expired Posted by xlnc • Sep 3, 2024
Sep 3, 2024 11:10 PM
Item 1 of 1
expired Posted by xlnc • Sep 3, 2024
Sep 3, 2024 11:10 PM
Linksys LN1301 Tri-Band AX4200 WiFi 6 Wireless Router
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Mind you that I only have 100Mbps Spectrum internet but I do stream/direct play 4k videos from a Plex media server to several Amazon Firestick 4k devices without issue. Overall IMO you would be hard pressed to find such relatively decent hardware for so cheap; especially a Mesh network.
It wasn't all smooth at first mind you. I kept getting disconnects; especially with the streaming IP cameras. But I discovered by disabling Express Forwarding all my streaming issues went away. (CA>Connectivity>Administration>Express Forwarding)
I'm guessing that Cisco's/Linksys' proprietary Express Forwarding routing protocol was causing havoc with the IP cams streaming capabilities. Also, disabling Node Steering seemed to make things more stable as well; mesh nodes no longer disconnect from the router when Node Steering is disabled. (CA>Wi-Fi Settings>Advanced>Node Steering)
Of course, user experience can vary so feel free to experiment. if the routers are giving you problems, try turning these features off and see if it works
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DD-wrt is the easiest to setup. The basic setup to get it up and running is as easy as a stock router.
Open-wrt you need a cheat sheet but its not that bad.
pf-sense/opn-sense you kinda need a video guide.
Im waiting for a good guide on getting mesh to work on dd-wrt. Right now only WDS point mesh works. Real mesh has no documentation, and some are pulling their hair out getting it to work.
Open-wrt has mesh down to a fine science, and they even got fast roaming working good (so you can run across the house with your phone and not lose connection.
DD-wrt is the easiest to setup. The basic setup to get it up and running is as easy as a stock router.
Open-wrt you need a cheat sheet but its not that bad.
pf-sense/opn-sense you kinda need a video guide.
Im waiting for a good guide on getting mesh to work on dd-wrt. Right now only WDS point mesh works. Real mesh has no documentation, and some are pulling their hair out getting it to work.
Open-wrt has mesh down to a fine science, and they even got fast roaming working good (so you can run across the house with your phone and not lose connection.
Appreciate you! I read guides on both dd wrt and openwrt and DD WRT definitely seemed easier of the two.
Maybe a stupid question but are there any performance benefits to flashing ddwrt for more casual use?
Maybe a stupid question but are there any performance benefits to flashing ddwrt for more casual use?
"unloaded" you are not going to see a performance difference until you a have gigabit fiber, and turning on multiple nerd rated things like wireguard and quality of service filters, and have multiple heavy users at once.
If you just have gigabit fiber and a few laptops/ps5/rokus you are not going to notice a difference with cpu offloading enabled.
"unloaded" you are not going to see a performance difference until you a have gigabit fiber, and turning on multiple nerd rated things like wireguard and quality of service filters, and have multiple heavy users at once.
If you just have gigabit fiber and a few laptops/ps5/rokus you are not going to notice a difference with cpu offloading enabled.
Thank you so much, I am the later that you mention so sounds like I won't see a benefit from installing it.
Mesh is meh. without band steering and fast roaming it kinda sucks. Yes its true mesh, as in its self healing and can use a wired backhaul or wireless with little effort.
But...
Say you name all the ssids the same, or have your phone/car to auto connect to the 2.4ghz ssid and the 5ghz ssid. While you are driving into the driveway its going to connect to the 2.4ghz (50-100mbs) and stay there forever. While you are walking around the house your phone is going to hold onto that node for bloody life till you lose connection and it connects to the next nearest node.
I have come to the conclusion that unless i can get fast roaming to work, im better off with just 3 APs with a wired backhaul and the wifi tweaked so that things dont connect to them till they are well within range, and the APs boot them off as soon as bandwidth gets even a little iffy. And i can easily do that with dd-wrt.
Mesh is meh. without band steering and fast roaming it kinda sucks. Yes its true mesh, as in its self healing and can use a wired backhaul or wireless with little effort.
But...
Say you name all the ssids the same, or have your phone/car to auto connect to the 2.4ghz ssid and the 5ghz ssid. While you are driving into the driveway its going to connect to the 2.4ghz (50-100mbs) and stay there forever. While you are walking around the house your phone is going to hold onto that node for bloody life till you lose connection and it connects to the next nearest node.
I have come to the conclusion that unless i can get fast roaming to work, im better off with just 3 APs with a wired backhaul and the wifi tweaked so that things dont connect to them till they are well within range, and the APs boot them off as soon as bandwidth gets even a little iffy. And i can easily do that with dd-wrt.
Hmmm you make a good point! Would DDWRT automatically move devices between the 2.4 and 5ghz bands? At the moment everything is named the same because my previous Asus router would do that.
My setup is ONTrouter-->FIOS router/wifi (2.4GHz only)-->8 port switch for ethernet (TV, receiver, another switch in the basement with desktop)-->Linksys as AP
I'm contemplating buying a 2nd for a mesh to boost the speed on the 2nd floor (and really as a backup in case something happens to the main one...I mean, it's $20). Signal isn't bad on the 2nd floor, but I'm curious what kind of improvement I could see with a mesh setup. I also need to rename the 2.4GHz band, so I can set up my LaView camera, which won't connect now.
Not a techie here, just a liberal arts major who has built his own computers for 40 years.
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Regarding power: some folks have commented that it seems to pull 11-12W pretty much nonstop on stock firmware, which is definitely high, probably twice that of other common, consumer-grade routers.
However, that energy is going somewhere, most likely to the antennas for transmission. Kinda makes sense given that these were supposed to offer "prosumer" functionality (eg. better performance).
In the grand scheme of things, we're talking only $5-ish extra per year over other options, but it's not an apples-to-apples comparison. The open-source firmware options will likely allow you to tweak this, too, if you go that route.
Asus Ax86U ~ 8-9w
Linksys ~ 12w
A normal household, 2x devices with some smart devices.
So this will be my backup router.
I setup wireless mesh on a parent + 2 nodes and the throughput is almost perfect in my use case. Check the speed test results as I am more than happy. This test was from a desktop that is hooked to a WIRELESS NODE, which is roughly 60 feet away with walls in between, and get almost the full throughput.
Stock, although good, lacks several features compared to OpenWRT, to say the least. I enabled DoH (secure DNS) using Stubby + you can pick the channel for wireless backhaul + SQM QoS, etc. And, the interface is nice and day and you can save config, tweak it and can get it back and running in no time!
Overall, it's a no brainer to buy this device at $20. Hands down, this is the best deal out there, imho!
My setup is ONTrouter-->FIOS router/wifi (2.4GHz only)-->8 port switch for ethernet (TV, receiver, another switch in the basement with desktop)-->Linksys as AP
I'm contemplating buying a 2nd for a mesh to boost the speed on the 2nd floor (and really as a backup in case something happens to the main one...I mean, it's $20). Signal isn't bad on the 2nd floor, but I'm curious what kind of improvement I could see with a mesh setup. I also need to rename the 2.4GHz band, so I can set up my LaView camera, which won't connect now.
Not a techie here, just a liberal arts major who has built his own computers for 40 years.
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You'd connect one of these by ethernet cable to the T-Mobile device and then you'd add more of these devices as mesh nodes per the instructions in previous posts. Unplug the new mesh devices and put them wherever you want.
Change the new devices to use the same SSID wifi name and password and it should just be one big wifi network.