New router time!

[NxB]

Ok, this WRT54G v5 is getting on my nerves. It keeps dropping the wireless and the wired connection. It has been recapped already and DD-WRT is on it. It has a big ass cooler and its still overheating. It was a thrift store find for $3.

I'm fed up.

What should I get? The WRT54G-TMs look real nice but they want $40 for them. Are there any other good routers out there for <$30 shipped? I'm kinda partial to DD-WRT after using it on the v5.

[Wizard]

Re: New router time!

There are no good routers at this price point these days. Go with 100-120 price point.

Sorry.

I had to go to DIR-655 after long annoyances with WBR-2310 (that crap has realtek 1 chip wonder junk).

Cheers, Wizard

[NxB]

Re: New router time!

Well I could get a WRT-54G-TM for like $40-50 and it has 32mb of ram and 8mb of flash. Pretty much a full linux system on that one. I added some caps to filter power further on my setup and it started behaving a little better. It still chokes on high speed.

Whats the point of 50/10 when the router chokes it.

[washu]

Re: New router time!

With a 50/10 connection a WRT54G series just won't cut it. Even most of the "high end" home routers will have trouble with that kind of speed, especially if you torrent a lot.

You can try a better router, but you would probably have better luck using a PC as a router. Even a P3 is way faster than the CPUs in "high end" home routers. If you do go the build your own router make sure to get good NICs. The slower the PC you use the more important good NICs are.

edit: typo

[acstech]

Re: New router time!

I agree with Washu. There are several distributions of Linux meant for firewall / router combinations, or most distributions with a little configuration will do the job. Get yourself an old computer for a little of nothing and turn it into a router.

My router is running Fedora 7 (too lazy to update it) with an older Athlon. Uptime is well over 100 days. It just sits there out in the barn and does it's thing. I have a wireless ISP so it's routed from the 802.11 card to the wired ethernet network. Kind of backwards from the way it's usually done, but it works.

[NxB]

Re: New router time!

It would add lots of noise unless it was passively cooled. I'd also have to buy more stuff, mini board, good nics, solid state to load OS from (SD or CF).

I have 3 wireless clients and my main computer is wired. Not a big network by any means. Maybe just use the WRT as a wireless AP and get a cheap wired professional router. I don't really care what I get on the wifi since I don't torrent on it.

I could also add an SD card to the V5 and boost the ram to 16mb. I get the connection comped to me but I'd still like to use more of it from the modem. Through the router it barely does 30/6ish. At least it stopped dropping all of the connections.

[acstech]

Re: New router time!

Except for one instance where a radio died out of the blue for one of my customers, I've had good luck with Netgear stuff. Even on the one that died, Netgear customer service was right on top of it, and got me a new one quickly.

Never had much luck with Linksys.

YMMV.

Edit: I think the wired router / AP combo would probably be the best way to go.

[NxB]

Re: New router time!

Bidding on a WRT54G 32MB. I'll see how it works and then maybe get one of those $40 ciscos that are being dumped. They should be even cheaper by now.

[washu]

Re: New router time!

A PC router doesn't have to mean a lot of noise or expense.

A great router is a P3 business desktop. Lots of surplus places sell them cheap. The are usually quiet and surprisingly low on power. They also often have one good NIC (3com, Intel or Broadcom), so you only need one more. For my router I use a GX150 for example (not pushing Dell, just stating what I have). It's very quiet, very low power, and is still way faster then any router box. I had a faster Linksys then yours (a WRT310) and replacing it with the PC made the internet noticeably more responsive and less laggy. The PC also never needs to be rebooted. I've never seen a home router that can survive heavy torrent use without dying at least occasionally.

[NxB]

Re: New router time!

Still more than $40.

[Wizard]

Re: New router time!

Again, either scourge for P3 hardware (good one, none of VIA crap) and good used NIC (intel or digital chipset, 3Com multitasking III chipset cards) and learn to put on a linux router kernel.

Otherwise, BUY a good ROUTER in 100-130 range. Or keep watching for commerical router boxen being susplused off for some money. We had a donated 16 port router and it died because of 2 fans seized up and burned out PSU, chips. :p

a 40 dollars gets you very OLD router or junk.

Cheers, Wizard

[washu]

Re: New router time!

As Wizard said, you are not going to get a router that can handle a 50/10 connection for $40. Even a surplus commercial level router for $40 will probably be too slow to max out your connection, but at least it won't die and need reboots like a home one.

The CPU in most home routers is built first to be cheap and second to be low power. They are not fast. A 200 MHz MIPS or ARM made for a router will get it's ass kicked by a 200 MHz P1, let alone a P3. Also, if you torrent your router needs RAM. I've seen PC routers using 90+ MB of state table memory with lots of torrents going. Even a 32 MB router is going to have trouble if you torrent a lot. If you fill all the RAM in a router it just dies.

[NxB]

Re: New router time!

I know. We will see how it does. If it still sucks, I'll see what I can get at work. I don't want another computer buzzing and to have to get a wireless card that can work as an AP.

3Com multitasking III

I have these and the realtek nics.

[Wizard]

Re: New router time!

Dump Realtek NICs. *Consumes* CPU utilization and poor throughput.

Cheers, Wizard

[washu]

Re: New router time!

Just keep your Linksys as a wireless bridge. Just turn off its DHCP and use it as a switch/bridge. As bridging doesn't involve any packet inspection or state tables it's not taxing even for the weak router CPU.

[ratdude747]

Re: New router time!

thats what i did with a g wireless netgear router.

oddly, when i did that to other routers, they all overheated after a day. the netgear wireless g did not overheat unless i accidentally covered its vents, which are bigger than normal in the back. i was impressed. but, since i needed more than 4 ports, my 8 port will do with the netgear bridged for wifi access.

[NxB]

Re: New router time!

I oc'd it to 233mhz and put in a fan. Its stable for now. I'm waiting on the TM with 32mb of ram. I'll overclock that too to like 233mhz. I know its not ideal but it works. Definitely not using all of the nics I have. I don't have any wired clients besides one and it has the onboard nic.

[washu]

Re: New router time!

Right now my "bridge" is a cheap ass bottom of the line D-Link. Using it as a router it would die from memory exaustion even without torrenting, but as a wireless bridge and switch it's been rock solid.

My Linksys wasn't so lucky. I was using it for a while as a bridge because it had N wireless and a gigabit switch. From what I can determine, the internel wired NIC died. I can access the config page over wireless, but it does not respond over wired or bridge packets. Now it's just a switch and I got my D-Link running again.

NxB: If you are going to OC your router see if you can mount a heatsink on the CPU. an old video card heatsink works well for this purpose.

[gonzo0815]

Re: New router time!

Well, DD-WRT has many features, but this all needs power and costs performance.
My best Internet experience up today was an wrt54g v2 with tomato firmware.
Less features, but very fast, no problems with many connections, low pings even with some file sharing at the same time and stable.
Simply unmatched from anything i used then.
I switched then from dd-wrt v23 or v24 to tomato and never regret it. But IMHO, tomato dos not have a mini system for the castrated versions of wrt54g.

[NxB]

Re: New router time!

Yea, I have more heatsinks. For the v5 it wasn't enough. For the new one it probably will, the little fan is annoying. I'll probably upgrade the ram on the v5 and sell it on ebay for an inflated price, lol.