Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 7:26 Post subject: dd-wrt works great for me
Just bought a WNDR3700v2 to replace a Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH. Holy cow this is a MUCH better router than the buffalo!!
I'm making the switch to N after years of faithful service from my Linksys WRT54G. Just wanted a little boost in wireless speed.
Have a whole load of stuff running through this thing.
1 Wired desktop, 2 wireless N laptops on the 5 GHZ band, two I-phones a Nook (rooted with android), two Nintendo DS's, a Wii, and a 360 slim. All of this is wireless except the main wired PC (contractors refused to make all cat5 outlets hot when building the house).
While the stock firmware was better than most, I had been using dd-wrt for years on my old Linksys and flashed it after a couple of hours of having it up. Since flashing, I have had no dropouts, and the farthest computer away (a desktop with rabbit ears adapter) still gets 180 Mbps.
The laptops vary depending on where they are. I can have only two bars on mine and still be getting 80mbps, on the 5 ghz channel. There are only the two laptops on the 5 ghz channel. If anyone has any suggestions on how to tweak a little more out of the laptops, that would be appreciated.
Oh, and the blue 5 ghz light blinking. Wow its bright!
After a hard reset I was able to apply v1 [1.0.7.98] firmware. Odd thing is my router came in the red spined box which is supposed to be v2? Seems getting a v2 is actually a crap shoot. I believed I have a v2 router because the FCC filings for my router ID (#PY308300092) denote the redesign. Also N600 is printed on my box. Either the N600 does not denote v2, my router is mis labled, or my v2 is accepting v1 firmware. The v2 [1.0.0.8] firmware still fails to upload. Is there some other way to confirm/deny which version router I have?
Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 13:33 Post subject: OpenWRT
Since I was having issues with my v2, I opted to try OpenWRT for the first time and I have to say it's bad ass.
I was able to set my 5GHZ band from 17dbm to 24dbm and my 2.4GHZ to 27DBM which boosted my singal greatly.
My router is upstairs and I have a desktop downstairs which previously got 2-3 bars on the 5GHZ network, now with OpenWRT I get 4-5 bars and a signal strength of excellent.
Wake on lan and remote desktop work great.
For anyone with a V2 router, I highly recommend OpenWRT.
I'm currently running DD-WRT v24-sp2 (02/19/11) std - build 16230 on my WNDR3700v2 and I must say I'm frustrated with the performance and signal strength I'm getting compared to the stock firmware.
How difficult was it for you to install and configure OpenWRT? I actually have two v2 routers and need to be able to maintain one as the primary AP with the other as a wireless repeater that accepts wireless and wired connections.
That's strange. I have one 3700v2 acting as 2.4G client and 5G AP with one wired PC connected to it. Performance is amazing. Using the latest available firmware.
carillon wrote:
I'm currently running DD-WRT v24-sp2 (02/19/11) std - build 16230 on my WNDR3700v2 and I must say I'm frustrated with the performance and signal strength I'm getting compared to the stock firmware.
How difficult was it for you to install and configure OpenWRT? I actually have two v2 routers and need to be able to maintain one as the primary AP with the other as a wireless repeater that accepts wireless and wired connections.
I'm currently running DD-WRT v24-sp2 (02/19/11) std - build 16230 on my WNDR3700v2 and I must say I'm frustrated with the performance and signal strength I'm getting compared to the stock firmware.
How difficult was it for you to install and configure OpenWRT? I actually have two v2 routers and need to be able to maintain one as the primary AP with the other as a wireless repeater that accepts wireless and wired connections.
Thanks
Installing OpenWRT was a breeze. There's a full install page for the router. All you do is TFTP the image and then install Luci which is the Web GUI.
Check out the openwrt wiki page and find the WNDR3700 router page and it has all the info needed
Not exactly sure how mine was configured, as I quickly switched over to DD-WRT and had zero problems, but the router is being returned for a replacement as one of the three switch ports doesnt work at all. Its a v2 router aswell. DD-WRT also supports single line multi link, which I absolutely need to get around throttling by my isp's upstream provider (Bell, bunch of dicks).
That's strange. I have one 3700v2 acting as 2.4G client and 5G AP with one wired PC connected to it. Performance is amazing. Using the latest available firmware.
So I'm kinda new to this stuff but am willing to learn. Tell me what you mean when you say you have one as a client. Do you mean like a remote wireless bridge? Also, what firmware version are you running? I'd like to install what you are running and then try your settings etc. in the config to see if they work for me.
Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 22:54 Post subject: Re: OpenWRT
bbspills wrote:
Since I was having issues with my v2, I opted to try OpenWRT for the first time and I have to say it's bad ass.
I was able to set my 5GHZ band from 17dbm to 24dbm and my 2.4GHZ to 27DBM which boosted my singal greatly.
My router is upstairs and I have a desktop downstairs which previously got 2-3 bars on the 5GHZ network, now with OpenWRT I get 4-5 bars and a signal strength of excellent.
Wake on lan and remote desktop work great.
For anyone with a V2 router, I highly recommend OpenWRT.
Can you explain how did you install OpenWRT, i want to try it, i have read on their web page how to install it but there is soo much documentation that i am lost, and almost all the docs is for users with original firmware.