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Don't use Linksys routers

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Re: Don't use Linksys routers

#61

Post by uxp »

StavrosK wrote: post #40
justincormack wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still seems to be very little. You can get some boxes that convert adsl to ethernet (ATM over ethernet or whatever standard your country uses) that basically have no config and connect those to a router.

That's how I did it, connected my WRT-54GL (Tomato) to a D-Link modem/router, works fantastically well.

Are you thinking of Bridged mode?

I used to do this until something happened at my ISP and my router can no longer authenticate against my ISP's PPPoE server. Now I have my modem providing NAT and DHCP, and my router is just a dumb access point. The only problem is my modem has an externally accessible administration page running on port 4567, and telnet on port 1111 that I can't turn off, even when all remote management configuration options are turned off. I've had to set up a cronscript to attempt to telnet into the thing continuously, and if successful it will kill the httpd server and telnet daemon.

It's absolutely ridiculous how insecure home network equipment is.

Re: Don't use Linksys routers

#62

Post by happycube »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #46
sctechie wrote: post #26

Let me just get this in before the cries of JUST INSTALL OPENWRT come raining down. Your mother / father / grandmother / etc are not installing openWRT on their routers. Installing one of these CISCO home routers is pretty much hacking yourself. And, just update the firmware is not gonna work. Try it one day, go up like 10 people and ask them what's a firmware. If the user isn't technical, you're going to get a 0/10…

Maybe they should just ship with the alternative firmware installed if the open source is doing a better job?

I've read (but haven't personally confirmed) that Netgear used skinned OpenWRT on some of their routers (like the wndr3700v1)

Re: Don't use Linksys routers

#63

Post by NelsonMinar »

NelsonMinar wrote: post #9

The modern equivalent of a Linksys WRT54GL is the ASUS RT-N16. It runs OpenWrt, DD-WRT, and Tomato variants really well, does 802.11n (only one frequency) and has plenty of memory and flash storage for extra hacking. The ASUS RT-N66U is frequently advised if you want 5GHz 802.11n as well. The other router mentioned in this article, the Linksys EA2700, doesn't seem compatible with third party firmware. And apparently…

BTW, if you want to help a non-geek install Tomato, the folks at EasyTomato have done great work making an accessible version of the firmware: http://www.easytomato.org/

Re: Don't use Linksys routers

#64

Post by Groxx »

username111 wrote: post #41
montecarl wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you run linux on your modem? Unless its a hybrid modem/router.

I haven't seen a modem (from a telecom) that isn't a router in the past 5 years. Most ship wireless router/modems to their customers these days as standard. Cable companies might still ship modems (they did the last time I had cable internet, but that was probably 8 years ago).

After having several crappy modem/router/wifi things from ISPs, I've taken to buying routers independently. Usually less than $50 (if anything, since you can reuse them), and always less of a pain.

There's nothing to return, I get DD-WRT instead of whatever garbage they're running, and usually measurably faster in both internet speed (usually lower latency) and wifi speed. In particular, I've never had a bundled device get within 50% of what 802.11n is capable of, especially when you have 4 or more devices. All my dedicated routers have done just fine.

Re: Don't use Linksys routers

#65

Post by underdown »

What? Linksys routers are a great deal - you can find them at goodwill for $5, flash the firmware & configure it in 15 minutes and they work great. My one beef is why don't they put a cheap fan on them when they cost upwards of $100 now that they come with a cisco logo slapped on them.

Re: Don't use Linksys routers

#66

Post by drakaal »

OpenSource is a vulnerability not an Asset according to #5.

For small projects which few contributors I would agree but, for projects as large as OpenWRT and DDWRT and such, I don't agree.

Re: Don't use Linksys routers

#67

Post by MikeCodeAwesome »

montecarl wrote: post #29
NelsonMinar wrote: post #9

The modern equivalent of a Linksys WRT54GL is the ASUS RT-N16. It runs OpenWrt, DD-WRT, and Tomato variants really well, does 802.11n (only one frequency) and has plenty of memory and flash storage for extra hacking. The ASUS RT-N66U is frequently advised if you want 5GHz 802.11n as well. The other router mentioned in this article, the Linksys EA2700, doesn't seem compatible with third party firmware. And apparently…

I am the owner of an ASUS RT-N16. I purchased it when my Linksys WRT-54G died after 4 years. It really is a fantastic wifi router for the reasons you list. However, if you live in an apartment complex you might find the 2.4GHz spectrum very crowded. Especially if there are others with 2.4GHz 802.11n, which uses more channels than 802.11b/g. This might make it worthwhile to purchase a 5 Ghz 802.11n router.

I, too, switched to the RT-N16 after my WRT54GL died unceremoniously one day. The RT-N16 is a pretty good router but I want to caution any one who, like me, was awestruck by its 128MB RAM without considering NVRAM.

The short version is that, depending on your usage, you may run out of NVRAM before RAM and may lose your settings. For reference see [1] and [2].

[1] http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Asus_RT-N16#Current_Kno... [2] http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=506126

Re: Don't use Linksys routers

#68

Post by StavrosK »

uxp wrote: post #61
StavrosK wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's how I did it, connected my WRT-54GL (Tomato) to a D-Link modem/router, works fantastically well.

Are you thinking of Bridged mode? I used to do this until something happened at my ISP and my router can no longer authenticate against my ISP's PPPoE server. Now I have my modem providing NAT and DHCP, and my router is just a dumb access point. The only problem is my modem has an externally accessible administration page running on port 4567, and telnet on port 1111 that I can't turn off, even when all remote manage…

Yeah, I'm running in bridged mode, it works great. I used to run it like your current setup, but now I can finally run the Tomato router as my main one, and QoS is just too amazing to pass up on...

Re: Don't use Linksys routers

#69

Post by pilsetnieks »

brooksbp wrote: post #15

I highly recommend Mikrotik to anyone fed up with traditional consumer wifi routers/APs. I dont know how they compare to other vendor hw eg Asus + OpenWRT, but this little guy has been rock solid and a joy to use: http://routerboard.com/RB2011UAS-2HnD-IN

Seconded. I've got one for my office (20+ computers and a number of BYODs) and I've had to power it off once - when we were moving. It is solid, stable, has not crashed or frozen for me even once.

Setup can be quite complicated, though, compared to a consumer router.

Re: Don't use Linksys routers

#70

Post by btilly »

drakaal wrote: post #66

OpenSource is a vulnerability not an Asset according to #5. For small projects which few contributors I would agree but, for projects as large as OpenWRT and DDWRT and such, I don't agree.

In an ideal world, whether code is open source is neutral. The extra ease of finding bugs is balanced by the fact that people can and do find then fix them. Theory says that these two are, to first order, equivalent. So end user security is the same. (But code quality tends to be higher with open source software.)

However whenever code moves towards being more open, you've got all of the vulnerabilities of closed source software, and all of the bug-finding ease of open source software. This is the worst of all possible worlds.

Therefore #5 is true. The fact that you have easy access to known-to-be-crappy code increases the vulnerability of that code.

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