, and pay the extra with a debit card or amex card, or with cash. I plan to get one soon for myself, to replace my WRT54GLs since I'm about to start purchasing some N equipment and setting up gigabit wired in my home.
If you buy a house at any point, take the time to properly wire it inside the walls with the best cabling you can afford. You won't regret it, signal isolation is a wonderful thing (and pets aren't as likely to chew the wires inside a wall).
But no way is it worth any real effort to wire up a rental.
You're on the right track.
Seriously, if you have coaxial jacks, get MoCA bridges. They're awesome.
DD-WRT is very stable on my Netgear WNDR3300, but the CPU reaches 100% usage at relatively low throughput. See here for some benchmarks recorded by another user.
I'm looking to get a better router and to OpenWRT in the near future. (The amount of writable flash on my router is too small to have a usable OpenWRT install with a JFFS2 partition.)
1 x Linksys E2000 802.11a/b/g/n 2.4/5GHz Selectable Dual Band Gigabit Wireless Router up to 300Mbps
4 x ENCORE ENUWI-2XN42 USB 2.0 Wireless N300 Adapter, 2dBi
Those were the most recent purchases I made to upgrade an old 1800's house where the owner preferred no holes to be drilled to run wire. I believe I left a wrt54gn on the third floor for a multifunction printer that could not utilize a wireless device. Both routers were equipped with dd-wrt. The Encore adapters work very nicely.
Go to home depot (or equivalent)... buy some fish tape. Get yourself spool of cat 5e, jacks, wallplates and a crimper.
That will run you about 100 bucks. Then run cable, it's really not that hard. I just bought a home in July and had never fished cable before.. it was tricky at first, but not bad once I got the hang of it..... and once you have it in it's AWESOME. Even 100 Mbps over the wire is WAY faster than 802.11n... and gigabit is another planet.
ASUS (RT-N13U/B) Wireless-N 300 , completely supported, cheap and works incredibly well. Check Amazon I got mine for 39.99 after a mail-in. I recommend it to everyone.
My wireless is currently a Netgear WNR834B v2 running dd-wrt. Dual band works great at around 270Mbps.
Many (most) Buffalo routers ship with DD-WRT if you want to go that route. They also tend to be decently priced. As others have mentioned DD-WRT is: A) A bit dead in development B) A bit unstable I would recommend going with either TomatoUSB or OpenWRT+ LucI.
Don't have a lot of time/confidence in DD-WRT to run on newer platforms, so I used a Linksys E2000 I had laying around, disabled DHCP, UPNP and used it as a WAP - bridged to my old reliable WRT54G using Ethernet. One day when I get some free time I will have to check out Tomato/OpenWRT.
If you want some good and not "crazy" expensive 802.11n solution for your clients the better route is to get some well-supported mini PCIe 11N wireless card and a Mini PCIe to PCIe x1 adapter (for desktops).
For the wireless card i personally go for the Atheros AR9280-based, they're 2x2 and dual-band up to 300M, works great with the linux ath9k driver.
You could try one of the newer AR9382 (2x2 dual-band, up to 300M) or even AR9380 (3x3 dual-band, up to 450M) but i personally didn't test them yet.
I have 2x Netgear WNR3500L bridged that have been running ddr-wrt trouble free for almost a year. They are cheap and have 8MB flash and 64MB ram.
Sometimes the news is not in the article but in the comments, actually scratch that slashdot is all about the comments.
Home networking is always of some interest to most of us, and a round up of whats available good reliable / unreliable of currently available gear makes for interesting (and mostly reliable) reading on slashdot.
Where else will you get this kind of update on what's current and what matters rather than the consumer view point which is just going to cover it lets me connect to my isp and didn't cost a lot.
I'd rate this topic as one of the best this month, seriously.
Blarney Quality Restaurant, Plants
Solid machine! 2 ath9k radios (2.4GHz/5.0GHz), 600MHz CPU, 64MB RAM, 4MB FLASH. The last part is the only thing that hurts it, but with a custom build of openWRT (think block-mount, usb-storage-essentials, usb-storage-extras, kmod-fs-ext4 modules) you can quite easily plug any size of USB HDD into it and setup a overlay filesystem onto it. Another feature is the firmware recovery mode just in case you manage to brick it. Finally, who can not like the dual coloured LEDs (orange/blue) that glow a funny pink when both on at the same time. =)
I've just posted HOWTO run DD-WRT on a Netgear WNDR3700 (http://fak3r.com/geek/howto-run-dd-wrt-on-a-netgear-wndr3700/) as I upgraded from the Linksys WRT54GL running the Tomato firmware. Step by step directions and more details than you need to run it yourself. (PRO-TIP: find a 'factory refurbished' WNDR3700 v1 - I got mine for 55$ on eBay). I couldn't be happier with this setup, and recommend it over any other router currently available.
fak3r.com
Ditch DD-WRT.
I use ipCop that gives me 80X of what DD-WRT can and a pair of dedicated ap's. works far better than any consumer router running DD-WRT and delivers more "flexibility".
Real 802.11n at 5 ghz is where your performance gains are, avoid the Fake 802.11n routers or ap's that are not dual band with 5ghz. I bought a decent pair of dual band N ap's and a tiny mini-itx based PC that had 3 networks ports, this was 2X the price of a consumer grade real N router but it's far more powerful, flexible and gives me the ability to have a secure network and a insecure one for friends protected by true network isolation.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Apple's Airport Extreme is one of the best available. Doubt you can get dd-wrt on it, and I'm sure the software will annoy... but it works, and works well by all reports. Worth a look even if only for comparison, to make sure whatever you get is just as good.
The Admin and the Engineer
I use a Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH. I run OpenWRT on it, but IIRC DD-WRT is actually officially supported for it--though when I bought the router it was missing features. It has a fast CPU, plenty of RAM, plenty of flash, and GigE.
It lacks 5GHz 802.11n, though. There might be something new in the same line that has it, though, I guess.
I installed 200 of these at my company in a mesh network using ddwrt. Dual Band, Wireless N and has amazing range.
I'm tried of seeing my comment deleted....
I too have had great experience with the N16 running Tomato USB. I convinced a couple friends to get it as well, and they're also very happy. The router has tons of RAM, ROM, and CPU. My only complaint is that it's only 2.4GHz, not 5GHz dual-band. However, the only 5GHz device I've got is my work laptop, and I have a separate AP for 802.11g and not much else around me, so 5GHz isn't that big a deal right now.
There are a few advanced features of DD-WRT that Tomato USB doesn't do (at least from the GUI), but it's got enough features for most power users. Unless there's some very specific feature of DD-WRT that you need, I suspect you'll be happy with Tomato as well.
Glancing over this thread I strangely see no mention of it. I use it at work and at home, it works great. It's also open source, unlike the almost unmaintained dd-wrt.
I have both the Asus N16 and the Buffalo N450. The real problem is that sifting through the DD-WRT support forum you will find that there has never been a good stable fully featured build that works with the N16. Asus has not done the work, and has left it to hackers that own the device to update the opensource software. As a result I have installed a swath of firmware versions with the result that I gave up entirely and had to run Tomato on it with optware and then install the PPTP VPN software on that to finally get a stable working system that did what I wanted.
The Buffalo N450 came pre-installed with DD-WRT and has worked like a champ. They have test and actually support DD-WRT and all the features including VPN and external USB drive connection for NAS and everything. Best $90 I've ever spent on router.
I can't run Ethernet to the office
An office should never be running on wifi. EVER. Especially 8 clients, wow. Just run a damn ethernet cable, I guarantee it will be cheaper and less hassle in the end.
I bought this model about a month ago to replace an annoying airport from apple. I have configured it 2-3 times just for fun, a lot of features, but in reality it just sits there in bridge mode while my pfsense box protects, gives site to site, packet capturing etc.
I would recommend it, but it doesn't have all the features from other DD-WRT routers, but 3 antennas, external USB share it's nice.
this is lazy and disrespectful, you people need to start figuring out how to learn and think for yourselves
I'd look at the linksys E3000. It does 802.11 a/b/g/n Simultaneous Dual Band. It also has a USB port so you can hook printers/USB storage to the device as well. You can get refurbed ones for $60-70. It has been supported by DD-WRT for a while. It has great range too.
Not a answer to your question per se, but I ran into a very similar problem when I moved to a new apartment 2 years ago. Rather than upgrade everything to 802.11n (and suffer the whole issue of too many wireless cooks in the pot as everyone now has their own access point) I got two Homeplug v2 adapters and moved my router to my office. Cable modem connects to my coax, which is then plugged into a Homeplug. The 2nd Homeplug then goes to the WAN interface on my house router. Works like a charm and I can still use wired connections for all my workstations.
Just a thought. I would have considered the 802.11n route but there's way too much activity in my area to make that feasible for 8+ machines (my 802.11g access point does work well for the 2-3 wireless devices I use regularly though, especially now that my access point is in my office and spaced further away from my neighbors' APs).
Fully licensed blockchain psychiatrist
I bought a refurbished Linksys E3000 and two refurbished Linksys E2000 units from Amazon (currently $50 for the E2000 and $61 for the E3000), and have them loaded with dd-wrt. The E2000 and E3000 have gigabit Ethernet ports, the E3000 has simultaneous 2.4GHz/5GHz radios, the E2000 has selectable 2.4GHz/5GHz radios. I'm using the E3000 as my firewall/gateway and have the two E2000 units connected to it via WDS. The WDS links are over the 5GHz radios and I use the 2.4GHz radio in the E3000 for client PC connections. The setup works great, and was pretty inexpensive to implement.
Go Tomato. DD-WRT has problems (unstable networking for sure) and I lost 2 routers because of it. Tomato has had zero issues for me.
I have it, it was about $100. It supports dual-band wireless-n, and DD-WRT, and it's really powerful in terms of specs. It even ships with OpenWRT.
I asked this question awhile ago and after doing a bunch of research I've decided to wait for the ASUS RT-N66U which should be coming out in the next few weeks. Its gigabit with 802.11N dual channel and two USB ports. It has a 600Mhz Broadcom chip and 256M of RAM. While googling around for it I've seen a couple of references in Tomato and OpenWRT to them adding code for it so I assume it will be supported, most other ASUS routers are.
Buffalo WZR-HP-AG300H. Only $90 on Amazon and great signal. Supports 5ghz too.
I run the latest firmware.
I wrote about why and how and, like I said, I'd probably go with Netgear if I were to choose again. For adapters I'd recommend a Rosewill USB from Newegg: they're cheap (less than $20) and very powerful.
"One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that ones work is terribly important." -BRussell
Have good experiences with now-discontinued Linksys WRT600N.
I use TPLink's TL-WR1043ND, however with openwrt, not dd-wrt (although it is supported by ddwrt since feb. 2011 build).
My main reason was gigabit ethernet followed by flash (8MB) and price (I think it's one of the cheapest gigabit routers)
I'm using it as a main router for over 2-3 months, with wifi for android phone and 2 laptops (only 1 laptop with 802.11n).
Somebody didn't take notice that this is in the "Ask Slashdot" section, i.e., the section specifically designed for "...someone asking for advice and opinions....".
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
A little off-topic, but...
If you have a WRT54G (the original, stackable version), and/or a BEFSR41 (same case style, no wireless), get a fan like an old 486 or socket 5/socket 7 Pentium heatsink fan, and 4 plastic motherboard standoffs.
The part of the standoffs that stick up through a motherboard are the part that'll go into the fan's screw holes.
The other end of the standoffs has a broad flange and a part below that that hooks into the mounting holes on the case.
Saw off that part under the flange, leaving the flange attached to the standoff. That flange will be the standoff's "foot".
Use a very little RTV (Room-Temperature Vulcanizing) silicone sealant (one version is called aquarium sealant) on the bottom of the flanges and position the fan over the main IC.
Probably best to have the fan blowing up to avoid building up dust on the top of the IC.
Somewhere near the power input of the Linksys you'll be able to find a couple of solder pads with ground and +12V DC. It varies from version to version and with which model, but after some diodes and capacitors it should be +12V DC even if the secondary winding of the wall wart starts out feeding in AC to the jack on the back of the Linksys.
Keeping that main IC cooled makes a world of difference in stability.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
www.fon.com - It uses its own version of dd-wrt, but you can just use the regular one.
Good things: the work they did over the original dd-wrt, usb port, torrent out of box, etc.
Bad things: no 5gz, ethernet is 100mpbs.
We have a bunch of WNDR3700v2's serving a student area using DD-WRT. Its worked well until now, but there is a bug in the Ubuntu 11.10 driver for the Intel Ultimate N Wifi Link that crashes the router. We can't control what the laptops are running, so I'm wondering if there is a fix on the router side. As others have observed DD-WRT is not getting updates. Is there an alternative to DD-WRT that will run on the WNDR3700v2 an Atheros based router?
Probably, the tokenizer doesn't recognize (http://www.google.com) because of the lack of space between the paren and the ( http://www.google.com/ )
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I couldn't agree more. This baby rocks! Other than Gigabit Ethernet, priced ridiculously low, it comes with a USB port that you can plug in additional storage for storing installed packages or hosting web content.
w00t
I prefer the Netgear WNDR3700 and the Asus RT-N16. I purchased both at flashrouters.com. Already flashed and customconfigured to my network configuration. Very helpful support and excellent units running smoothly. On is running my local ISP and the other is serving my VPN connection as I have had to move out of the US for business.
Hope this helps