# Unlocking the power of the WRT54GL(and a few other routers) with LINUX!



## newtekie1 (Nov 19, 2010)

First I'll say that most of this information is available a lot of places on the internet.  However, it is kind of spread out so I figured I'd try to condense some of it here.  Plus the Networking section has only 1 sticky, and so I figured maybe I can add to it.

*Disclaimer: I take no responsibility if anything contained in this thread breaks your router.  As with any type of firmware/BIOS flashing, there are risks, and there is always a chance that something could go wrong and your router is permanantly bricked.*

*First of all some history on the router:*

The WRT54GL originally began its life as the standard WRT54G router.  It was an extremely popular Wireless G solution due to the fact that it was relatively cheap and reliable.  I can't remember a time when I've ever seen one selling for more than $60, even way back when Wireless G was still new to the consumer market and other Wireless G routers were selling for $100+.

Other than that though, no one really paid attention to it, and as more routers came out on the market, the WRT54G kind of got burried in all the rest.  Until someone, some genius, figured out that the WRT54G actually runs on a Linux OS!  And because of that, Linksys was actually required(under  the GNU) to provide source code.  And suddenly the router became an instant enthusiast hit. 3rd party firmwares(the OS of the router) quickly started coming out that unlocked features usually only found on comercial grade routers, the most popular one being the radio power adjustment which greatly increased the range of the routers.

The WRT54G went through several hardware revisions in its life, but version 1 through 4 were all pretty much the same internals just condensed to make production easier and move along as better SoC processors became available. However, with version 5 Linksys modified the WRT54G hardware to cut costs, the main modification was that change of the amount of Flash ROM installed on the router, where the firmware for the router was stored.  Think of this like a BIOS on a motherboard or Video Card.  The cut the size down from 4MB to 2MB, this meant that almost all the 3rd party firmwares out there would no longer work with the WRT54G.  However, Linksys was not about to completely kill their enthusiast following.  They re-released the Version 4.0 router and named it WRT54GL(the L is for Linux!!!).  And here we are today, with the WRT54GL still doing amazing things.

Now I should mention that there have been some advances in 3rd party firmware, specifically with DD-WRT, that allows certain version of the firmware to be used on the current WRT54G routers.  However, these routers  also have half the RAM as the WRT54GL, and hence performance under heavy load is rather poor.  This is especially true with a high number of connection, like torrents and other P2P situations.  So I won't be covering those.

*Other routers that this applies to:*

The Linksys WRT54GL isn't the only router that can use these Linux based 3rd party firmwares.  There are actually a bunch of them floating around.  Here are the two routers I usually use so I know they work:

WRT54GL(Obviously)
Buffalo WHR-HP-G54


There are others, whatever firmware you decide to use should have a list of supported routers.

*Popular 3rd Party Firmwares:*

There are many 3rd party firmwares available, but the two main ones are Tomato and DD-WRT.  I happen to prefer Tomato, so that is what I'll be using in this guide.  If I have some extra time later on I'll flash DD-WRT and go over the feature in there as well.

*Flashing the router:*

Whichever firmware you choose to use will have instructions on how to flash that particular firmware.  Sometime, if you are upgrading from the stock Linksys firmware, there is a special firmware you have to load first.  Follow the instructions given to you by the firmware you choose.  Read them completely through before beginning the flashing process!  Most of them are simple and they usually conatin steps similar to:


Open router admin page.
Go to upgrade firmware option.
Point to new firmware.
Press upgrade button.

*Features Unlocked with 3rd Party Firmware:*

Ok, so you've got your 3rd party firmware loaded, what can you do?  There are probably hundreds of different tweaks you can do, but I'm going to focus on just a few of the most popular things.

*Increasing the wireless range:*

This, as I mentioned, was probably the orignal reason most people moved to 3rd party firmware.

In Tomato you want to go to Advanced -> Wireless and you will get a page that looks similar to this:






The area you are concerned with will be the "Transmit Power".  As you can see from my screenshot I have it set to 125mW, the default is 42mW.  I'd like to clear up a little misconception here.  

There is a lot of talk on the internet that raising this will kill the router or cause it to overheat.  I can dismiss those rumors right now.  Through my own testing, going all the way up to 150mW has no real effect on the radio.  And in fact, the router I'm using to make this guide is a WRT54G v2 that is well over 7 years old and has run at 125mV for the past 4 years at least with no issue at all.

Also, there is talk that increasing this will not effect wireless range because the wireless device(laptop, game console, whatever) will still not be able to send the single to the router if it is too far away. The common anology is that two people are in different rooms, and one guy is shouting so the other guy can hear him, but the other guy is talking normally so he can't be heard.  And that is true to a point.  However, with most internet traffic, a lot more data is being sent to the wireless device than the wireless device(I'll just say laptop from now on) is sending to the router.  So the relative short bursts of data that the laptop is sending to the router are more likely to get through with a weak transmit power from the laptop.  However, the larger amounts of data that the router is sending have less of a chance of making it to the laptop with a lower transmit power.

Side Note: Another way to increase signal strength is with an antenna upgrade.  A lot of people believe that you can not upgrade the antennas on a WRT54GL, because they use a propriatary connector.  That actually isn't true.  They don't use a propratary connector at all.  They are actually called R-TNC(AKA RP-TNC) connectors.  Most antennas on the market use what is called a R-SMC(AKA RP-SMC) connector. You can find antenna upgrades for the R-TNC connector, but a much easier solution is to buy an R-TNC to R-SMC adapter, they usually sell for about $5 online if you do a little hunting.  I bought two for $5 total shipped from here.

*Static DHCP:*

What is static DHCP?  It is sometimes also referred to as IP Reservations.  Basically what it does is reserve a certain IP address for a certain device on your network.  So say you have a server, and you want that server to always have the IP address of 192.168.1.100.  You could manually set that IP address on the server, but then if you ever move the server someplace(like take it to a LAN) where that IP won't work you can be in trouble.  With static DHCP, you can set the router to reserve that IP address for the server.  So whenver it is connected to your network, it will recieve that IP address and no other device is allowed to use that IP address.  Now I should make this a little more clear, you aren't actually assigning the IP address to the server, you are actually assigning it to the MAC address of the server's NIC card.  So if that NIC card is removed from the server and put on another computer, the IP will be assigned to the new computer.  In most cases, when you are using onboard LAN or internal wireless card, this won't be a problem. However, if you are using an USB wireless card for example it could be.

*Overclocking the router:*

Now this wouldn't be TPU if we didn't talk about overclocking something!  A lot of people refer to raising the transmitter power as overclocking the router, but that is inaccurate.  The Broadcom SoC processor that powers the WRT54GL and other rotuers actually can be overclocked as well.  By default the WRT54GL runs its processor at 200MHz.  However, the processor is actually capable of quite a bit more than that.

*Before you get started understand that setting the router to certain clock speeds will instantly brick the router.  The SoC is designed to run at certain clock speeds and certain clock speeds only, using any other speed can brick the router.  The speeds that work are 200, 216, 225, 240, and 250Mhz.  Using any other speed will most likely brick the router.*

Ok, now that I've thoroughly scared the shit out of you, lets get started.  I'm going to assume some basic understanding of getting around a Windows environment.

First thing you will want to do is install the Telnet client if it isn't installed already.  You can do this by going into the "Turn Windows Features On or Off" area under "Programs and Features".  No reboot necessary.

Then open a cmd window.

Type "Telnet 192.168.1.1" without the quotes and press enter. Replace the IP address with the IP address of your router if you have changed it from the default.

The username for Tomato is Root, so enter that.
The password is whatever password you have set in the GUI.

Once you are connected with Telnet you will want to run the command "nvram get clkfreq" without quotes.  This will tell you your current clock speed, most default to 200MHz.
Then to change the clock speed you want to enter "nvram set clkfreq=XXX" again without quotes and replacing the XXX with the actual clock frequency you want.
Then you enter "nvram commit" again without quotes to commit the changes.
Then you enter "reboot" again without quotes to reboot the router so the new settings take effect.

This is what all of this looks like:





In that example I'm actually setting the clock speed back from 250MHz to 200MHz.

Why should you do this?  What benefit does it have?  Well I'll show you.

This is my throughput with the clock speed at 200MHz:





This is my throughput with the clock speed at 250Mhz:


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## newtekie1 (Nov 19, 2010)

Reserved for future updates.


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## brandonwh64 (Nov 19, 2010)

I have my WRT54G flashed to DD-WRT, would i be better off with tomato?


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## newtekie1 (Nov 19, 2010)

brandonwh64 said:


> I have my WRT54G flashed to DD-WRT, would i be better off with tomato?



First of all, what version of WRT54G do you have?  Anything version 5 or higher will not work with Tomato anyway.

But really, if you are comfortable with DD-WRT then stick with it.


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## mlee49 (Nov 19, 2010)

subscribed for good reading material.

Owner of a Linksys 54WRTGS


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Nov 19, 2010)

When I went to find comparisons of dd-wrt and tomato I only found one performance test and it was for bandwidth, tomato winning. With how often these things are updated though the test is probably not relevant now. Feature wise I always got the impression dd-wrt was richer. I put the micro version on a friends router and I couldn't tell what was cut down, had so many options. Personally I prefer tomato for the interface...


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## Phxprovost (Nov 19, 2010)

my only concern is your speedtest results, i doubt that had anything to do with the oc but i would be willing to believe it if you tested it further


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## Beertintedgoggles (Nov 19, 2010)

I'd imagine if you saw about a 50% increase in your download speed by overclocking the router that you would also be able to see a benefit in transfer speed from computer to computer in your home network.  Could you try sending some huge file between PC's and timing it at both 200 and 250MHz?


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## newtekie1 (Nov 19, 2010)

Phxprovost said:


> my only concern is your speedtest results, i doubt that had anything to do with the oc but i would be willing to believe it if you tested it further



I've ran several runs, both on speedtest.net and speakeasy.net with both clock speeds, the change is very much repeatable.



Beertintedgoggles said:


> I'd imagine if you saw about a 50% increase in your download speed by overclocking the router that you would also be able to see a benefit in transfer speed from computer to computer in your home network.  Could you try sending some huge file between PC's and timing it at both 200 and 250MHz?



My internal network is all run on a Gigabit switch, so internal file transfers are handled by the switch.  The same would actually be true with the WRT54GL alone.  It has an internal 4-port switch that handles all the internal network traffic, it is only when traffic is moving between the outside network and the internal network that the processor speed would matter.


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## Easy Rhino (Nov 19, 2010)

stickied.


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## Beertintedgoggles (Nov 19, 2010)

I'm gonna have to try some speedtest.net runs on my Linksys tonight at some different clock speeds and see if I can pick up some free performance.  I've got Insight cable though which I'm pretty sure is capped at 6mbs so it shouldn't do a thing for me.  Worth a shot though just to mess around.


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## newtekie1 (Nov 20, 2010)

Easy Rhino said:


> stickied.



Awesome, thanks!


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## [I.R.A]_FBi (Nov 22, 2010)

wrt54GL v1.1 Owner here


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## Ross211 (Nov 29, 2010)

newtekie1 said:


> Now this wouldn't be TPU if we didn't talk about overclocking something! A lot of people refer to raising the transmitter power as overclocking the router, but that is inaccurate. The Broadcom SoC processor that powers the WRT54GL and other rotuers actually can be overclocked as well. By default the WRT54GL runs its processor at 200MHz. However, the processor is actually capable of quite a bit more than that.[/url]



And don't forget to cool your Broadcom SoC processor 





















Don't be afraid to get creative on what heatsink to apply.  I dremel'd up a Thermalright heatsink to size that wouldn't work for my GTX 260.  The heatsink had thermal tape on the bottom and both heatsinks with it stuck perfectly to my WRT54GL and WRT54GS.  I'm certain you could find some thermal tape or even use the Arctic Silver Thermal Adhesive mixed with some Arctic Silver 5.

I've heard some time ago that any micro-controller that runs over 75 Mhz needs at least a passive heat sink.  I'm surprised that these don't already have heatsinks on them even at the stock speed of 200 Mhz.  I don't OC my WRT54GL & GS but I want them to last as long as they possibly can.  I feel that if the wireless radio ever dies I'd still like to be able to use them as a switch / router still.  Keeping the Broadcom CPU cooler may lengthen the life of these units.

These routers with aftermarket firmware have tons of features for just a typical home router.  To be real honest, I've been messing with different firmware for these routers for some time now and I still haven't fully realized the potential they have.


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## Ross211 (Nov 29, 2010)

On a side note, I can fix bricked WRT54G and WRT54GL units.  I have soldering experience and can flash the units via JTAG cable.  

Example -





PM me if you have any bricks lying around and would like to get rid of them or get the unit fixed.


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## newtekie1 (Nov 29, 2010)

Ross211 said:


> And don't forget to cool your Broadcom SoC processor
> 
> http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/rmartin311/S6301223.jpg
> 
> ...



The Broadcom SoC processor doesn't really get that hot, so I don't feel it is worth the effort to open the router and risk messing it up.  Even at 250MHz, which is the max that is easily obtainable with this method, the SoC on my WRT54G v2.2 doesn't even get hot to the touch, just slightly warm.  And I've ran this router overclocked for a long while now.

Though definitely a cool idea and thanks for sharing it for anyone that wants to attempt it!

Edit: When I did this to one of my routers I used these: Enzotech BCC9 VGA Cooler
They fit perfectly and worked really well.


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## Ross211 (Dec 10, 2010)

newtekie1 can you provide a guide on how to use the QoS feature in Tomato ?   I think that would be great to add to your sticky.

I'm not sure if you do traffic shaping but I'm really feeling the need for it recently - I've got multiple hosts streaming Netflix on a 20-30 Mbps down / 4-5 Mbps up cable connection and I seem to be getting higher latency in Bad Company 2 throughout all this action.  

I have a fairly simple network. I just bought 2 new gigabit switches and plan to integrate them soon.  Right now my current setup is like this - 

Modem *---> *
WRT54GS v6 DD-WRT v24-sp2 build 13064 (This router has DHCP on) *---> *
WRT54GL 1.1 DD-WRT v24-sp2 SVN revision 13525 (This router has DHCP & NAT off, firewall off, I assigned WAN port to switch, it is basically a 5 port switch + access point)

If plan to do traffic shaping through QoS I need to implement this on my router that handles DHCP and NAT right ?  I don't believe I can flash Tomato on my GS v6 router, so I think I will have to place my GL where my GS is and change settings.

edit - Almost forgot to ask, QoS is broken in DD-WRT right ?  I've heard of TCP-Vegas, but it looks like a lot more work than using QoS features in Tomato.

I'd appreciate any suggestions.


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## newtekie1 (Dec 10, 2010)

I'll play around with it and try to get something about QoS up by next week.  I haven't really used QoS that much, but from what I have done, it seems like the default settings with Tomato are pretty good already.  Though maybe not ideal for gaming.

QoS has to be done on the router that handles NAT yes.


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## remixedcat (Dec 11, 2010)

Excellent guides on this router firmware!


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## MohawkAngel (Jan 28, 2011)

WRT54G Version 8.0 owner. Just got it today for 8$ and i just finished flashing with latest bios available for this model.


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## Fatal (Jan 28, 2011)

Crap just checked I have a WRT54GS ver. 6. Nice thread though


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## AsRock (Feb 27, 2011)

The Telnet 192.168.1.1 don't seem to work for me even though Telnet client is installed . it just says 'Telnet' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

Any idea's ?

Although just put tomato on my router and it even kept the settings of the old firmware too which saved some time.


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## newtekie1 (Feb 27, 2011)

AsRock said:


> The Telnet 192.168.1.1 don't seem to work for me even though Telnet client is installed . it just says 'Telnet' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
> operable program or batch file.
> 
> Any idea's ?
> ...



That means telnet is not installed on your computer.  You should be able to install it through the Add/Remove Windows Features.


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## AsRock (Feb 27, 2011)

newtekie1 said:


> That means telnet is not installed on your computer.  You should be able to install it through the Add/Remove Windows Features.



Thats what i thought but.

Well it's installed i just installed it and rebooted as requested. I'll rtemove and readd it see if it works second time around.

EDIT: Well i selected it the 1st time requested a reboot ( reboot request was due to removing some thing else ).  and just went to uninstall and install it and it was deselected weird so selected it and all sorted now...


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## johnspack (Mar 29, 2011)

I'm always 2 generations behind,  so I just got one of these.  Running tomato on it,  and love it.  Would dd-wrt give me any more options,  and how hard would it be to flash to it from tomato?


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## Fitseries3 (Mar 29, 2011)

im actually using 2 WRT600N's with DD-WRT on them. using 1 as main router for inet, br player,tv,htpc and it provides wifi to the house. 2nd one is on my desk setup as a wifi repeater/bridge and gigabit switch for my server and desktop as well as serves as a print server.

both are modded, cooled by blue zalman heatsinks and the decorative shells have been removed to allow better airflow.


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## newtekie1 (Mar 29, 2011)

johnspack said:


> I'm always 2 generations behind,  so I just got one of these.  Running tomato on it,  and love it.  Would dd-wrt give me any more options,  and how hard would it be to flash to it from tomato?



I haven't used DD-WRT in a while, but I don't think it really adds any options.



Fitseries3 said:


> im actually using 2 WRT600N's with DD-WRT on them. using 1 as main router for inet, br player,tv,htpc and it provides wifi to the house. 2nd one is on my desk setup as a wifi repeater/bridge and gigabit switch for my server and desktop as well as serves as a print server.
> 
> both are modded, cooled by blue zalman heatsinks and the decorative shells have been removed to allow better airflow.



I would love to see some pictures of those mods, they sound really cool.

I have to be honest, I just got rid of my 2 personal WRT54GL routers(sold on TPU).  I replaced them with E1000's so I could get wireless N.


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## johnspack (Mar 29, 2011)

I'm getting very frustrated,  telnet wont accept my username and pw,  which for gui is admin,  admin.  I tried Root,  admin,   Root,  root,  ect,  but it wont let me in!
Edit:  nevermind,  figured it out....


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## Fitseries3 (Mar 29, 2011)

nothing too fancy but i did use MX2 mixed with a tad bit of superglue to get em to stick..

both are identical so i only took pics of the one on my desk...


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## johnspack (Mar 29, 2011)

Only using tomato so far,  just did the oc to 250 thing,  looking to do more.  Not sure if I'm brave enough to try dd yet,  or even sure how I'd upgrade to it....


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## johnspack (Mar 29, 2011)

Gosh it's cute!:


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## johnspack (Mar 29, 2011)

Arrg,  now I really want dd-wrt.  Do I have to use the mini-build first?  How do I flash from tomato?  I know,  I'll have to google from here to the end of the earth to figure it out....


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## Fitseries3 (Mar 29, 2011)

micro then whatever size will work on your router. 

go to router database on dd-wrt.com and type your routers name in the box then it will tell you what to DL and do.


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## johnspack (Mar 29, 2011)

Okay,  wasn't sure if I had to still do that if I was already running a 3rd party linux bios.


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## yogurt_21 (Mar 29, 2011)

interesting, haven't tried to oc my router yet, any idea if it will boost wireless transfers? currently all clients are wireless while the server is wired.


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## johnspack (Mar 29, 2011)

The oc is mainly for internet throughput on both wired and wireless devices.  For speed,  you can enable afterburner,  which gives you 125mb/s,  but I think the target wireless device would also have to have a broadcom chip to work at that speed.  You can however increase radio output power to extend your range.  I'm going to flash to dd-wrt now and see what other little goodies I can find!


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## johnspack (Mar 30, 2011)

Decided to stick with tomato,  but with speedmod.  Easy flash upgrade to it,  and better performance on torrents ect.  Started learning busybox commands to see what info I can get,  very fun stuff!


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## johnspack (Mar 31, 2011)

Okay,  I need some help.  Very weird issue.  My Rise of Flight sim will not work with a router.  I can even dmz my computer,  but eventually I get timed out of a rof server.  If I disconnect the router,  I have no issues.  This also occurred with my vanilla linksys router.  Don't understand why even if dmz'ed.


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## Ross211 (Mar 31, 2011)

johnspack said:


> Okay,  I need some help.  Very weird issue.  My Rise of Flight sim will not work with a router.  I can even dmz my computer,  but eventually I get timed out of a rof server.  If I disconnect the router,  I have no issues.  This also occurred with my vanilla linksys router.  Don't understand why even if dmz'ed.



If you are using Win 7 X64 then you might have 2 connections that have different network location profiles made based upon the address range the device hands off to your Win 7 machines ethernet card.  

Ex. Your router could be set to "Public Network" and your modem could be set to "Private Network", and each network location affects your Windows Firewall settings.  When your router hands off a 192 (or whatever local address & router MAC) to your ethernet card Windows will change your network location because you changed connections.  This could be the problem if you chose "Public Network" when hooking up your router to your PC.  

M$ documentation


Spoiler



"How Windows Firewall affects network locations
The Public network location blocks certain programs and services from running to help protect your computer from unauthorized access while you're connected to a network in a public place. If you're connected to a public network and Windows Firewall is turned on, some programs or services might ask you to allow them to communicate through the firewall so that they work properly.

When you allow a program to communicate through the firewall, it's allowed for every network with the same location as the network you're currently connected to. For example, if you connect to a network in a coffee shop and choose Public network as the location, and you then unblock an instant message program, that program will be unblocked for all public networks that you connect to.

If you plan to unblock multiple programs while you're connected to a public network, consider changing the network location to Home network or Work network. It might be safer to change this one network than affect every public network you connect to from that point on. But remember that if you make that change, your computer will be visible to others on the network, and this is a security risk.
"


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## johnspack (Mar 31, 2011)

Actually,  I always use Work so I can network my computers easily.  One last thing to try,  and that's enable icmp ping,  the servers may actually use that....  Also,  already created firewall rules for the game as well.  Very puzzling.


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## v12dock (Mar 31, 2011)

I'm on like my 4th ddwrt router


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## newtekie1 (Mar 31, 2011)

johnspack said:


> Actually,  I always use Work so I can network my computers easily.  One last thing to try,  and that's enable icmp ping,  the servers may actually use that....  Also,  already created firewall rules for the game as well.  Very puzzling.



Very puzzling indeed, the only thing I can think of is that the game is overloading the router with connections and the router starts dropping them.


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## Sasqui (Mar 31, 2011)

Owner of a WRT54G v2... damn I've had the thing forever it seems.  I've known about hacks for a long time.  The one feature I considered doing it for was antenna power.

I had no idea about overclocking it...  with Tomato, is it overclockable (like the GL version???)

Great thread!


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## johnspack (Apr 1, 2011)

I believe the v2 oces as well yes.  And for my issue,  found out I did need to enable icmp ping,  as the game servers I use utilize it.  Live and learn....


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## newtekie1 (Apr 1, 2011)

Sasqui said:


> Owner of a WRT54G v2... damn I've had the thing forever it seems.  I've known about hacks for a long time.  The one feature I considered doing it for was antenna power.
> 
> I had no idea about overclocking it...  with Tomato, is it overclockable (like the GL version???)
> 
> Great thread!



Yes, in fact the first  post of this thread was done entirely on a WRT54G v2.


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## Sasqui (Apr 2, 2011)

newtekie1 said:


> Yes, in fact the first  post of this thread was done entirely on a WRT54G v2.



Sweet


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## meaintsmart (Apr 8, 2011)

For whatever reason, I cannot log into Telnet. I have it enabled but whenever I put in my password it doesn't work.


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## johnspack (Apr 9, 2011)

Use the regular web interface,  and set a new password.  The default one doesn't seem to work,  so just set a new one.


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## meaintsmart (Apr 9, 2011)

I have tried that also. I actually just let it rest for 10 minutes or so then tried again. I read somewhere that it has to be "root" with lowercase so I tried that even though I have tried before. Weirdly enough, it actually worked this time.


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## newtekie1 (Apr 9, 2011)

meaintsmart said:


> I have tried that also. I actually just let it rest for 10 minutes or so then tried again. I read somewhere that it has to be "root" with lowercase so I tried that even though I have tried before. Weirdly enough, it actually worked this time.



Yes, with telnet you might have to log in with root, you can log into the web interface with root as well.


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## johnspack (Apr 15, 2011)

Finally figured out my problem with ROF ect,  turns out I needed to add a signal reducing adaptor to my modem,  it was being over modulated and was causing all my issues.  Now that I got this thing working right,  I realized it had upnp.  I then found a little app called PortMapper:  http://upnp-portmapper.sourceforge.net/  a little sourceforge project,  that allows you to create unique port triggers for any app you like.  Works perfect with tomato as well.  Now I don't have to leave ports open,  only when I need them!


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## pesare6969 (Aug 14, 2011)

*Need some help with WRT54GL !*

Hi Guys!

Sorry for my bad english , I'm from Sweden.

I have a few years old Linksys Router WRT54GL V1.1 with Tomato 1,28 firmware.

Need some help, want to do somethings and don't know how to begin.


I want that point A (WRT54GL) be connected wireless to point B (Notebook with some intel a/b/g card integrated).

The distance is 300Meters (330Yards / 0.19 Mile) and humidity in that area is around 80% , but open range none buildning or ...

The maximum speed I need is around 1 Mbit persecond (150KB per second), and normal internet connection no streaming or ...

Security doesn't matter can be WEP 64 or none att all!


Should I buy any antenns for router , and how many should that be dB ? 7 , 9 or 12 ? 

Do I neet to upgrade my network card in notebook , how about this one?

http://www.memorypuntoit.com/public/prodotti/982011144745a.jpg

Technical Specifications:

• Wireless Standard: IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11b
• Interface: High Speed ​​USB 2.0 / 1.1 interface
• Data Rate: 802.11n: up to 300Mbps (downlink) and 150Mbps (uplink), 802.11g: 54 / 48 / 36 / 24 / 18 / 12 / 9 / 6 Mbit / s 802.11b: 11 / 5,5 / 2 / 1 Mbps
• Frequency: 2.4 GHz ISM band
• Radio Channel: 1 ~ 14
• Antenna type: Screw-on antenna
• RF output power: 25 ~ 27 dBm (typical)
• Modulation: 11N: BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM OFDM mit, 11g: BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM, OFDM, 11b: DQPSK, DBPSK, DSSS, CCK


I thought that overclocking the CPU would also increase the range so I bought a notebook cooler (heatpipe + sink + fan) that fits the WRT54GL to cool the CPU and Hynix's memory of it! Have not installed yet, but it has now.


Can tomato help me, or Do I need to change firmware?  

How about Transmit Power ? What heppens If I increase it to 200 or 250?  Can cooling help the radio? I have tested with 100mW but it doesn't work.

And which channel should I use?




Thanks for answers, in advance!
/


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## lilhasselhoffer (Aug 14, 2011)

pesare6969 said:


> Hi Guys!
> 
> Sorry for my bad english , I'm from Sweden.
> 
> ...



Holy crap, that's some distance.

The area a router can cover is significantly less than 300m.  You could search of plans for a directed antennae online (something like this: http://www.engadget.com/2005/11/15/how-to-build-a-wifi-biquad-dish-antenna/).

The less crazy route is a repeater.  You can pick up a (or maybe a couple given the distance) wireless repeater for slightly less than the cost of a decent router (something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833315087, though I understand you'll have to find a local supplier).  It will likely introduce some speed loss, but you should, reasonably, still get the speed you need.


*Crazy is all relative.  I just wanted to get across the fact that building your own antenna is difficult, and will likely not get you what you want.


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## newtekie1 (Aug 14, 2011)

For that kind of range you are probably going to want to build or buy a directional antenna to focus the signal in the direction need it to travel instead of kind of just going everywhere.  Increasing the signal power is also going to be a must.  And network adapter that can take an external antenna will also be very helful.

A couple of these would likely cover the distance you need: TP-LINK TL-ANT2424B 2.4GHz 24dBi Grid Parabolic An...


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## pesare6969 (Aug 15, 2011)

Thank you for your answers. The link was usefull I bookmarked them.

Want to ask some thing, Every time I see a new D-link product like Router N about range specification 100m indoor range and 300meters outdoor range , is that bullshit?

Because I think D-link doesn't make any good router, Here in sweden my friends making joke of D-link product! 


I tested with a normal ADSL Modem(integrated Router function) wireless for a years ago i that situation I told before. My notebook could see a wireless network connection in distance but the signal was too weak so it couldn't stablish any connection. I don't remember the name of that adsl modem but I'm going to find it! It was a cheap normal modem with wireles and only one simple anten (maybe 2-3 dB).

About the distance, I'm sure that its more than 200Meters but maybe less than 300!



How much should I increse the Transmit power on my WRT54GL for testing ?

Should I use the cooling "fan+sink+heatpipe" I have?


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## newtekie1 (Aug 15, 2011)

pesare6969 said:


> Want to ask some thing, Every time I see a new D-link product like Router N about range specification 100m indoor range and 300meters outdoor range , is that bullshit?



For the most part, yes it is bullshit.  The approximate indoor range of wireless N is 70m, and the outdoor range is 250m.  D-Link is just using those numbers and fudging them a little with an "up to" before them.  You might get 300m on a perfect day with 0 humidity, on a perfectly flat piece of land, but in the real world it doesn't happen.


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## pesare6969 (Aug 15, 2011)

Thanks for answer! Yes I think the same about D-link

The AdslModem which I told before is : Soliton Technology RTA7105W(ROHS) , I could see the signal in that distance with my integrated intel card , but couldn't establish connection because of weak/low signal !

I want to test my wrt54gl first, before I buy any extra anten, How much should Trasmit power be att highest level/maximum , for not trying to kill this router?


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## newtekie1 (Aug 15, 2011)

The highest I would recommend for the transmit power would be 150mW.


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## mtosev (Apr 27, 2012)

should I now still buy the linksys wrt54gl router? i'm looking for a new router to replace the current crappy router that i unfortunetelly currently own.


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## newtekie1 (Apr 27, 2012)

Today, I wouldn't recommend the WRT54GL anymore, it is just too antiquated with its features.  My current personal choice for routers is the E3000, which can be had for around $60.  It has gigabit network ports, simultaneous dual-band wireless N, and a USB port that can be used for a few different things, not to mention a faster CPU and more memory than the WRT54GL which makes overclocking the CPU pointless.  But best of all it is still easily supported with TomatoUSB(my favorite firmware) and DD-WRT.


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## mtosev (Apr 27, 2012)

thx but the E3000 here costs 102Eur vs the price of 48Eur the WRT54GL.the WRT still looks like a good buy


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## newtekie1 (Apr 27, 2012)

Try looking for a refurbished E3000.  Otherwise, if you don't think you'll need the features of the E3000, the WRT54GL is still a good router.


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## mtosev (Apr 27, 2012)

I live in Europe and I can't buy refurbs as they aren't sold here.btw I have a 20/2 connection.I plan flashing it with ddwrt the same second I recive it


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## newtekie1 (Apr 27, 2012)

The problem with the WRT54GL is, even with the CPU overclocked, it can only really handle about a 35MB/s internet connection.  So, while it would handled what you have now, if you ever upgrade it might become overloaded.

If you plan to use DD-WRT, then I would also consider an E1000 or an E2000 over the WRT54GL.  The E1000 shouldn't be that much more expensive than the WRT54GL.


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## mtosev (Apr 27, 2012)

yeah I seen your test on the first page.I don't expect that we will have a faster connection anytime soon as this part of the city doesn't yet have fiber optical infrastructure.btw do you maybe know if my older router(asus wl-500g deluxe running ddwrt) is better or worse than the linksys 54GL


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## newtekie1 (Apr 27, 2012)

The WL-500G Deluxe is about the same as the WRT54GL, maybe even slightly better.


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## AsRock (Apr 28, 2012)

mtosev said:


> I live in Europe and I can't buy refurbs as they aren't sold here.btw I have a 20/2 connection.I plan flashing it with ddwrt the same second I recive it



Try to find a refurb link though Linksys them selfs as thats how i got my repeater of them which i must say they were selling for $100 but a refurb was $15+SH lol.

Link might help
http://homestore.cisco.com/en-us/products/linksys-outlet-refurbished_stcVVcatId543906VVviewcat.htm


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## mtosev (Apr 28, 2012)

I can't.My country isn't even listed on cisco's website.the only way for me to buy a refurb would be on ebay but the shipping costs would be crazy


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## mtosev (May 17, 2012)

there is an option of getting a wrt160nl for 63eur.ordering the router today so what would you say sould i get the wrt54gl or the wrt160nl


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## remixedcat (May 17, 2012)

I really wish AMPED WIRELESS!!! would have DDWRT support but they say that thier amplifiers/chipset might not work right in it or something....thier firmware is Linux based tho...   I wonder if anyone would love to try to attempt to get that to work... that would freakin rock.

they did say they are looking into it though so that's a good sign!! I will reach out to them again in a couple months...


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## lilhasselhoffer (May 18, 2012)

remixedcat said:


> I really wish AMPED WIRELESS!!! would have DDWRT support but they say that thier amplifiers/chipset might not work right in it or something....thier firmware is Linux based tho...   I wonder if anyone would love to try to attempt to get that to work... that would freakin rock.
> 
> they did say they are looking into it though so that's a good sign!! I will reach out to them again in a couple months...



Why?

The reason you install dd-wrt, tomato, etc... is because features have been stripped out.  Amped seems to be selling a pro-sumer grade product, with little to no restrictions placed on the feature set.  The only real benefit seems to be a change to the UI...?

I loved dd-wrt on my old 54gl, but most new $100+ routers have all their features enabled.  Linksys's black eye has changed a lot about how router manufacturers design hardware.  I don't see why you wouldn't just buy the router if you really wanted its brand of extreme overkill (relating to TX/RX receiver power).


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## remixedcat (May 18, 2012)

Excellent points there.


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## newtekie1 (May 18, 2012)

mtosev said:


> there is an option of getting a wrt160nl for 63eur.ordering the router today so what would you say sould i get the wrt54gl or the wrt160nl



WRT160NL no question.


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## mtosev (May 18, 2012)

I ordered the 160NL yesterday and today I get it


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## johnspack (Jul 17, 2012)

Love my old WRT54GL...  it's what I'm currently using.  But really people...  it's time to upgrade.  My router chokes out on torrents easily ect,  I've got it oced to 250mhz,  but dam,  it's years old tech!  Check out my Asus router thread,  I'm going to buy this thing and make it my bi0tch....


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## remixedcat (Jul 17, 2012)

I'm lookin towards the AMPED WIRELESS!!! or another netgear.


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## caleb (Jul 17, 2012)

I run OpenWRT on ASUS WL500GP with
- samba 3
- transmission torrent client
Its a pretty leet router to mess with cause the WRT posted here is pretty hardware limited and the firmware is the best their is for such devices IMHO.


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## Nordic (Jul 17, 2012)

Would it even be worth it to run tomato usb or openWRT on my netgear 3700?


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## technicks (Sep 16, 2012)

I also have an WRT54GL but like newtekie1 stated above it stops at 35MB/s.
I have a 50MB/s connection so what would be a nice upgrade?


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## johnspack (Sep 16, 2012)

The Asus RT-N16 is a massive upgrade from the 54GL.  I still use my 54GL,  but only as a repeater now.  The N16 has all gigabit ports,  and with the massive amount of flash and sytem ram,  I can run all kinds of extra apps under Tomato.  Got a squid server going,  all ip traffic is being logged,  using both cifs and jfs that have been re-routed to server shares on my server.  You can do so much more with it.


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## newtekie1 (Sep 16, 2012)

technicks said:


> I also have an WRT54GL but like newtekie1 stated above it stops at 35MB/s.
> I have a 50MB/s connection so what would be a nice upgrade?



I first switched to an E1000, the V1 is compatible with TomatoUSB.  But I wanted 5GHz Wireless N, so I upgraded again to an E3000 which is also compatible with TomatoUSB.

You can get the E3000 for $50 off newegg, which is probably one of the best deals ever for such a fully featured router.  I don't even think you can come close to that price with any other simultaneous dual-band router not to mention one with a USB port.

And if you are wondering what TomatoUSB is, it is basically what it sounds like, an off-shoot of the Tomato firmware that works with more routers, supports 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wireless N, and supports the USB ports on certain routers.  The USB port allows you to do a few things with the router, including using the router as a printer server, connecting a USB drive and using the router as a NAS device or even having the router do all your downloading for you and putting the downloads on the USB attached drive.


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## technicks (Sep 16, 2012)

Maybe it's a dumb question but would it not be better to have a router with antenna's on it? Regarding the wireless part.
On my WRT54GL i bought some bigger antenna's and it increased the wireless signal a bit.


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## newtekie1 (Sep 17, 2012)

technicks said:


> Maybe it's a dumb question but would it not be better to have a router with antenna's on it? Regarding the wireless part.
> On my WRT54GL i bought some bigger antenna's and it increased the wireless signal a bit.



I don't think they are necessary. The E1000 easily covered the same area as my WRT54GL and the WRT54GL had upgraded antennas as well.  Now the E3000's 5GHz band covers even more.  Yeah, the lack of external antennas are about the only draw back of the E3000, but for $50 it is still a terrific deal and with Wireless N the range is really good.


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## remixedcat (Sep 17, 2012)

technicks said:


> Maybe it's a dumb question but would it not be better to have a router with antenna's on it? Regarding the wireless part.
> On my WRT54GL i bought some bigger antenna's and it increased the wireless signal a bit.



Hard to find those these days.... a lot of them are making them internal only.... dumb fad.


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## Arrowmin (Oct 2, 2012)

*nice*

Hello everyone I am new here.


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## sparky209 (May 11, 2014)

Ive moded at least 45 wrt-54g routers of different versions..every thing from fan mods to seral
Ports...mods from sd cards to usb ports (yes it can be done) and used them for wds to weatner stations to wardriving with a gps hooked to it  and even as client and repeaters including bridges..the list goes on ..iv even made a remote internet controled robot with one using an adruino board hacked into it along with an attached network cam and two cassette player motors and two old cd's used for the wheels .thanks to them being open sorce and linux embeded device theres a ton of different stuff that can be done with them and quite few different firmware images that  you can load on most of them depending on the version router you have (some ver.better then others thanks to some dumb ass at linksys idea to neutering later versions) Its sad there no longer made I still have no problem in finding the wrt-54g-tm (the best ones Imo) I bought 8 of them from a t-mobel store that had them on a back shelf for the last 6 years never opened all for 20bucks. And always find them at 2nd had stores like salvation army or good will for a buck or two. Thanks to t-mobile no longer using them I guess thats where the end up .


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## Jody James (Dec 28, 2014)

I just upgraded my WRT54GL 1.1 to Tomato today.  Overclocking it increased throughput 20%.  Want to note that I'm getting download speeds much higher than is noted a few times in this thread so don't think you have to get a different router to get speeds over 35 MB/s.  This is my results afterwards:  http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/4015996567


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## AsRock (Dec 28, 2014)

I have a bunch of them here i stopped using them as they cap my connection, which is why i picked up a cheaper seconhand Netgear WNR1000 for $4 from a secondhand shop which allows me to download around 90Mbs ( 11MBs ) if the site permits which steam does 99% of the time.

I do like them but they are just to slow for todays needs.


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## suraswami (Feb 12, 2015)

My trusty Wrt54gL worked fine for about 6+ yrs, started to act weird, dropping connections, had to reset router every now and then, then loaded DD-WRT on the spare WRT54G, that was working fine until recently had similar issues.  Then tried the EA6300 refurb, decent router but not very good range.  Now trying out Netis WF2780 AC1200 router.  Has excellent range during off peak hours.

Due to about a billion wireless routers in my condo community, between 5 and 7:30 pm, all of these routers struggle, the devices sometimes timeout until I reset the router.  I plan to put one of these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704196&ignorebbr=1

along with other Powerline network adapters, hopefully my problem with stupid wifi will be solved (blame the growing media players, tablets and smart TVs).

BTW anybody here tried the Netis WF2780?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ATCH&Description=netis+wf2780&N=-1&isNodeId=1

Recent security issue article - http://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/netis-routers-leave-wide-open-backdoor/

Netis downloads say its fixed (hopefully) - http://www.netis-systems.com/en/products/Dualband-Series/905.html#.VN0xPS4mtrg

Wish it gets the custom firmware, especially DD-WRT.


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## newtekie1 (Feb 13, 2015)

I've switched away from the Linksys routers,  as you said due to the poor signal strength.  I've started using ASUS routers primarily and haven't been disappointed.  Even their insanely cheap RT-N12, which regularly sells for $40 but often time I can pick it up for under $30 is damn solid running Tomato.


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## suraswami (Feb 13, 2015)

yeah that RT-N12 was on sale last thanks giving at Frys for like $10 or something AR, at that time my routers were not acting up, so I returned it, I should have kept as spare.


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## Freezer (Oct 8, 2015)

Still have my Wrt54gl and working like a charm.  

Wondering what advantages there are with Tomato over DDWRT.


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## Jetster (Oct 8, 2015)

Freezer said:


> Still have my Wrt54gl and working like a charm.
> 
> Wondering what advantages there are with Tomato over DDWRT.


None


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## AsRock (Oct 8, 2015)

I believe Tomato has better monitoring ( unless sit's the other way around been a while ).


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## vectoravtech (Jun 12, 2016)

I have read QOS is much better in Tomato. Myself I flashed ddwrt (to do it properly you need to flash mini then mega or Kong after) with heart bleed protection on my netgear N600 wndr2400 then got mini samba 2 setup and working on my usb stick. It's very simple just set the workgroup name then mount it and add the disconnect command before it shuts off.

The features I learned to use in ddwrt are
1. Connection watchdog (it will reboot the router if an ip you added isn't accesible)
2. Changing the wireless channel to find one that isn't congested and gives you better speed tests.

I heard allot of good things about the Asus Merlin (their own version of tomato)


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