Please spec me a new router that has WOL

Oxide™ · 12 Dec 2009 at 17:13

I'm currently using the Sagem router/modem supplied by Sky. It has been working fine for me but it lacks this certain feature.

My main priority is to get a new router for xmas that supports WoL so I may wake my pc when needed and use LogMeIn to then access it over the internet.

I've been researching routers and I see the Linksys WRT54GL with Tomato is well recommended. Can be had for around £40.

Now this is all well and good but for not that much more, routers with wireless N (I don't have any wireless N enabled devices yet) and Gigabit switches can be had.

So is it better to spend maybe no more than £80 on a router that has WoL, Wireless N, Gigabit and without 3rd party firmware? and if so can anyone please recommend some good examples?

I just need it to connect to the internet, have wireless for the PS3 and my mobile and 1 cable going to the pc for now.

Any advice much appreciated as always

EDIT: what about the Draytek Vigor range? seems it supports WoL

tolien · 12 Dec 2009 at 17:35

The issue you'll find is that the WRT54GL, and routers of its ilk, would need an ADSL modem to go with them to be any use to you on Sky (and Sky don't like you using anything but their router too).

Oxide™ · 12 Dec 2009 at 18:37

ye I just found that out lol

I know Sky don't allow other routers to be used but lots of people seem to have done it without issue - I know that's not an excuse though

Been reading if there is any way for the sagem f@st 800 series I have atm to forward to my LAN's broadcast address but it won't let me enter x.x.x.255 or x.x.x.*

Feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place

Oxide™ · 14 Dec 2009 at 19:48

anyone please provide some names of all-in-one routers that support WOL. Reading every manufacturers datasheets doesnt help as they don't list this capability or if the router can be configured to transmit data on the broadcast address. Seems even the Linksys WAG320N doesn't have this feature

I've tested WOL to work on my pc within my LAN but it doesn't work when trying from an external location

Oxide™ · 15 Dec 2009 at 11:23

spent last night researching this issue:
How to wake your PC via the internet (when it wakes up ok on local LAN)

what a minefield of ambiguous answers on this subject - one I would have thought would be very popular and easy to configure.

It seems unless you have an uber expensive router and a great deal of technical prowess/patience then no, they do not route broadcast packets (eg. 192.168.0.255) which is fair enough.

What would be ideal is to remotely log onto the router and within it's firmware it would have a WOL section to fire off the magic packet onto your LAN - seems opensource firmwares have this option but their firmware does not support WAN interfaces on all-in-one products (please correct me if I am wrong here)

Only glimmer of hope I have seen is a Netgear (DG834PN) with a custom firmware that has this WOL option. (can someone please confirm this)

Surely it can't be this complicated for something I thought would have been quite common?

The alternative of 'just leave your pc on all the time' does not make any sense.

1: I might not need to remotely access it everyday
2: Unnecessary wear and tear
3: Waste of electricity and higher energy costs
4: Unnecessary extra strain on global warming

PistolPete · 15 Dec 2009 at 14:28

Are you really looking for a router that has some kind of WOL "client" built in, or simply a router that will forward a WOL packet to the broadcast address of you LAN subnet?

The latter is much easier to find, and you can make use of many WOL clients available for free and even some websites do it.

Oxide™ · 15 Dec 2009 at 18:24

any all-in-one router of good quality will do

(not more than £50 or so)

As I said, I couldnt find any router that allows broadcast traffic through so was resigning myself to acquiring firmware for a router with a WOL client - what router and firmware is another question