Re: [PLUG] Good wireless router(s)?

[zuzu <sean.zuzu@gmail.com>]

On 10/30/07, fljohnson3@isp.com <fljohnson3@isp.com> wrote:
> Having determined that eBay is, at least in theory, an option, although it
> will require patience on my part, I began to consider jacking a wireless
> router into the LAN.
>
> That said, which one(s) have you had the most luck with in terms of
> firmware upgrades, arming MAC filtering and the strongest scrambling in
> the box with Fedora 7 (I think it's WPA), and overall reliability?
>
> I begin shopping in earnest the morning of November 1.

as others have said, here's the brass tacks from my experience:

1.) buy a Linksys WRT54GL (emphasis on *L*, for "Linux") for about $60
including S&H.  (mWave used to have a good deal on this; or like you
said try eBay, or a the best deal on pricewatch.com )

2.) flash it to DD-WRT (currently v24 RC3).  this is the fastest way
to get up and running and survey all the features the *WRT Linux
firmware provides, with a nice GUI interface and active
developer/documentation community.  later on when you're situated,
maybe you'll want to try the more command-line oriented versions.
(but if you're using Fedora instead of Gentoo or Debian, I'm guessing
not.)

3.) again, I think WPA provides a false sense of security.  either you
have a desktop and it's probably not moving around much so you can
probably hardwire it with CAT-6 ethernet.  or you have a laptop and
can't really rely on a "secure network" since you'll probably travel
and take it to insecure networks, so you'd be wise to secure your
laptop itself rather than its wireless connection.  however, DD-WRT
does provide WPA anyway.

4.) sharperconcepts / hyperlinktech are having a sale on "duck"
antennas.  I think the 9dB RP-TNC antennas (for the WRT54GL) are now
selling for about $10 each, plus shipping.  (by default the WRT54GL
includes 3dB RP-TNC duck antennas.)  the WRT54GL uses two for
diversity reception.  the DD-WRT firmware also allows you to boost the
amplifier from 23mW to up to 251mW (although anything over 200mW has
the possibility of overheating the chip, and I've found anything over
220mW unacceptably risky.  like overclocking, some chips handle 220mW
fine, others need to be scaled back to 200mW.)  make sure you replace
the antennas when the router is off or at least before boosting the
amplification, as a precaution against overdriving the circuit.  also,
the FCC may not like this, fyi.  (however they're hardly driving
around in their "cat detector van".)
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