Your favorite long range router(s) that can run dd-wrt or tomato w ease?

November 25, 2018 2:30 PM

Before the deals are over, wondering if anyone has any positive experiences w/ routers (be they recent models or older ones) to share?

The need for dd-wrt is that, even if I secure a very long range and powerful one, the house I am installing it in is old and has very thick walls, so a "repeater" solution may be inevitable .. and historically I have only achieved this via installing dd-wrt and selecting a certain mode (was it called bridge mode or repeated mode? Can't remember off-hand) that allowed router number 2 to repeat (and thus extend) the wifi signal from router number 1 to its side of the house ..

posted by elgee to Technology (5 answers total)

I can't help with a router recommendation, but I can say that I have had much better success with using powerline ethernet than WiFi in houses like that.
posted by procrastination at 3:02 PM on November 25, 2018

I think a lot of routers do offer bridge mode right out of the box.

If it's possible to run an ethernet cable, that's definitely better. One thing that makes it easier is Power-over-ethernet, which allows you to not worry about having an electrical outlet nearby, so you can stick the access point in any odd place (eg an attic).
posted by alexei at 4:48 PM on November 25, 2018

I have an Asus RT-N56U router that's a few years old, and it's happily acting as an Access Point (via an Ethernet upstream link) for a WiFi network based elsewhere in the house.

As alexei says, most common router firmware should handle this out of the box.
posted by wenestvedt at 5:33 PM on November 25, 2018

I took a chance and got a Buffalo N300 with DD-WRT pre-installed (not all N300s do, apparently) in 2011 after reading a mixture of good and bad things. I live in an old house and it's been on 24/7 with virtually no dropouts anywhere in the house for 7 years. No repeaters or anything. It's a champ.
posted by Woodroar at 5:51 PM on November 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

Is there a reason you wouldn't want to use a WiFi range extender instead of a router with custom firmware? I imagine it'd be easier to deal with and likely cheaper than getting a full-fledged router, if that's what your needs are. You might even look at the newer WiFi Mesh-Networking kits which take the range extender concept and turns it up to 11.

(Nthing that your best bet against range issues is something wired; in addition to powerline Ethernet, you might also look at MoCA devices if your house is wired for cable TV and you don't want to deal with running Cat5e/Cat6 cable where you need it.)
posted by Aleyn at 6:11 PM on November 26, 2018