Anyone use dd-WRT?

[Oqsy]

I have a Linksys WRT54G-Ver. 6 router that I'd like to boost a bit with dd-wrt firmware.  My current signal strength is just a bit shy over covering my whole house... bumping it up 10% should do the trick.  I know the disadvantages of an overpowered signal (signal distortion, etc) and don't plan to crank it up beyond what I need to cover my house.  

My question is whether or not anyone here has used dd-wrt, and if so, was it worth the trouble?  So far I have 12 different tabs open, all with "vital must know information you need before you reflash", and none of them are very clear cut on EXACTLY what step is first, second, third, etc.  I'm confident enough in my ability to read directions and perform the procedure for reflashing with the dd-wrt firmware, it's all the extra garbage that's starting to make my head hurt a bit.  "Kill" the old router firmware, Save custom MAC address, etc.

It appears that I'll need to power cycle / reset the router about 10-12 times to complete this process.  That's an awful lot of time and energy dedicated just to router resets, and doesn't take into account any of the actual process that taking place on the computer, and the similarity of each step which would make doing something out of order almost inevitable...

Anyway, I'd like the improved performance without buying a new router, but I'm hoping there's another way to boost power a bit to prevent bricking this router due to missing some little detail in parenthesis on one of the 12 pages I have open right now.

[Manyak]

I've tried it, and while its a HUGE step up over stock firmware, I think you're better off using an old PC and throwing Endian or Untangle on there.

[Oqsy]

and how would that help me boost my wireless signal?

[Manyak]

ok you caught me, I only skimmed over your post

Do you have a spare wireless router lying around by any chance?

[TexasFlood]

I have a Linksys WRT54G-Ver. 6 router that I'd like to boost a bit with dd-wrt firmware.  My current signal strength is just a bit shy over covering my whole house... bumping it up 10% should do the trick.  I know the disadvantages of an overpowered signal (signal distortion, etc) and don't plan to crank it up beyond what I need to cover my house.  

My question is whether or not anyone here has used dd-wrt, and if so, was it worth the trouble?  So far I have 12 different tabs open, all with "vital must know information you need before you reflash", and none of them are very clear cut on EXACTLY what step is first, second, third, etc.  I'm confident enough in my ability to read directions and perform the procedure for reflashing with the dd-wrt firmware, it's all the extra garbage that's starting to make my head hurt a bit.  "Kill" the old router firmware, Save custom MAC address, etc.

It appears that I'll need to power cycle / reset the router about 10-12 times to complete this process.  That's an awful lot of time and energy dedicated just to router resets, and doesn't take into account any of the actual process that taking place on the computer, and the similarity of each step which would make doing something out of order almost inevitable...

Anyway, I'd like the improved performance without buying a new router, but I'm hoping there's another way to boost power a bit to prevent bricking this router due to missing some little detail in parenthesis on one of the 12 pages I have open right now.

I've used it.  I prefer Tomato at the moment but DD-WRT runs on a lot more hardware.  I still run DD-WRT on a Linksys travel router as it only has 2MB of flash so aren't a lot of options (Tomato requires at least 4MB flash). This is the same as the WRT54G V6 I believe. I suggest you refer to the list of supported devices, find your device there and follow the link to flashing instructions, notes, etc, found there.  In your case it should lead you here.

And, of course, as that page will tell you, should also reference the peacock thread or be harassed later for not doing so.  You should probably at least review that info, particularity items like "hard (30/30/30) reset" and "recover from a bad flash".  If you need help, you can post for help in the DD-WRT Broadcom support forum.  There are a lot of folks there willing to help but also a good chance of getting berated by some for not following some WIKI or FAQ info.  If that happens, don't let it get to you, just ignore those folks and be receptive to those willing to help.

Like my travel router, the first flash is a bit more complex since they are based on VXWorks so takes some extra steps to be rid of that.  On some of my other hardware, such as the WRT54Gv2 etc, the process doesn't have as many steps and that's where I started.  Yes there are extra steps but only because the DD-WRT developers are leading us through some hard earned methods to loading firmware on routers which Cisco/Linksys tried hard to prevent us from being able to do so.

But really it's not as bad as it seems.  The directions might seem a bit overwhelming but I think it's mostly due to the level of detail which is a good thing.  I suggest saving off all tools, firmware and copies (perhaps even hard copies) of the instructions before proceeding.  Take your time, read & understand before proceeding, don't rush it.  Making a mis-step can cost more time than you gain by trying to hurry.

DD-WRT (and other firmware along the same lines such as Tomato, OpenWRT and others) have some useful features, like static IP via DHCP.  You can also boost your wireless radio transmit power although I'm not a big fan of cranking this up much, it's fine in moderation.  Note that it would increase the router receive sensitivity just the transmit power.

And no, i don't know of a way to boost the power without loading such a 3rd party firmware.tool

[EverythingIBM]

and how would that help me boost my wireless signal?

Ooooh!
Well you see, MS-DOS runs *so fast* (because Tim Paterson is just that awesome), it boosts everything up. Even wireless signals.
Try google for results.

Always glad to help mr. Oqsy and his troublesome toiling trials of woe and malice.

[zmurf]

I've used it.  I prefer Tomato at the moment but DD-WRT runs on a lot more hardware.

I used to have a Linksys WRT54GL, and I also preferred Tomato over DD-WRT. That doesn't make DD-WRT bad. It's still much better then Linksys original firmware. Tomato also have the option to boost the signal.

[ch_123]

I have a Linksys WRT54G-Ver. 6 router that I'd like to boost a bit with dd-wrt firmware.  My current signal strength is just a bit shy over covering my whole house... bumping it up 10% should do the trick.  I know the disadvantages of an overpowered signal (signal distortion, etc) and don't plan to crank it up beyond what I need to cover my house.  

My question is whether or not anyone here has used dd-wrt, and if so, was it worth the trouble?  So far I have 12 different tabs open, all with "vital must know information you need before you reflash", and none of them are very clear cut on EXACTLY what step is first, second, third, etc.  I'm confident enough in my ability to read directions and perform the procedure for reflashing with the dd-wrt firmware, it's all the extra garbage that's starting to make my head hurt a bit.  "Kill" the old router firmware, Save custom MAC address, etc.

It appears that I'll need to power cycle / reset the router about 10-12 times to complete this process.  That's an awful lot of time and energy dedicated just to router resets, and doesn't take into account any of the actual process that taking place on the computer, and the similarity of each step which would make doing something out of order almost inevitable...

Anyway, I'd like the improved performance without buying a new router, but I'm hoping there's another way to boost power a bit to prevent bricking this router due to missing some little detail in parenthesis on one of the 12 pages I have open right now.

For me, flashing was a relatively straightforward process...

[Mercen_505]

I did, back when I had a crappy WRT54G that reset itself every ten minutes. I tried everything under the sun to get it working consistently. dd-WRT made things a little better, but it was still a total lemon. I replaced it with a 'el cheapo Trendnet wireless router, and have been happy ever since (with stock firmware, too).

[instantkamera]

I use tomato. You can boost to 251mW so it should serve your purpose, and tomato has a very nice, easy to use interface.

If you dont want tomato, Instead of DD-WRT I suggest OPEN-WRT. I won't use DD-WRT beacuse of issues in the past with regards to the integrity of the "developer".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DD-WRT#Controversy

More info can be found online if you are curious, but the guy is basically a doucher.

[TexasFlood]

I used to have a Linksys WRT54GL, and I also preferred Tomato over DD-WRT. That doesn't make DD-WRT bad. It's still much better then Linksys original firmware. Tomato also have the option to boost the signal.

Agreed.  I started using DD-WRT first and it was my first 3rd party firmware so the first to get me out of the Linksys box so to speak which was great.  I've experienced some issues with new releases of both DD-WRT and Tomato since those are the two alternative firmwares I've used the most.  Just more so on DD-WRT due to more frequent new releases to support more hardware & features.  Tomato is a bit less ambitious in this regard resulting in more stability although now this difference isn't as pronounced with all the Tomato alternative builds.

For me, flashing was a relatively straightforward process...

It can be. And has been for me usually.  But I've also had things go wrong and had to recover so best ti be prepared just in case.

I did, back when I had a crappy WRT54G that reset itself every ten minutes. I tried everything under the sun to get it working consistently. dd-WRT made things a little better, but it was still a total lemon. I replaced it with a 'el cheapo Trendnet wireless router, and have been happy ever since (with stock firmware, too).

Wow.  you must have really had a lemon.  Mine was never that bad.  Well, actually, I did have issues back when I was trying to use TKIP security rather than AES but been pretty stable since then.

[TexasFlood]

I use tomato. You can boost to 251mW so it should serve your purpose, and tomato has a very nice, easy to use interface.

If you dont want tomato, Instead of DD-WRT I suggest OPEN-WRT. I won't use DD-WRT beacuse of issues in the past with regards to the integrity of the "developer".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DD-WRT#Controversy

More info can be found online if you are curious, but the guy is basically a doucher.

Thing is, if he has a Linksys WRT54G v6, I don't think loading either Tomato or OpenWRT is supported due to both the VxWorks and small NVRAM of 2MB, where a DD-WRT is supported.  So DD-WRT might be the only game in town for that router, as it was for my Linksys travel router.

You want controversy, check out Sveasoft.  I was once a subscriber for a couple of years.  There must have been more controversy around that than DD-WRT, and of course some of the controversy involves all three.  Sveasoft referring to DD-WRT as a "Sveasoft fork", which is true as it started as a fork of Sveasoft Alchemy, but that was quite a while back.  And of course, OpenWRT openly accused Sveasoft of violating GPL.  I found an article at Wi-Fi Planet about the whole sordid incestuous mess.

Even though there are seemingly some violations, even the violators perhaps still deserve some credit for helping create viable 3rd party firmware for these routers.

Sveasoft whatever you think of them, played a big role in starting it all, at least that's how I got into it.

DD-WRT picked up offering a free fork as Sveasoft moved more & more towards copy protection and no free versions.  Say what you might about DD-WRT, they still offer a free version that works fine for many and on hardware sometimes not supported by other projects.

OpenWRT I believe came after those and doesn't have that "taint" to my knowledge.  Many folks like it, and I have run it before.  Generally thought of as geared towards more advanced users.  Has some offshoots like X-WRT, FreeWRT, and Gargoyle.

HyperWRT came out around the same time and I became a fan for the commitment to minimal changes to the Linksys base for stability sake.  When Timothy Jans gave up working on HyperWRT, a couple of other developers took it over with two forks, thibor and tofu.  They collaborated a lot and eventually the HyperWRT+Tofu (Jon Zarate) developer folded his code into HyperWRT+Thibor and brought out Tomato which I have also been a big fan of although it runs on relatively few routers compared to OpenWRT or especially DD-WRT.  Tomato has various offshoots/"mods" including, but not limited to, roadkill, TomatoVPN, Teddy Bear(aka USB), Thor, Trzepak, Victek Tomato RAF.  These add features such as OpenVPN, USB support, SD card support, etc. (see table here).

There are other projects, but those are the bigs ones, at least from my perspective.

Anyway, I'm going off, I better stop, for now....

[Oqsy]

Ok...  More confused now than before...  openwrt, ddwrt, hyperwrt, and tomato, some or all or none of which might run on my router?  Maybe I just need to do some research and buy a new one that's got a larger range out of the box

[microsoft windows]

You should also do some research on better wireless antennas. I know somebody who hooked his wireless up to his rooftop antenna and got in the Wi-Fi from a mile away.

[Oqsy]

Well most of my wireless devices don't have upgradable external antennae, and the reviews I've read about using the Linksys "upgrade" antennae for the router were less than convincing.

[microsoft windows]

Oh. I was just assuming you used external wireless cards.

Have fun putting rabbit ears on your I-touch!

[TexasFlood]

Ok...  More confused now than before...  openwrt, ddwrt, hyperwrt, and tomato, some or all or none of which might run on my router?  Maybe I just need to do some research and buy a new one that's got a larger range out of the box

If you want to load something on the router you have, I think DD-WRT is probably the only game in town, due to the limited support of it's 2MB NVRAM and VxWorks.

If you want to look at other routers, first check the List of wireless router firmware projects and links available there.

To shop for candidates you can check the DD-WRT list of supported devices or check out the DD-WRT forums.  Also check the OpenWrt Wiki Table of Hardware and the OpenWRT forums.  Basic Tomato actually runs on relatively few routers listed here.  For other options, such as running Tomato on a Asus RT-N16 as I do with TomatoUSB aka "Teddy Bear", check out the Linksysinfo Tomato forum or the relatively new TomatoUSB site.

[Oqsy]

Umm...  If I buy a new one I don't plan on fudging around with firmware.  If I buy a new one it will be to plug it in, set it up with the wizard, and enjoy increased range.  If there are none on the market that can give me a 15 foot increase in the radius of the range (oversimplifying and treating it as a circular range for the sake of this post) to cover my bathroom and bedroom, and one of the upstairs bedrooms, then I'll just stick with this router.

[TexasFlood]

Well most of my wireless devices don't have upgradable external antennae, and the reviews I've read about using the Linksys "upgrade" antennae for the router were less than convincing.

What I've read about off the shelf "rubber ducky antenna" like the linksys yield very small benefit at best while some report no benefit and a small number of negative benefit reports.  Radio Shack used to sell some Linksys antenna which could be bought and easily returned if they didn't pan out.  A lot of it depends on what you're trying to do.  Many antenna boost signal in a direction or plane at the cost of the other components of the omnidirectional pattern.  But I don't want to oversimply a complex subject.  If you're interested, might go do some reading at WWW.FreeAntennas.Com, Seattle Wireless or any one of probably a hundred site you can find via google.  Boosting power a bit might be a lot easier and you can try it for free.

[TexasFlood]

Umm...  If I buy a new one I don't plan on fudging around with firmware.  If I buy a new one it will be to plug it in, set it up with the wizard, and enjoy increased range.  If there are none on the market that can give me a 15 foot increase in the radius of the range (oversimplifying and treating it as a circular range for the sake of this post) to cover my bathroom and bedroom, and one of the upstairs bedrooms, then I'll just stick with this router.

Then be very careful and make sure users are happy with the stock firmware.  Check out product reviews and perhaps forums.

Oh, and by the way, those supported hardware links in my earlier post are also worth looking at if you want to see the hardware specs and make sure, for example, that you're getting a decently fast CPU and decent amount of memory which is important in supporting things like a large number of connections and QOS.

There is some decent stock firmware out there but a lot of it is still crap and getting better hardware could also turn out to be an exercise in frustration if the firmware isn't up to it.

I like Tomato and loaded it quickly onto my new Asus RT-N16, as I did with Sveasoft on my first WRT54Gv2.  I actually have relatively little experience with stock firmware so am a bit prejudiced perhaps.  Not saying it's not a good idea, just not the path I've chosen and it's worked out for me.  3rd party firmware tends to offer a lot of features that you'd have to spend a lot more to get from most vendors.  All depends on if you need these features really.  Tomato has a lot of useful features that I know how to use, like static IPs via DHCP, working QOS, etc.  So, in my case, I know it's a solid firmware and I don't have to learn a new interface so it's good for me to stick with it.

[ashmud]

Umm...  If I buy a new one I don't plan on fudging around with firmware.  If I buy a new one it will be to plug it in, set it up with the wizard, and enjoy increased range.  If there are none on the market that can give me a 15 foot increase in the radius of the range (oversimplifying and treating it as a circular range for the sake of this post) to cover my bathroom and bedroom, and one of the upstairs bedrooms, then I'll just stick with this router.

About a year ago, I got a Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 preloaded (aftermarket) with DD-WRT off ebay. Cost about the same as retail. Worked great for my (unusual) wireless setup, after a few hours of fiddling with it. I don't know about the models on there now, though. Might be worth taking a look.

[TexasFlood]

About a year ago, I got a Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 preloaded (aftermarket) with DD-WRT off ebay. Cost about the same as retail. Worked great for my (unusual) wireless setup, after a few hours of fiddling with it. I don't know about the models on there now, though. Might be worth taking a look.

Routers preloaded with 3rd party firmware are often a good deal.  I am pretty comfortable loading my own so have never gone that route but nothing wrong with it as long as they don't gouge you too much.

For quite a while there we couldn't buy Buffalo routers in the U.S., except for ebay, due to an injunction from a patent lawsuit.  Before that they were cheap and available.  Now you can get them again but not as cheap.

Now Buffalo has actually partnered with DD-WRT to sell routers preloaded with DD-WRT.

[TexasFlood]

What about relocating the router upstairs?


I'm happy with my Netgear Wireless N dual band WNDR3700 but can't guarantee it would boost your G range.  It does have adjustable antenna power though.

Show Image

There you go Oqsy, a good baseline to start with.  Pretty good reviews on Newegg.  So could start with that and see if you can find something better and/or cheaper.  Lots of good review info on Newegg and Amazon.  Also check out smallnetbuilder for useful reviews, comparison charts, howtos, basic and feature articles.  And I'm sure there are lots of other good sources.

I can't move mine upstairs, at least not easily, since my cable for it comes into the downstairs office.  I'd have to run another line or pay my provider to do it.  But then again I get pretty good coverage so don't need to. :wink:

I also have some of my older routers providing wired ports throughout the house (I don't have prewiring) using the wireless ethernet bridge feature of Tomato - another feature you're not likely to find in stock vendor firmware.  Sorry, can't help myself I guess. :biggrin:

[Oqsy]

Moving the router upstairs would just weaken the signal downstairs, which is where I am a *majority* of the time.  I would also have to either run tv cable or ethernet cable to upstairs, which would defeat the purpose of wireless in the first place

[EverythingIBM]

Moving the router upstairs would just weaken the signal downstairs, which is where I am a *majority* of the time.  I would also have to either run tv cable or ethernet cable to upstairs, which would defeat the purpose of wireless in the first place

Yeah, just make an elaborate network of ethernet cables through your house (may have to do some drilling). That way you can "plug in" anywhere, anytime. Assuming how many cords you wire.

[ch_123]

Moving the router upstairs would just weaken the signal downstairs, which is where I am a *majority* of the time.  I would also have to either run tv cable or ethernet cable to upstairs, which would defeat the purpose of wireless in the first place

Had the same dilemma. Solution: two routers linked by homeplugs.

[TexasFlood]

Yeah, just make an elaborate network of ethernet cables through your house (may have to do some drilling). That way you can "plug in" anywhere, anytime. Assuming how many cords you wire.

Wires would be faster and no chance of dropped connections.  But on the other hand, with wireless I can move around the house with my laptop staying connected the whole time.

[microsoft windows]

I don't really use my laptops too much. I don't even think I've turned them on in over a month!

[Oqsy]

My wife uses wireless exclusively with her laptop, but we also have 2 iDevices that *need* wireless as they obviously have no ethernet cables.

[TexasFlood]

Right now I have connected to my main Asus RT-N16 router, either wirelessly or across a wireless bridge, two PCs, two DVRs, three laptops, two printers, a Wii and a PS3, four remote 802.11g routers and a small NAS.