From: "Will Honea" <os2-wireless_users@2rosenthals.com>
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Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:00:26 -0600
To: "OS/2 Wireless Users Mailing List" <os2-wireless_users@2rosenthals.com>
Reply-To: "Will Honea" <whonea@whonea.net>
In-Reply-To: <list-2292134@2rosenthals.com>
References: <list-2292134@2rosenthals.com>
Subject: Re: [OS2Wireless] Wireless router
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** Reply to message from "Lewis G Rosenthal"
<os2-wireless_users@2rosenthals.com> on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:29:32 -0400


> Hey...
> 
> On 03/24/10 10:32 am, Neil Waldhauer thus wrote :
> > I've been using a Linksys wireless router, a WRT54G with firmware version
> > v8.00.0. It's worked for years, but lately, it has been stopping, and I've
> > needed to unplug it, count to 10, replug it to get my line working again.
> >
> > Last November, we had a short discussion on this list about this router, and
> > how it slowly cooked itself to death. Is is reasonable to assume that my router
> > is "done". If so, what is a similar router good for and eCS user? I'd like to
> > get a cheap, yet reliable router.
> >   
> The WRT54GL is probably as good as any other. All of these little 
> devices die from heat exhaustion at some point. Ed's suggestion is a 
> good one, though; I'd try flashing it, and of course, you could always 
> add a fan (google "wrt54g fan mod" and see some of the wacky things the 
> kids have "cooked" up for these little buggers) to help keep it cool and 
> buy yourself a few more years.
> 
> New WRT54GL's (hardware only) are about $55 from Amazon <shameless plug> 
> (and of course, Warpstock gets a bump from those sales) </shameless 
> plug> . More are available on eBay, but of course, buying a used one 
> means that you may be purchasing one which is just as tired as yours is, 
> now. DD-WRT and OpenWRT will allow you to throttle back the CPU, to 
> further reduce heat, if you don't need it running at full throughput, 
> although your broadband and LAN performance - as well as your Wi-Fi 
> output - is bound to suffer from a lower clock speed.
> 
> Alternatively, you could build yourself a nice little router which will 
> run DD-WRT. Check out:
> 
> http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Mikrotik_Routerboard_RB/532
> http://www.routerboard.com/rb500.html
> 
> I have had good results with the VIA mini-ITX boards, too. The real 
> benefit to building a box for yourself is that you get to mount the 
> motherboard in a real case with fans and a decent power supply (though 
> the little stuff is expensive for the space you get, so beware of that), 
> and then choose your antenna(s).
> 
> If you don't want to get your hands dirty, but still want something a 
> bit more substantial than the LinkSys without paying an arm and a leg, 
> look at the Ubiquiti or Mikrotik offerings. I can usually get these at 
> reasonable prices through my Wi-Fi channel (no pun intended), so feel 
> free to run pricing past me to see if we can get you a better deal than 
> advertised.
> 
> I have almost no experience with D-Link wireless routers (though I've 
> had good luck with their small switches - better luck than the latest 
> LinkSys ones). Buffalo has some decent stuff (one of our Wi-Fi locations 
> has a Buffalo box running DD-WRT, and it seems to be fairly resilient to 
> wide temperature changes (it's in an unheated/un-air-conditioned room at 
> a train station).

Lew, if you live in an area served by a telecom that used them, the Actiontec
GT70x WG series of gateways have given me good service.  Intended for use as
DSL interfaces, they come in both wireless and wired-only versions as well as
single i/o points as well as 4-way.  DD-WRT supports them but they come native
with Busybox Linux.  In the years I've used them I've lost 2 in the 5-6 sites I
help support - both due to failures of the DSL phone input and suspiciously
close to big thunderstorms.  The best part is the price - in areas with Verizon
or Qwest service like Colorado Springs, I've been able to buy surplus units for
next to nothing.  A month or so back, I picked up  3 of them for $20 total.
Seems Qwest changed suppliers to 2-Wire and the local market is flooded with
them.  The GT701 series lacks an ethernet connection for the output side of the
router but the hardware is there to add it - just buy an extra RJ45 socket to
solder in.  

Not as well known as Linksys, I figure that for the price they are hard to
beat.  The one in my own office has been in service 24/7/365 since 2003.

-- 
Will Honea <whonea@whonea.net>