[RndTbl] D-Link DIR-825 dual-band 802.11N 5xGigE runs DD-WRT, for around $150

[athompso at athompso.net]

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#cnetReview

-Adam