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WRT54GL replacement?


Tobias4X

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i want to upgrade my good but slightly aged WRT54GL (the full-featured version, not the later cutdown one) to an WRT1900AC but this seems a bit tooo heavy for my requirements (managing up to six wlan and 4 cable devices). Does anyone know a better alternative with similar capabilities? thank you very much if so, i wouldnt want to miss the massive usefulness of my openwrt-modded router (especially since it supports Openvpn so i can effectively bypass my networks restrictions in university for all devices wothout using ap-hotspot so if the router would support openvpn/dd-wrt natively that would be a big +

thanks for suggestions

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  • Founder

I just purchased the WRT1900AC and it's a fantastic router and is one of the very few that has an active fan built in to cool when it gets hot (and the dual 1.5 ghz ARM cpu will get hot). The thing is all the other alternative routers are good as well (AC-68U, N7000) but they have slower processors and no active cooling. Also, supposedly Belkin/Linksys are working with OpenWRT so that we get an open source firmware eventually because the stock one is very basic. However, this is the only router I've tried that has been able to consistently run dual bands for me w/out disconnecting.

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I've had the asus ac66u for about 6months now running the merlin firmware, very nice router. Actually, it's the best router I've ever owned. Fast, stable and lots of options

Any disconnects experienced with it?

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  • 1 month later...

I have run the Asus N16 and N66.

I have had multiple N16's fail, not sure if coincidence or not. They never failed when I was using them, but when I replaced with N66's and handed them off... they died after a while, albeit under suspicious circumstances.

Since then I have separated my routing and wireless functionality. However, if you are keeping an AIO wireless solution, the N66 and AC66 are not bad options.

The main question is are you wanting to continue using DDWRT or some other 3rd party firmware?

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im using asus ac68u with merlin firmware and the wifi signal covers a 3 story house very well. ive had other routers that could use openwrt but i couldnt overclock the cpu. merlin firmware has openvpn support. I still use mikrotik as my main router though and im thinking of getting their 32 cloud core router. Mikrotik routerOS is amazing though not open sourced. i ended up using my shiny AC68U as a wifi AP and even merlin firmware disables many options in that mode and my tp-link 1034nd openwrt as a print/scan server.

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I'm using a few ASUS RT-N16 with Tomato by Toastman in various locations in work and they've yet to give me trouble. I've used these as a successor to the WRT54GL v1.1 running Tomato 1.28 of which I've deployed 20+ over the last 5 years, and the first one to die only happened last week. They have been excellent. Hopefully the RT-N16 will live up to the same standard.

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Depending on your budget and networking knowledge; a Mikrotik router could be a good choice. Software (RouterOS) updates for ALL devices/platforms on a regular basis and good quality hardware. Poor mans Cisco lol :P

I chose to run a seperate router and access point. This way you don't have to upgrade both and are able to place your AP somewhere different (also supports PoE!).

The hardware I run atm:

Router: RouterBoard.com : RB850Gx2 (very fast CPU, is able to handle high bandwidth!)

AP (bgn): RouterBoard.com : BaseBox 2 (up to 1000mW 2,4Ghz)

+ 802.11ac module (a/ac): RouterBoard.com : R11e-5HacD (up to 500mW 5Ghz)

Together something like 250USD, but very future proof for both hardware and software :) Price is in the range of the best consumer grade all-in-one routers, but this offers way more (expert) features and is very stable!

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I recently bought an ASUS AC66U. I didn't start to use it yet (I'm planning to replace my old TP-Link WR1043ND v1.8 sometime this week), so I can't tell you any personal experience just yet, but here's a really good article with benchmarks which helped me make my choice: Gigabit Wireless? Five 802.11ac Routers, Benchmarked - 802.11ac: The Beginning

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Pretty good testing methodology there, but I don't think you'd notice the speed difference between ac and N unless you are doing some very specific things. If you are close enough to connect on a 5Ghz network, N is no slouch for most things we would be doing. If all you're doing is copying large files back and forth to a server, then you'd notice the difference for ac. That's literally the only case I can think of for ac at home, if you have a server in house. Otherwise you are going way over what your internet connection will do with N, so you wouldn't see any gain.

I'm switching over to ac at work because we have to serve the public and we have a 350Mb pipe. If you have an ac device, I can deliver your data to you faster and get you off the air to make room for other users. At home, you wouldn't have that benefit. Even if you have 50 people connecting, your internet connection becomes the limiting factor. I'm not saying don't go for ac, but don't scrap your equipment just to get there now.

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+1 on the wrt1900ac. Very nicely built router, good and stable. Software could be better, not sure I like that dumbed down interface much but it gets the job done.

Openwrt is an option although until belkin provide open source drivers for the hardware instead of closed source blobs it's limited but working.

Sent from my SM-G900M using Tapatalk

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I had a similar dilemma recently, prompted by an increase in disconnects on WRT after boosting my ISP speed and cutting my cable cord...

 

Found an AC66U for under $100 and put Merlin on it.  It worked well, gave me the boost I was expecting from the ISP change and effectively eliminated drops.  I believe Merlin also supports OpenVPN,  but ultimately, I added a home brew router, separating routing from my AP and handling my VPN needs. Guess I was missing the familiarity I had with dd-wrt, so I went to another product I knew.

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