Open Source Linux-based Router Software: DD-WRT

I work from home, and since I spend a considerable amount of time on the phone, I run Asterisk. After my first few phone calls, I quickly discovered that I needed a router with “Quality of Service” (QoS). Imagine streaming a movie trailer & running BitTorrent while talking to someone over Skype. It sounds awful and garbled like you’re underwater. QoS can prioritize VoIP packets over anything else that might be competing for your Internet connection.

Unfortunately, Linksys/Belkin/D-Link and the other popular router manufacturers consider QoS to be an “enterprise” ($$$) feature. Their entry-level $35 routers are purposefully crippled to only provide the most basic functionality. These routers are disposable…the hardware lasts maybe 2 years; the interfaces are poorly designed, buggy, non-anthropomorphic and full of security holes.

DD-WRT is a wonderful open source replacement for the lousy software shipped with many routers. Check out some of DD-WRT’s features. I particularly liked the Dynamic DNS updater (DynDNS.org and others), PPTP VPN Client & Server, UPnP, and QoS!

I ditched my pretty–but pretty useless–Airport Extreme router for a cheap Linksys WRT-54g (version 6). Check out the huge list of supported devices, but beware of the version number of the router. It seems that manufacturers tend to include less memory and cheaper chips in later versions of their routers. You need a router with at least 2 MB of ram and a Broadcom chip. Search the DD-WRT forums before buying.

The upgrade was totally simple. Everything was working great on the Linksys router until a few months ago when 2 ports mysteriously died. Last weekend, the router decided to only allow Internet access for 3 minutes at a time–no VoIP/Port Forwarding/UPnP at all. I tried resetting it and reflashing DD-WRT onto the router…no luck. The hardware finally died.

Fortunately, I had an old D-Link router in the closet that couldn’t even do port forwarding. As a stop gap, I rushed out to BestBuy to get a Belkin F5D7230-4. Don’t buy this junk. DD-WRT cannot be installed on any of the recent versions. As a consumer router, it’s terrible. Some settings (like ‘enable UPnP’) don’t save properly in anything but Internet Exploder. Fortunately, since Belkin claims it is compatible with Mac OS X, BestBuy refunded the purchase without charging a restocking fee.

After a bunch of searching it turned out that none of the major brick & mortar retailers (BestBuy, RadioShack, CircuitCity, Fry’s, Staples, Office Depot/Max, etc) carried any router that looked promising. NewEgg, however, saved the day with a Asus WL-500g Premium router. This thing is so easy to flash–it has 32 MB of ram and the load on the router’s 264 MHz Broadcom chip has never gone above 20%.

If you’re not running DD-WRT, check out that list to see if your router is supported. Give it a try…it’s amazing what that ‘always-on miniature computer’ running your DHCP server is capable of.