[TriLUG] Off-Topic are WIFI routers just getting worse

[Kevin Howell via TriLUG]

There is one interesting behavior to be aware of with non-stock 
firmware. A lot of routers have either proprietary kernel modules or 
software hacks used to increase throughput (at the cost of other 
things). Example: 
https://lists.openwrt.org/pipermail/openwrt-devel/2013-August/021112.html

So in some cases you'll get *worse* performance for certain use cases 
when switching to other firmware.

If you're shopping for a new router, it's worth doing some research to 
know what you're getting into, especially if you're considering 
non-stock firmware... Most of the custom firmwares have decent pages on 
hardware, letting you know what quirks the hardware has, how the support 
is etc. (Ex. openwrt table of hardware: 
https://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/start). https://wikidevi.com is also useful 
if you want to start at a lower level (find a well-supported chipset, 
and then find hardware built with that chipset).

Hope this helps,
Kevin Howell
On 03/23/2017 12:00 PM, John Vaughters via TriLUG wrote:
> +1 on changing default firmware.
> I bought some refurbished NETGEAR W2000?? for $20-30 anyway, they were N routers that were supported by dd-wrt and I was able to tune the output power to the needs of the configuration of location and user experience. Of course you always risk bricking the device and burning up your radio when you do such things, but I have not had those issues and I am on 7+ years of great router service. So great, I barely have touched them since I got the configuration right, and even moved to a new house and just plugged them in and off they went doing their thing. I cannot say all refurbished routers are great though, I did the same thing with some Cisco cheap routers for family and at least one of them completely flaked out without any changes to the radio output either. Just luck of the draw. Out of about 10 or so routers, 1 having an issue is not bad though considering the price.
>
>      On Thursday, March 23, 2017 11:19 AM, Keith Woodie via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org> wrote:
>   
>
>   I would also recommend non-default firmware also.  I have an Asus that I am running merlin on.  It actually fixed some issues I had.
>
> I haven’t used any mesh routers yet, but if anyone has had experience with the Google or Eero routers I would like to hear their thoughts.
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> Keith Woodie
> kwoodie at gmail.com
>
>
>
>> On Mar 23, 2017, at 11:16 AM, Kevin Howell via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org> wrote:
>>
>> I've noticed that a lot of newer routers come preconfigured with WPA:TKIP&WPA2:AES (mixed mode). This is done for compatibility-sake, but my experience has been that wireless often performs poorly when configured this way. When at relatives/friends houses, I usually reconfigure (with permission) them to use *just* WPA2/AES. It has made a difference for me and my family/friends, but YMMV.
>>
>> Hope this helps,
>> Kevin Howell
>> On 03/22/2017 09:09 PM, Ken M via TriLUG wrote:
>>> So I recently bought another wifi router. Because of some changes to the
>>> setup here I needed a WIFI repeater as well.  They are both belkin, the
>>> repeater as well as the router itself.  I didn't buy the bargain
>>> basement model.  It is an ac1200 I think, sorry not in front of me.
>>>
>>> Anyway it just stinks, always an issue.  I had a linksys before that,
>>> and although it sucked it was better.  Before that I had a crappy d-link
>>> and it was better than all of them.
>>>
>>> Sorry to be "rant-ish" but it just seems no matter what I spend the next
>>> wifi router is always worse than the one it replaced.  Is it just me?
>>>
>>> Ken
>>
>> -- 
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