[kwlug-disc] Linux capable Wireless N routers

Wed May 12 00:36:33 EDT 2010

Been poking at this further.

Still wish there was someplace local I could just walk in, buy a 
RouterStation Pro, even if a bit more, and just be done with it.

Well ... maybe not ... seems no matter what you get, OpenWRT 
pre-installed or not, doesn't necessarily mean latest and greatest, in 
the sense that backfire is out, so most everything will need updating, 
and it's not all fire and forget. Maybe I'm just whining, but there's 
only so many hours in a day to keep learning new stuff. OK, yes I'm 
whining. Deal.

Poking about the DIR-825 on openwrt notes (minor) problems with USB 
(need an extra package), and flaky 5GHz. Also, specs. at D-Link note 
it's still 802.11n draft. <sigh>

One thread https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=22897 mentions 
alternative of:

Netgear WNDR3700:
- 
http://netgear.com/Products/RoutersandGateways/WirelessNRoutersandGateways/WNDR3700.aspx?detail=Specifications
- $180 
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=27_365&item_id=030012&sid=4opc30nkkumoroo5v9u9p0olu4
- Googled review 
http://www.digitaltrends.com/networking-and-wi-fi-reviews/netgear-wndr3700-review/
- http://wiki.openwrt.org/inbox/netgear/wndr3700
- 2 wi-fi's, for private & public
- says 802.11n 2.0. i.e. Not 'draft'.
- "The Netgear WNDR3700 looks awesome: the performance is great (both 
throughput & range), has dual radios (a 2.4/5 GHz one, and another 2.4 
GHz one), and has 3x3 MIMO antennas. The WNDR3700 actually ships with 
OpenWrt Kamikaze 7.09, albeit with a proprietary customizations", then 
it says (forum post) "While there have been mainline OpenWrt svn 
commits adding various functionality for the WNDR3700, it doesn't 
appear as if the WNDR3700 functions when flashed with anything newer 
or not provided by Netgear.", which doesn't seem to jive with the 
material on the rest of the site. Date of that post is 2010-01-01.
- "3x3" (antennas) appears to be important for max'ing speed (450 
Mbps). Netgear has it, not D-Link.

LinkSys WRT400N:
-
- $130 
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=27_365&item_id=023426&sid=4opc30nkkumoroo5v9u9p0olu4
- not gigabit

LinkSys WRT610N (not mentioned in thread), appears to be the gigabit 
version.
- $150, after $20 rebate: 
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=27_365&item_id=019173&sid=4opc30nkkumoroo5v9u9p0olu4
- searching google "wrt610n /site:openwrt.org" reveals a single hit, a 
long forum post: https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=16733
- broadcom. Next.

TP-Link TL-WR1043ND (mentioned later in thread):
- $80 
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=27_365&item_id=026991&sid=n3biiqd1j3clkstvo5kltqns80
- http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wr1043nd

Looks like the Netgear WNDR3700 is a viable, but more expensive, 
alternative to Khalid's (proposed) D-Link DIR-825, keeping gigabit. 
Same for TP-Link TL-WR1043ND, which is only $80, but is 32Mb instead 
of 64Mb. RouterStation Pro is 128Mb.

Don't see anything on QoS for TP-Link, nor for DIR-825 ('though I seem 
to remember seeing it at some point). WNDR3700 shows QoS in specs.

Flash is 16MB+4 Negear, 32+8 TP-Link, 64+8 D-Link. Only the Netgear is 
3x3 (450Mbps) - Don't know enough about that yet, I presume it's 
bonding 2.4 & 5 GHz.

All comments, suggestions, thoughts, clarifications, welcome.

Khalid Baheyeldin wrote, On 05/08/2010 12:50 PM:
> Still searching for a Linux capable Wireless N router (via dd-wrt, or
> OpenWRT).
> 
> *Background*
> The need here is not move from Wireless G to N since we have a few laptops
> that support that now. The other main need is to monitor bandwidth usage per
> IP Address or MAC Address when needed.
> 
> The other day, I saw high bandwidth going on the network and could only
> trace it by elimination (go to each powered on computer, and closing tab by
> tab in Firefox until the traffic stopped). Turned out to be a web site (
> deviantart.com) that was open in a browser tab. That page had a flash
> application that kept loading large images from a gallery. We installed
> NoScript on this machine and that should help with random flash apps like
> these.
> 
> The tool I am looking for is iftop, which shows the IP addresses and how
> much each is downloading and from what host.
> 
> *The Hardware*
> The D-Link DIR-825 seems to be a bit over the budget, but does have gigabit
> Ethernet, one USB port, and dual band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) for those interested
> in those added features.
> 
> It is at Best Buy for $170
> http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/d-link-wireless-n-router-dir-825/10111490.aspx
> 
> But at FutureShop for $140
> http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/d-link-xtreme-wireless-n-router-dir-825/10111490.aspx
> 
> Only revision B1 and B2 are confirmed working. So need to physically go in
> the store and hope that the bottom of the box says what the revision is.
> 
> And it is supported by dd-wrt
> http://dd-wrt.com/site/support/router-database(have Javascript
> enabled, and then type
> "dir-8", and it will come up with downloads. A two step process (loading one
> image then the next), but seems to be supported.
> 
> Also OpenWRT seems to be supported too
> http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/d-link/dir-825
> 
> For those who don't need USB or Gigabit (just Wireless N), there is the
> D-Link DIR-615 for less than half the price
> http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/d-link-wireless-n-router-dir-615/10093527.aspx
> 
> Tempted ...
> 
> 
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> 
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