spec me plz: Stable + wireless N + ADSL + DD-WRT

panyan · 18 Jun 2011 at 23:26

im looking to upgrade the home netgear dg834g which ive had for a while

- must be a stable router, cant need to be rebooted every day

- have wireless N (preferable 300mbps)

- runs off ADSL2+ or the latest phone line protocol

- must be flashable to DD-WRT so that i can monitor usage (or any other advanced firmware that can monitor usage

)

i KNOW it is a big ask, but i wouldnt ask if i could find it easily myself

thanks

benftl · 18 Jun 2011 at 23:34

Well you're not going to find a modem/router combo that can be flashed with DD-WRT, so your best bet and my personal favourite way of doing things is to set your Netgear to bridge mode and link it to a DIR615 flashed with DD-WRT. It'll support WirelessN (up to 150mbps afaik, 300 is rarely achievable anyway...) and you keep the benefit of the decent Broadcom chipset in the Netgear.

panyan · 18 Jun 2011 at 23:37

benftl said:
Well you're not going to find a modem/router combo that can be flashed with DD-WRT, so your best bet and my personal favourite way of doing things is to set your Netgear to bridge mode and link it to a DIR615 flashed with DD-WRT. It'll support WirelessN (up to 150mbps afaik, 300 is rarely achievable anyway...) and you keep the benefit of the decent Broadcom chipset in the Netgear.

i understand that is a good way of doing it, but it is rather messy, ugly and involves a lot of wires - that will not be appreciated by the family

is there a modem router that can be flashed with something like DDWRT that will still monitor usage?

benftl · 18 Jun 2011 at 23:41

no, it's not possible, DD-WRT doesn't support ADSL, it's a router firmware. I find a separate modem/router combo works best really, unless you pay big money for a combo. Besides there aren't that many wires with a modem being sat beside a router? I'm not sure of any other firmware that offers bandwidth monitoring to the same degree as DD-WRT.

panyan · 18 Jun 2011 at 23:46

well ive just bought a used one off the bay (£10

) and i want to ask you about the best way to set it all up

1) bridge mode - but the netgear will still be the master base station right so the ddwrt monitor wont really work for the whole network

2) use the netgear as a modem and have the 615 as the main router for the house, the monitor should work properly

benftl · 19 Jun 2011 at 00:01

Bridge mode means the 'router' acts as modem only, so passes internet traffic straight to your DIR615. The DLink will be the 'master' station. The WAN monitor will work correctly in this situation and your internet should be a lot more stable as the WLAN / routing is being handled by the superior DIR615 hardware/software.

panyan · 19 Jun 2011 at 00:10

benftl said:
Bridge mode means the 'router' acts as modem only, so passes internet traffic straight to your DIR615. The DLink will be the 'master' station. The WAN monitor will work correctly in this situation and your internet should be a lot more stable as the WLAN / routing is being handled by the superior DIR615 hardware/software.

that is great - thanks

would this work:

keep the netgear running as the modem and sending out wireless G and then link the 615 to it so that the ethernet ports are all part of the same network?

what i am trying to get at is, can i have the netgear running in my room as it does now, and have the 615 running in the study and connect the laptop to the ethernet ports on the 615?

the reason i ask is that is it possible to have wireless G for the older devices from the netgear, wireless N for the newer devices from the 615 and have the laptop connected to the 615 via ethernet so that i dont have to buy an N adapter?

benftl · 19 Jun 2011 at 00:21

You could I suppose but then it gets a little messy. The DIR615 supports N and G speeds so all of your existing equipment will work fine with it.

panyan · 19 Jun 2011 at 00:21

benftl said:
You could I suppose but then it gets a little messy. The DIR615 supports N and G speeds so all of your existing equipment will work fine with it.

so i can connect g and n devices to it at the same time? isnt that called dual-band?

benftl · 19 Jun 2011 at 00:23

Yes you can. Dual band is where a router supports 2.4GHz and 5GHz. The DIR615 isn't dual band but will run in 2.4GHz mixed mode where N and G clients can operate with it simultaneously.

panyan · 19 Jun 2011 at 00:26

benftl said:
Yes you can. Dual band is where a router supports 2.4GHz and 5GHz. The DIR615 isn't dual band but will run in 2.4GHz mixed mode where N and G clients can operate with it simultaneously.

what is the difference between mixed mode and dual band if you can use n and g on both at the same time?