Further to my comments at the last meeting, I was pleasantly surprised when I bought a D-Link DIR-825 and discovered it can run DD-WRT.
This is a *simultaneous* dual-band (i.e. two radios, one at 2.4GHz, one at 5GHz) 802.11N router with 5 GigE ports, a USB port, two antennas, and the usual array of activity lights on the front.
There is a beta build of DD-WRT that runs on this unit (and thus presumably OpenWRT will also support it soon if not already).
Range & performance are OK but not great.
The price, however, is impressive: you can typically find it online (in Canada) for under $150. If it were a $250 unit, it would be utterly unremarkable (aside from being one of the first dual-radio models to run DD-WRT) but considering that you can still regularly find 802.11G and single-band 802.11N routers for over $150, that makes it impressive - for now.
With the stock D-Link firmware, the USB port can be used for (apparently) *any* device whatsoever, and includes software to remotely connect a Windows PC to the port. Not sure how they've done this, but I'm told it should work for any USB device (subject to bandwidth limitations, of course - USB2.0 is still faster than 802.11N).
DD-WRT can expose USB storage devices and (I think) printers; so you do lose something compared to the factory firmware. Flashing DD-WRT onto the device requires TFTP while putting the device into disaster-recovery mode; it was harder to find the instructions online than to actually do it.
Also see CNet's review here: http://reviews.cnet.com/routers/d-link-xtreme-n/4505-3319_7-33246906.html#cn...
-Adam
On 10-06-13 02:51 PM, athompso@athompso.net wrote:
Further to my comments at the last meeting, I was pleasantly surprised when I bought a D-Link DIR-825 and discovered it can run DD-WRT.
I have an older model (DIR-655 - You've seen it). I think it's about two or three units older than yours. Does the new version of the alternate firmware you mentioned support this model?
My original purpose was to learn about wireless technology. The thing is it mostly just works under Linux and OS X. Now the ever shifting goal is to connect various game (and other) servers to it and see what I can do in that area.
Just for a smile... I had it connected to an OS X web server for a couple of months last year. ONLY that server and no internet access. Nobody bothered accessing the web server. Although I did have a script kiddie try to hack the router to enable (non-existent) internet access. They never managed to get past the router password. Apparently this had been going on for the better part of three months. Kind of amusing to think they couldn't get through an open router with out of the box security in all that time. ;-)
Later Mike
Sorry, looks like you're out of luck: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Known_incompatible_devices -Adam
-----Original Message----- From: roundtable-bounces@muug.mb.ca [mailto:roundtable-bounces@muug.mb.ca] On Behalf Of Mike Pfaiffer Sent: Sunday, June 13, 2010 15:11 To: roundtable@muug.mb.ca Subject: Re: [RndTbl] D-Link DIR-825 dual-band 802.11N 5xGigE runs DD-WRT, for around $150
On 10-06-13 02:51 PM, athompso@athompso.net wrote:
Further to my comments at the last meeting, I was pleasantly surprised when I bought a D-Link DIR-825 and discovered it can run DD-WRT.
I have an older model (DIR-655 - You've seen it). I think it's about
two or three units older than yours. Does the new version of the alternate firmware you mentioned support this model?
On 10-06-13 03:23 PM, Adam Thompson wrote:
Sorry, looks like you're out of luck: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Known_incompatible_devices -Adam
Oh well... The CNET review of the 655 put it third from the top of home routers at the time. It will still suffice for what I want to do for the near future.
Later Mike
-----Original Message----- From: roundtable-bounces@muug.mb.ca [mailto:roundtable-bounces@muug.mb.ca] On Behalf Of Mike Pfaiffer Sent: Sunday, June 13, 2010 15:11 To: roundtable@muug.mb.ca Subject: Re: [RndTbl] D-Link DIR-825 dual-band 802.11N 5xGigE runs DD-WRT, for around $150
On 10-06-13 02:51 PM, athompso@athompso.net wrote:
Further to my comments at the last meeting, I was pleasantly surprised when I bought a D-Link DIR-825 and discovered it can run DD-WRT.
I have an older model (DIR-655 - You've seen it). I think it's about
two or three units older than yours. Does the new version of the alternate firmware you mentioned support this model?
Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
But does it have removable antennas a la WRT-54G? Do you know of any (other?) N devices to which you can attach external antennas (i.e. unidirectional, specifically)?
Kevin
On Sun, Jun 13, 2010 at 2:51 PM, athompso@athompso.net < athompso@athompso.net> wrote:
Further to my comments at the last meeting, I was pleasantly surprised when I bought a D-Link DIR-825 and discovered it can run DD-WRT.
This is a *simultaneous* dual-band (i.e. two radios, one at 2.4GHz, one at 5GHz) 802.11N router with 5 GigE ports, a USB port, two antennas, and the usual array of activity lights on the front.
There is a beta build of DD-WRT that runs on this unit (and thus presumably OpenWRT will also support it soon if not already).
Range & performance are OK but not great.
The price, however, is impressive: you can typically find it online (in Canada) for under $150. If it were a $250 unit, it would be utterly unremarkable (aside from being one of the first dual-radio models to run DD-WRT) but considering that you can still regularly find 802.11G and single-band 802.11N routers for over $150, that makes it impressive - for now.
With the stock D-Link firmware, the USB port can be used for (apparently) *any* device whatsoever, and includes software to remotely connect a Windows PC to the port. Not sure how they've done this, but I'm told it should work for any USB device (subject to bandwidth limitations, of course
- USB2.0 is still faster than 802.11N).
DD-WRT can expose USB storage devices and (I think) printers; so you do lose something compared to the factory firmware. Flashing DD-WRT onto the device requires TFTP while putting the device into disaster-recovery mode; it was harder to find the instructions online than to actually do it.
Also see CNet's review here:
http://reviews.cnet.com/routers/d-link-xtreme-n/4505-3319_7-33246906.html#cn...
-Adam
Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
I have this unit and the it isn't great.
The range is pretty bad relative to my previous unit (WAP54g). I replaced the antennas with higher gain ones but the reception didn't get better probably worse. Finding dual-band SMA antennas is not easy as most of the antennas out there on the commodity market are single band only.
Could even be antenna positioning issues on the N band but it is driving me nuts trying to figure out why it doesn't work well.
The N band support is so aggravatingly bad I don't connect to it, you can't stream from it (at least in my house) and decent throughput happens if I'm standing over top of the unit.
I could probably move it a bit and see about better range but given I had better luck with an older device attached with the _same_ screw mounts on the wall doesn't let me to believe much other than it's not a great device.
The G band support is fine so maybe the unit isn't the issue but radio properties of N band devices in my house.
On 2010-06-13, at 3:06 PM, Kevin McGregor wrote:
But does it have removable antennas a la WRT-54G? Do you know of any (other?) N devices to which you can attach external antennas (i.e. unidirectional, specifically)?
Kevin
On Sun, Jun 13, 2010 at 2:51 PM, athompso@athompso.net athompso@athompso.net wrote:
Further to my comments at the last meeting, I was pleasantly surprised when I bought a D-Link DIR-825 and discovered it can run DD-WRT.
This is a *simultaneous* dual-band (i.e. two radios, one at 2.4GHz, one at 5GHz) 802.11N router with 5 GigE ports, a USB port, two antennas, and the usual array of activity lights on the front.
There is a beta build of DD-WRT that runs on this unit (and thus presumably OpenWRT will also support it soon if not already).
Range & performance are OK but not great.
The price, however, is impressive: you can typically find it online (in Canada) for under $150. If it were a $250 unit, it would be utterly unremarkable (aside from being one of the first dual-radio models to run DD-WRT) but considering that you can still regularly find 802.11G and single-band 802.11N routers for over $150, that makes it impressive - for now.
With the stock D-Link firmware, the USB port can be used for (apparently) *any* device whatsoever, and includes software to remotely connect a Windows PC to the port. Not sure how they've done this, but I'm told it should work for any USB device (subject to bandwidth limitations, of course
- USB2.0 is still faster than 802.11N).
DD-WRT can expose USB storage devices and (I think) printers; so you do lose something compared to the factory firmware. Flashing DD-WRT onto the device requires TFTP while putting the device into disaster-recovery mode; it was harder to find the instructions online than to actually do it.
Also see CNet's review here: http://reviews.cnet.com/routers/d-link-xtreme-n/4505-3319_7-33246906.html#cn...
-Adam
Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
LOL
I don't think the issues you described are unique to you.
The DIR-825 I just set up, a Sony VAIO PC (touchscreen all-in-one) less than 20 feet away shows 60% signal strength. That's on the 5GHz AFAIK. An HP laptop with a G radio perhaps 10 feet away showed 80% signal strength, that's in the 2.4GHz band for sure.
Well, as I said, it was "OK" on speed and range - as in, it works OK for the 20x40 office it has to serve.
-Adam
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Adam Thompson -
athompso＠athompso.net
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Kevin McGregor -
Mike Pfaiffer -
Sean Cody