wireless router

[OVERKILL]

 Originally Posted By: JHZR2

Well, don't really need "n", really the only thing I want is beefier security over my 2002 router. It only has WEP, not WPA or WPA2. I have a random 128bit WEP key, and yet I have five MAC addresses in the router... I only have two wireless devices on. Unsure if others are cached since the last reboot or something - it claims they are "active". I do assume that the higher the encryption, more security, etc., the more bandwidth is required between the router and the items accessing it. Maybe that is not the case, but I have heard that the sustained data rate is faster anyhow... not sure if 11MBPS router speed is faster or slower than 768k DSL... I don't recall which are specified in bits or bytes... All in all, I want security, the best possible to keep out the low-end hackers that might exist. I doubt anything but a hard wire or turning off everything is secure to anything but low-level hackers... but at least I can make a good faith effort...

In that case the WL-520GU would be more than adequate, will ALSO run DD-WRT, and is less than half the price of the WL-500W. 11Mbit is substantially faster than 768Kbit, but remember, you won't actually GET 11Mbit, more like 7 or 8 (maximum) due to overhead. With G, you will be at 54Mbit.

 

[JHZR2]

OK, thanks so much... so for the final question... Asus WL-520GU or Linksys WRT54GL? Both will do dd-wrt without problem, fast, secure, right? One more failure prone? Just want to make the best choice... seems the older linksys stuff was good (my 11MBPS unit has been)... don't know long-term of Asus quality (besides motherboards which do seem to be great). Thanks again very much.

 

[OVERKILL]

I've got about 20 of the WL-520GU's in the wild here with zero failures.

 

[JHZR2]

OK, sorry, one more... It seems that the initial flash needs to be done via IE. No problem... but must one always use IE to adjust settings on a DD-WRT equipped router? It seems that the Asus needs DD-WRT just to operate normally, and it can be a bear with DSL (some reason it works fine with FIOS or cable). I just want to be sure that I do not HAVE to have a windows machine or an IE equipped device in order to make adjustments to the router. Ive seen some comments on this, and I have not been able to fully confirm or deny this. Thanks again... hoping this is all...

 

[StevieC]

No you can use firefox afterward to set the DD-WRT settings, just the initial flash has a better success rate with IE, although I did mine in Firefox before I realized IE was recommended. Can't answer the second question, will leave that for OVERK1LL as I went right to DD-WRT without using the ASUS firmware. The DD-WRT works fantastic on DSL as it does on CABLE as I have setup more ASUS routers for friends/family with the DD-WRT firmware and used it on both Cable/DSL without any issues or bogging down. You can adjust the DD-WRT settings from any computer with a web-browser that is connected to the router via Wireless or Wired connection. I have done it on a MAC and a machine running LINUX.

 

[OVERKILL]

I use the ASUS flash utility to do the initial flash, it is linked directly from the DD-WRT page. The ASUS firmware works just fine. I've sold vast quantities of these routers and have only installed DD-WRT on a small percentage of them.

 

[JHZR2]

OK, asus it is. Done... Thanks! I actually want to run DD-wrt to turn down my wireless signal... Just need it in a few places in the house... not all over the neighborhood!

 

[StevieC]

You won't be sorry with an Asus and DD-WRT, I know I'm not!