Hey all, I was thinking of buying another router that can be flashed with DD-WRT/Tomato/the likes. Was thinking of getting a Buffalo WHR-G54S. The standard choice ofc would be a Linksys WRT54GL but those aren't sold where I live. Most importantly however, is it still a bad idea to get a Wireless N router? For a while they were getting some really bad reviews but I thought perhaps that they would be fixed now? Is there a noticeable speed/range difference using a N-router, or a G router with fancy junk like MIMO/Dual-Band/Speedbooster/Rangebooster/more antennae?

If so, can anyone recommend a good Wireless-N/MIMO/etc router that can be flashed with DD-WRT? If not, I will be going with Buffalo WHR-G54S, or perhaps their high-powered version WHR-HP-G54.

IPS.ZeRo

Germany1142 Posts

November 27 2009 13:45 GMT

There shouldn't be any issues with N anymore. It is standardized now and I think it wouldn't make any sense to buy a g router now. I am using N for quite some time now and never had any problems. Although you might not be able to have the range/speed advantages of N if you still have devices in the network that are not able to use N.
You can see a list of DD-WRT supported devices here:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices
I think the linksys ones work well.

writer22816

United States5775 Posts

November 27 2009 14:15 GMT

On November 27 2009 22:45 IPS.ZeRo wrote:
There shouldn't be any issues with N anymore. It is standardized now and I think it wouldn't make any sense to buy a g router now. I am using N for quite some time now and never had any problems. Although you might not be able to have the range/speed advantages of N if you still have devices in the network that are not able to use N.
You can see a list of DD-WRT supported devices here:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices
I think the linksys ones work well.

Hmm, looks like you have had a positive experience with your N router, could please tell me what model you've used? Looks like I may be a bit behind on times (according to Wikipedia N does seem to be standardized) but the low customer reviews of N-routers nevertheless make me a bit wary.

chroniX

517 Posts

November 27 2009 14:36 GMT

hey im a huge fan of self-made hacked firmwares (using different cellphone, video player etc firmwares) but didnt know these exist for routers aswell

i recently got a wirless n linksys router myself and wanted to ask what the main advantages (of DD-WRT , for example) for a normal gamer are. better speeds , more security?

RaGe

Belgium9950 Posts

November 27 2009 16:13 GMT

I bought myself a Buffalo with preflashed DD-WRT a while ago. 30 times more stable than my previous (non DD-WRT) router.

Besides the millions of options, you can also use custom firewall commands so that your router doesn't slow down that much from processing torrent traffic.

Basically, everything you want to be able to do with a router is in there.

As for which router to get, they answer that in their FAQ on the website.

IPS.ZeRo

Germany1142 Posts

November 27 2009 18:26 GMT

On November 27 2009 23:15 writer22816 wrote:

Show nested quote +

I got the Linksys 160N. I didn't install DD-WRT to it yet, because I bought it for my parents house to replace their own router and not for my own appartment. The linksys firmware is already very good so i didn't need the extra options so far. I might still do it if I am there and bored some time but there is no real need for it.
A disadvantage with the 160N is that you can't replace the antennas, but unless you need a really high range that shouldn't be neccessary anyway. At my parents house the router covers 2 floors. It is positioned on the 2nd floor pretty much in the middle of the house. I have a good connection everywhere in the house (even one floor down and 2 walls away) and a rather bad but still good enough for surfing connection on the veranda outside.

Myrmidon

United States9452 Posts

November 27 2009 22:16 GMT

My knowledge of these routers is more from academia than up-to-date consumer reviews, but...

Do you already have 802.11n-compliant adapters with which to connect to a new router? If not, you'd obviously need to spend extra money to upgrade your adapters as well to get the benefits.
Do you live in an apartment complex or other densely-populated area? If there are other wireless networks on the fringe of yours or overlapping yours, it's probably a good idea to go with 802.11n (or 802.11a), as it can use the less-crowded 5 GHz spectrum as opposed to the ridiculously crowded 2.4 GHz frequency band employed by 802.11g. Also, if you have cordless phones, Bluetooth devices, wireless game controllers, etc., check with frequencies they use.
Are you expecting good coverage all throughout your residence? Do you have floors or thick walls to pass through? Though the 5 GHz spectrum is less crowded, carriers at this frequency propagate less far and get reflected by obstructions that may not cause as many problems for carriers at lower frequencies (2.4 GHz).
Do you need data transfers higher than 20-30 Mbps? i.e. If you're not doing any data transfers between computers on the local network and are really only concerned with the speed of connections to the outside, your connection to your ISP is probably the limiting factor, not what wireless standard you're using from your router. No reason for your computer to talk to your router at 60 or 600 Mbps if you can only get a file from the Internet at 2 megabytes per second (16 Mbps).
Be warned that the high speeds advertised by 802.11n are only attainable in optimum conditions, even beyond (even more optimum than) what's necessary for the highest speeds in the older standards.
As a gut feeling, I wouldn't buy an 802.11n product unless it had the max number of antennas (4 I think). Most of the benefits of the standard are based on spatial beamforming, spatial multiplexing, MIMO, etc. that are only possible by using multiple antennas. The other increases to speed are more hackish improvements like dual-channel mode--that's what SpeedBooster did.