Time to try out DD-WRT or Tomato! Which budget router between these 2?

[Kantastic]

Hey guys, I recently bought a Belkin Share Max N300 Wireless N Router for $22 to try out DD-WRT or Tomato (probably Tomato since I hear it has more extensive QoS features). In fact, the darn thing arrived today! But I just saw that Newegg currently has a sale on this ASUS RT-N10+ IEEE Wireless Router for $25.

Any ideas from you networking guys as to which router would be better? Either one of these will be replacing a 3-4 year old Linksys by Cisco WRT160N v2 that is lacking in QoS options.

 

[someguyfromhell]

I personally like Asus's (nearly) unbrickable system which allows you to use a recovery tool and has a backup cfe firmware loader just in case...
I also like the removable antenna because I can replace with 5/7dbi ones if I like. Also Asus have a 2 year warranty and good RMA support (didn't have to dig out a receipt to replace).

The belkin has the advantage of having 300mbps support while it has a 1 year warranty.

 

[Kantastic]

I personally like Asus's (nearly) unbrickable system which allows you to use a recovery tool and has a backup cfe firmware loader just in case...
I also like the removable antenna because I can replace with 5/7dbi ones if I like. Also Asus have a 2 year warranty and good RMA support (didn't have to dig out a receipt to replace).

The belkin has the advantage of having 300mbps support while it has a 1 year warranty.

The antenna was the only reason I even thought about buying it, but Newegg's specs say "1 x 3dbi external fixed antenna". Not sure what that means, but I hope it doesn't mean that it's soldered on.

My connection will never max out 150Mbps so I don't think that's an issue.

 

[remixedcat]

Asus..... sis had a belkin that barely lasted a day....

 

[someguyfromhell]

Just cough up an extra $15 and get the RT-N12 ASUS RT-N12/B1 SuperSpeedN Wireless Router with 2x...

It has tomato/dd-wrt support, 5dbi antennas (which are 100% removable, I have 4 of these routers), and 32mb of ram along with 300mbps support.

 

[Kantastic]

Duly noted! I'm going to flash this Belkin to Tomato and play with it for a few days. If it doesn't compare to my old WRT160N then I'll grab that Asus RT-N12/B1. The dual 5dBi antennas are a major bonus, and I love the idea of official DD-WRT support. $40 isn't even half of what I paid for the WRT160N @ Best Buy.

 

[Deleted member 3]

Why exactly do you require QoS on a home network?

 

[Kantastic]

Why exactly do you require QoS on a home network?

I have a 10/1 connection and my parents like to stream content daily using Chinese BT-based software that saturates the bandwidth, leaving me lagging/spiking like an idiot on most/all games. I also source out my internet connection to a tenant who is known to occasionally torrent. I'd love to limit their upload (and possibly their download) speeds via the router.

Oh and, I bricked the Belkin router. I think it's because I lost my sense of time and didn't wait the full 5 minutes for it to flash to DD-WRT, or because I had the Belkin software installed (long story, I installed it thinking it was the culprit of a lack of connection, which turned out to really be because I forgot to plug the ethernet cable into the computer.) Either way, any/all methods of resetting the router failed. I'm going to scrap it as a $22 lesson not to be so rash when it comes to flashing anything and pick up the Asus router recommended above.

tl;dr - I'm a selfish bastard and I want to limit the speeds of the other 4 connections while leaving my personal connection at full capacity.

 

[Zen_]

Is your WRT160N a v2 model? The v1 and v3 models are compatible with DD-WRT; I am using one as a repeater right now actually.

Buffalo has a good line and these are using DD-WRT out of the box:

WHR-HP-G300N - 400 MHz / 32MB
WZR-HP-G300NH - 400 MHz / 64MB
WZR-HP-AG300H - 680 MHz / 128MB

 

[newtekie1]

If you are going to cough up $40 for the RT-N12, you might as well go for $45 for the Linksys E3000 and get Simultaneous Dual-Band and USB... Yes, you loose the detachable antennas, but in my experience the stock internal antennas on the Linksys have great range already(better than the NT-12 in my experience), probably because there are 6 of the little buggers...

 

[Kantastic]

Is your WRT160N a v2 model? The v1 and v3 models are compatible with DD-WRT; I am using one as a repeater right now actually.

Buffalo has a good line and these are using DD-WRT out of the box:

WHR-HP-G300N - 400 MHz / 32MB
WZR-HP-G300NH - 400 MHz / 64MB
WZR-HP-AG300H - 680 MHz / 128MB

I have the v2 which is unfortunately not 3rd party FW compatible.

If you are going to cough up $40 for the RT-N12, you might as well go for $45 for the Linksys E3000 and get Simultaneous Dual-Band and USB... Yes, you loose the detachable antennas, but in my experience the stock internal antennas on the Linksys have great range already(better than the NT-12 in my experience), probably because there are 6 of the little buggers...

I'll leave my options open. Before I make another purchase I need to wait for the rebate VISA card I used to be refunded, so that should buy me about a week.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I wouldn't touch Buffalo routers with a barge pole. Had a really bad experience and they even work poorly with DD-WRT installed. I even modded mine and added external antennas, didn't help the least bit. I got just about zero signal one floor down. Can't say my TP-Link router is that much better, but it does at least not crap out every so often, like my Buffalo did...

 

[someguyfromhell]

Keep in mind the E3000 has a 90 day warranty and apparently runs hot.

 

[Zen_]

I wouldn't touch Buffalo routers with a barge pole. Had a really bad experience and they even work poorly with DD-WRT installed. I even modded mine and added external antennas, didn't help the least bit. I got just about zero signal one floor down. Can't say my TP-Link router is that much better, but it does at least not crap out every so often, like my Buffalo did...

The WHR-HP-G300N I've had for a few years has worked pretty good...antenna is definitely better than the Linksys WRT160N and various cheapo units I had before that. To get a good signal on both floors of the house I converted the old WRT160N to a repeater. They cost about $15 used now and are a good option for repeaters or ethernet bridges.