Wireless Router Turbocharging: DD-WRT for more Features, Speed and Range

I made the big step yesterday, upgrading the firmware on my wireless router to DD-WRT.

I wish I had done it sooner.

Why did I finally upgrade?

You can skip on to “How to upgrade”, since this is more of a story of a horrible day than anything else.

Two days ago it was miserable here in Rhode Island.  The temperature hit 91 where I am (for me that is beyond hot, I sweat when the temp is in the 60s).

At about 10am the thermostat said it was 76 in my office, so I went to turn the AC on.  It didn’t work.  All my machines running, no AC, and I had a load of work to do.

I resorted to sitting on our lower level and tried using my laptop (my desktop setup is quite extensive with testing environments, 3 monitors, and all the software I could ever imagine — my laptop is 8 years old, and usually only used for taking notes at meetings, or remote desktop).

I found my wifi signal would cut in and out just 50 feet from the router (through a few walls), confirming what my fiance had been saying about working from home — the wireless signal disconnects every few hours.  Now it affected me!

Add on to that losing power for like FOREVER, and still … needing to get work done.

How to upgrade?

I’ve been afraid of upgrading for a while, hearing stories here and there about bricking a router.  I had a backup, but still, didn’t want to have to setup all my devices again.

It’s so easy.

1. Check out if your router is supported.  Mine was, WAP54G v 2.0.
2. View the Wiki on your router (there was a link to mine after finding my router in the database, here’s the page)
3. Read the directions carefully.  Some routers have issues you will have to address.  Make sure you feel comfortable.  My installation was basically holding a small button with a pen for 30 seconds here and there and uploading a file.
4. Download the appropriate firmware from the router database.  I said to read instructions because the instructions sometimes tell you a better version to use (in my case the “micro” was the best one to use).
5. Enjoy!

I’ve found my signal is significantly better at my back door (when I let the dog out), and my laptop doesn’t reconnect every few hours like it did before.  The speed of the connection was better too!

I did make some changes:

• Increased “TX Power”, transmission power, for better range
• Overclocked the router, for increased encryption speeds
• Increased the number of open ports allowed from 1024 to 4096
• Changed the channel (you can see which channels all your neighbors are using, and pick one that isn’t as busy)

In the future I hope to play with all the great options such as QoS, VPN, Routing, DMZ and so many more toys!

Tags: dd, DD-WRT, firmware, Range, Rhode Island, routers, Speed, WAP54G, wireless router, wireless signal

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