DD-WRT and Tomato

from Demigod Forums

Waiting for my new router to arrive and I wanted to pick some brains on these two pieces of firmware.

I know that pacov has recently started using DD-WRT and I think that he is enjoying it.  What does anyone else think about the two?  I am not going to be doing anything funky with the router.  i just need to connect my main PC, a laptop, a couple of DS's, a Wii, a PS3 and an iPod touch.  I have been using a Netgear MR814 which has been fairly reliable, but I notice that I am needing to reset it more often and performance seems to be slowing down.

off-topic
25,031 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from Demigod Forums Top

tagging for later

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

OK - just some quick feedback.  I have a WRT54G router that I flashed to the appropriate version of DD-WRT.  The main reason I did this was to address some port forwarding needs.  The regular firmware that comes with the WRT54G has a limit on how many instances of port ranges that you can forward - so as new games came out or I'd get new electronics that require forwarding, I'd have to come up with creative solutions to handle them.  Anyway, the DD-WRT either has no such restriction or simply allows a larger number of forwarded ranges.  I noticed a reasonable improvement in speed.  Connections seem more crisp.  The signal, without tweaking, of my wifi appears to be a bit stronger (7-20%). Installation took only about 45 minutes (including all of the necessary research to ensure I didn't brick my router).  And you can flash back to the factory firmware if you decide its not for you.  Oh, and I also was able to improve security on my wireless network by switching to a better level of encryption. 

Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from Demigod Forums Top

I appreciate the feedback pacov.  I wonder how many people actually use third party firmware around here.

I ended up going with Tomato as I really wanted just a basic/streamlined set-up...  and the result is...

Wow!!

I cannot believe the difference in my internet.  Pages load almost instantly when I click now..  I have been suffering through a noticable delay for awhile.  Not an extended amount of time..  just a second or three.  Actually Time Warner came trolling through the neighborhood earlier this week going door to door trying to get people to either switch over or upgrade to Turbo for free.  The guy said they were trying to get ahead of cincinnati bell.  I possibly believe him...  although it would take a LOT for the dismal customer service of TW to step up and lead the pack.

Anyhow - I have been at a much higher UL/DL speed for the past couple of days and not even noticed..  other than my speedtest.net results.  As of this router flash I can say that I am finally taking near full advantage of my connection.  I'll keep tabs on how it all holds up once I add more devices.