Wireless broadband router

[mtnbkr]

What's a good one to look at?

I have an older Netgear, but I'd like to upgrade it in order to get a faster wireless connection (currently 802.11b) to my wired server.  10mb is fast enough for the Internet (dsl, the wireless isn't the weakest link), but going host to host on my own network is painful when moving many gigs of data.

I'd get another Netgear, but I've heard of issues regarding their newer devices.  Mind has been rock solid, but I don't want to dick around with things. 

My needs are simple:

Required:
>10mb wireless
IPSEC passthrough
Multiple 10/100 or faster ports
some flavor of firewall (port forwarding, etc) that will allow me to host a variety of servers (http, ssh, maybe ftp)

Nice to have (this will be the differentiator):
port for external harddrive
12v power requirement so I can run it off a battery
built-in vpn

Chris

[TexasRifleman]

Sounds like you are looking for a little more than the standard home type of device.

Look at a Linksys WRVS4400N.  It is more small business oriented but it might do all the things you want.

[Devonai]

I can't comment on your specific needs, but I have been very happy with Linksys products as well.  The BIOS is quite user-friendly.

[Jim147]

I set up a Lynksys for the T1 line at the last company I worked for.
It had to go through 2 to 4 walls to reach the other computers and clear to the other side of the warehouse for one.
Never had any problems and very easy to set up.

[mtnbkr]

Sounds like you are looking for a little more than the standard home type of device.

Look at a Linksys WRVS4400N.  It is more small business oriented but it might do all the things you want.

Not really.  All of my requirements have been seen in various home oriented devices.  Maybe not all at once, but one or more of those features, yes.  Except for the greater wireless speed, my Netgear has all my requirements. 

I'll take a look at that Linksys.

Chris

[TexasRifleman]

Not really.  All of my requirements have been seen in various home oriented devices.

Sort of.  When you start looking at firewalls in those devices you don't get a whole lot in the low end.

The Linksys I showed has some intrusion detection as well, not likely to find that on the home routers.

Just depends on how much that matters. 

[Gewehr98]

Easy.

Linksys WRT54G, versions 1-4, running DD-WRT or Tomato firmware. They're out there for fairly cheap.

They are also available as the WRT54GL, after Linksys discovered what folks are doing to upgrade them with the aftermarket Linux firmware.

The WRT54GS is also a good one, adding SpeedBoost capability on the wireless half of the router.

They all have 802.11g wireless, adjustable transmission power, and with the DD-WRT or Tomato, serious capability for home/small-office.

Once you install the improved (and free) firmware, you get bandwidth monitoring, SNMP, connection logging, all sorts of stuff.

Stay away from the WRT54G versions 5-7.  Linksys gutted them, reducing the internal memory capacity and running VXWorks instead of Linux.

More here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linksys_WRT54G_series

You will not be disappointed.  Mine does yeoman duty, and the home network hits it pretty hard.  It's the bottom component in the blue Linksys/Cisco stack shown here:



The Snap Server is my webhost, running through the router to let me grab stuff no matter where I am in the world.  My wife VPNs to work through the router, no problems other than having to set our workgroup IP to the 10.10.10.xxx range to avoid conflict with the 192.168.1.xxx her IT guy at the office insists upon. 

 

 

[roo_ster]

What G98 wrote.

I loves me some WRT54G & ddwrt.  The router has hardware the original firmware does not take advantage of.  ddwrt makes the most of the hardware and introduces bucketloads of functionality.

I recall posting here a while back how I had 180 days uptime on mine, before rebooting it (actually my wife's laptop problem...coulda gone on longer before a reboot.).

[mtnbkr]

I'll keep an eye out for the WRT54G.  We have one here at work, but I haven't used it much.  Haven't really looked at current offerings until recently, my little Netgear is as reliable as Jfruser's WRT54G.

Chris

[Calumus]

It can be tough finding the older versions of the Linksys wrt54g, so you might as well just grab the linux version. With the custom firmware you really will get options normally found only on MUCH more expensive boxes. Here you go      http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124190
Cheers,
Shawn

[RocketMan]

Second, or third, or...whatever, the various flavors of the Linksys WRT54G.  I've got a couple, have installed many.  The darn things just run.
I haven't played with third party firmware yet, but both of mine are flashable, and it's a future project for when things are slow.

[cfabe]

Another happy linksys WRT*54G* user here. They work fine in their stock condition, and the extra features available with the linux firmwares is great. I've been using OpenWRT on a couple of mine. One when we were living next door to family, and I had a 500ft ethernet run between them. I used OpenWRT so I could force the uplink port to 10Mbit so it would be stable over the long ethernet run (which is over the spec). Another time, I used a WRTSL54GS running linux to do some network protocol troubleshooting, I had it set up to do packet capture to a USB hard drive and work as a network emulator simulating different network problems (latency, bit errors, dropped packets etc). Worked very well.

[Gewehr98]

So, did you try one yet?   

[Paragon]

Easy.

Linksys WRT54G, versions 1-4, running DD-WRT

I would like to cast my vote for this as well.  I use this with my Verizon DSL, and I have absolutely no problems whatsoever.  I have a pretty expansive home network (as it includes my garage stereo, and home theater system which I control through an iPod wirelessly).  It's not too complex or anywhere close to business level, but the older WRT54G has been reliable through and through.  To paraphrase how much I have become dependent on it, when Comcast (ugh) came out to install the service I used to have through them, they gave me a modem/wireless router combination.  My wife was home when they installed it, and let them proceed.  I had them back out here at 7 at night, when they showed up I was on the front porch with their crappy router in hand and demanded they give me a regular modem. 

[MicroBalrog]

I know nobody listens to me, but 3Com is a great manufacturer of these.

[Vodka7]

I had them back out here at 7 at night, when they showed up I was on the front porch with their crappy router in hand and demanded they give me a regular modem. 

Comcast tried to charge me $3/mo for the great privilege of renting one of their modems--I'm not sure if that's a national thing or a local one, but screw that.  If they're doing the same to you, you can buy the exact same modem they rent you for around $50.

I've got a motorola modem and a Linksys running Tomato and they've been a great pair.  I really, really prefer Tomato's QoS and bandwidth monitoring features to those on DD-WRT.

[amishbill]

I can whole-heartedly recommend against the $40 small boxy Belkin 54g unit. I've gone through two of them. Apparently they just love to overheat.

I'm currently running a Cisco 2611, 2950, 1121g combo and with *one minor exception it is rock solid. Of course, it is professional data center gear, so that's pretty much expected. ;-)

* the minor problem? I'm running an IOS on it that requires 128mb of system ram and my box can only take 64mb in it. I have to reboot it every 4 or so days. I could downgrade the software on it, but I think I'll upgrade the hardware instead. 

[Gewehr98]

I see over at the Linksysinfo.com forum that they're working on loading Tomato into the Wireless-N versions now. 

I'd like to see it loaded into one of the routers that has the external USB connectivity, so I can run a cheap USB hard drive.

Of course, I have a bunch of NAS SnapServer drives already plugged into my WRT-54G, so it's kind of a moot point.

Oh, before I forget...

Mtnbkr, I did some digging, and it appears that my WRT-54G v1.0 is the only one that needs 5vdc.  All versions after that use 12vdc, 1 amp. 

As a matter of further digging, one can use a 12vdc power supply with the WRT54G v1.0, because it has an internal voltage regulator:

http://kioan.users.uth.gr/wireless/wrt54g/supply.html

So it's simply a matter of wiring the proper barrel connector to your 12v source, minding the polarity (of course). 

[makattak]

GAH!

I came to this thread cause I am about to purchase a wireless router. So, can someone like me who is computer literate but not a "third-level geek" (at least with regards to computers...) set up the firmware in a Linksys? I understand what was said in the thread, though from inference rather than experience.

[roo_ster]

GAH!

I came to this thread cause I am about to purchase a wireless router. So, can someone like me who is computer literate but not a "third-level geek" (at least with regards to computers...) set up the firmware in a Linksys? I understand what was said in the thread, though from inference rather than experience.

Yes.

Follow the instructions carefully, especially when they warn you about "bricking" your router.

It is about as difficult as upgrading the firmware from Linksys (this is off the top of my head.  see the actual instructions on the web sites):
1. Download ddwrt/tomato/whatever
2. Use wired connection between your PC and the router
3. Log on to router.
4. Navigate to firmware upgrade page.
5. Point it to the new firmware
6. Mash the buton and wait for it to load & reboot.

[makattak]

Thanks a lot!

I'll be trying it soon, but I think I can do it- I'm very adept at mashing buttons. (I played a lot of video games in college.)

[41magsnub]

If you even need to do a third party firmware.  For most basic users you can just use the stock firmware and be fine.

[Paragon]

I had them back out here at 7 at night, when they showed up I was on the front porch with their crappy router in hand and demanded they give me a regular modem. 

Comcast tried to charge me $3/mo for the great privilege of renting one of their modems--I'm not sure if that's a national thing or a local one, but screw that.  If they're doing the same to you, you can buy the exact same modem they rent you for around $50.

I've got a motorola modem and a Linksys running Tomato and they've been a great pair.  I really, really prefer Tomato's QoS and bandwidth monitoring features to those on DD-WRT.

Yeah, I dealt with that for a while, then I switched to Verizon DSL.  I pay about $15 less a month for 4x the speed, and they gave me the modem for free.