Thread: $60 Router into $600 Router

UPDATE: Glad so many have found the tutorial useful/interesting. Just a heads up that I've started a personal blog and some of my tutorials may or may not be revised and posted there. Just covering my bases in the event anybody believes the tutorials here on T-I to be plagiarized. A simple resolution obviously is to note the date these were posted vs. the date they might be posted elsewhere.




I originally saw this post by LifeHacker's Adam Pash some time ago. I gave it a mental "check later" and totally forgot about it. I finally got around to doing this on my Linksys WRT54GS and I'm really impressed. Essentially what this does is replaces the router's firmware and installs a version of Linux as the IOS.

The end game here is that by doing this you can unlock many advanced features found on much higher priced routers. For a list of the features check here. Some of the highlights are the ability to adjust your wifi signal strength, QoS, and static DHCP.

Now because the instructions are going to be unique to each flavor of router I won't make an umpteen page post including them all. Instead I'll try to summarize the process and point you in the right direction.

There's basically going to be a good deal of flashing, power cycling, waiting, waiting...flashing, power cycling...waiting...and more waiting. You'll (in most cases) be flashing your router twice to get it ready, and then a final time to actually install the updated firmware.

IMPORTANT: Any time you update the firmware of your router you run the risk of bricking it. By doing this you'll also be voiding the warranty of your router. I accept no responsibility if your router explodes and/or becomes self aware and attempts to conquer humanity.

ALSO IMPORTANT: DO NOT START FLASHING until you have read and reread the instructions. Make sure you keep a copy up and make sure you have ALL of the necessary files before you start. Obviously once you start you will lose internet access unless you have another PC handy to directly connect to your modem.

IMPORTANT RED CONTINUES: Don't increase the strength of your WiFi signal too much, anything over 70mW gets sketchy. Although the new setup will allow you up to 251mW DON'T GO THAT HIGH. Your router can overheat and kill itself.

For starters go here and see if your router is supported. Type in your model and then click on the router that matches yours, be sure to match the version number too (usually on the bottom of your router). Once you've pulled up your router's page it should tell if you it's supported, if it is you'll see a list of downloads and you should see a link to the instructions for your router. Follow the instructions and download the files needed. The instructions may say that creating a custom VX image is optional, but skipping that will give you a generic MAC address for your router that might prevent some ISPs from letting you connect to the internet; so it's best to take the time and do it. Remember to make sure you have everything you need downloaded before you start. Also check the instruction page for links that you may need to access during the install for more info. You can roll the dice and just leave a browser window up with the pages or play it safe and convert them to PDF (bam or bammo).

You'll also probably want to go ahead and download the TFTP tool which you can find here. Make sure you set the version on that page to 4.0 and then download the "Utility" at the bottom. Note that you may not need this depending on your specific router install instructions, mine did so I went ahead and included the link. Partly because it was tricky to track down because the link in the instructions was out of date and dead.

If you have any questions along the way feel free to post them here. While I'm only familiar with the install for my particular router I'll do my best to help out. Just remember doing this is not to be taken lightly, one hiccup along the way could render your router useless...so make sure you read everything you can and don't half-ass it.

awesome, I will definitely check this out!

Very helpful, but if your making your WIFI strength more powerful remember it can be hazardous to your health (no joke).

I am going to try this on my Linksys, intriguing to say the least.

Originally Posted by itsjohnny

Very helpful, but if your making your WIFI strength more powerful remember it can be hazardous to your health (no joke).

Yes I forgot to mention that, thanks. I think it's covered in the instructions as well as the LifeHacker article, but it's not recommended that you increase the strength of your wifi signal over 70mW (it supports a maximum of 251mW). Going too high can cause your router to overheat and well...melt down. I think I read some people run it at 100mW safely, but unless you want to risk it I'd stick to 70mW. To put it in perspective I think the LifeHacker article mentions that most routers default at like 20mW(ish), so 70mW is a big step up. I'll add that to the big scary red text in the original post.

interesting.. i might try this

I think I'm gunna have to give this ago when I get around to getting my new router.. and get a bit of time off work, thanks alot for the tut, much appreciated :)

Another popular alternative is Tomato. I prefer it over DD-WRT because the QOS in my opinion is easier to use and setup. Also, it didn't help that the DD-WRT installation froze after 3 days, necessitating a hard reset.

DD-WRT is the most popular firmware because it's the most well maintained, so the best way to get details on what is supported with DD-WRT is to search for the specific router model in their forums. For Tomato, the best source of support I found is here.

Use the DD-WRT Wiki as a starting point to find processor speeds and memory capacity for most of the popular router models. Not every router is compatible, even among the same model number. Linksys WRT54G, the original model, has about 12 different revisions, some of which are incompatible and others have slower processors or less memory.

To install third party firmware, flash capacity is important. 2MB on the cheapest routers only lets you install micro DD-WRT, which has a bunch of features missing to reduce installation size. 4MB is the minimum required for Tomato and DD-WRT standard installs. 8MB is required for DD-WRT mega builds, which have just about every feature under the sun.
However, processor and memory (RAM) are just as important, especially with heavy network loads (torrenting). There's little point in running lots of features if they just choke your router at the slightest nudge. In my personal experience with a 3-6 Mbps line, 200+Mhz processor and 32MB RAM is good enough with the right QOS settings. Your mileage may vary up or down depending on your personal usage characteristics.

The top routers I know of are the Asus RT-N16 , Linksys WRT610N, and Netgear 3500L. The Asus is simply insane with a 480MHz processor and 128MB RAM when most consumer routers have 16MB RAM and 200-240Mhz processors.
Do note that 802.11n support is sporadic and model-specific. Mostly limited to 2.4GHz, but a few 5GHz models have that enabled. This is primarily a hardware limitation, so choose carefully if 802.11n is important.
USB support is model specific, but generally not worth the trouble. The hardware in most routers tends to be too slow to support decent transfer speeds and printer support is spotty (sometimes you print double). A few of the higher end routers (Asus RT-N16, Linksys WRT610, etc) are fast enough to stream video off USB drives.

Overall, my personal experience is as follows. The biggest advantage to installing DD-WRT is stability. The general consensus among user reviews at sites like Amazon or Newegg seem to indicate terribly erratic firmware across the board. The second benefit is good QOS control that allows you to torrent full speed both ways and still let several users surf the web or watch Youtube without slowdown. Everything else is just gravy.

THank you for Posting