Budget Gigabit router for DDWRT/Tomato

[hydroponik]

I just have a condo to power for wifi, but want a gigabit router with the capability of flashing to tomato/ddwrt. Any suggestions on what routers would be suitable and around the $50 mark?

I'm not really a power user in regards to networking, but just need something that is affordable and good quality.

Based on some searches I've done, it seems the Netgear WNR3500L or TP-Link 1043 are good candidates? Are there other options I should be looking into?

 

[Smoove910]

I believe this one can be flashed... I have it's big brother (RT-N66U) and love it!

http://www.amazon.com/RT-N12-Wireles...ds=asus+rt-n16

 

[Engineer]

I believe this one can be flashed... I have it's big brother (RT-N66U) and love it!

http://www.amazon.com/RT-N12-Wireles...ds=asus+rt-n16

Which router were you choosing? The RT-N12 that came up (even though I see RT-N16 in your link) doesn't have Gigabit ports.

OP, do you want dual band N? Do you even need or want the 5GHz Band? Any other features that you are looking for?

I'll look around. I have two Belkin routers flashed with Tomato. Both were new and one was $19.99 shipped (has gigabit ports but is single band) and the other was $29.99 shipped (has gigabit ports and simultaneous dual band 2.4/5 GHz). I have seen the non gigabit version (single band) for $17.xx shipped recently on SlickDeals.

 

[hydroponik]

That doesn't have gigabit ports though...

 

[hydroponik]

Which router were you choosing? The RT-N12 that came up (even though I see RT-N16 in your link) doesn't have Gigabit ports.

OP, do you want dual band N? Do you even need or want the 5GHz Band? Any other features that you are looking for?

I'll look around. I have two Belkin routers flashed with Tomato. Both were new and one was $19.99 shipped (has gigabit ports but is single band) and the other was $29.99 shipped (has gigabit ports and simultaneous dual band 2.4/5 GHz). I have seen the non gigabit version (single band) for $17.xx shipped recently on SlickDeals.

Don't really need dual band, though it would be nice. Main thing is gigabit ports and able to flash to tomato/ddwrt at or around $50

Which belkin routers are you referring to? Are they any good?

 

[JackMDS]

This - http://homestore.cisco.com/en-us/Ro...-Router_stcVVproductId138177739VVviewprod.htm

Or this - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833162070

 

[Engineer]

Don't really need dual band, though it would be nice. Main thing is gigabit ports and able to flash to tomato/ddwrt at or around $50

Which belkin routers are you referring to? Are they any good?

Share max N300 and Share max N600. The only drawback that I have seen from there has been the lack of port LEDS to show connection/activity (hence why they are so cheap).

Also, are you OK with refurbished? The reason that I asked is the E3000 is often found on Newegg for $49.99 refurbished and is a great router for Tomato (my favorite) or DD-WRT.

 

[hydroponik]

This - http://homestore.cisco.com/en-us/Rou...VVviewprod.htm

Or this - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833162070

There's also a cheaper N300 version of the buffalo and they both have gigabit ports. Looks like the only difference is wireless speeds. Does this also support tomato or wwdrt?

Share max N300 and Share max N600. The only drawback that I have seen from there has been the lack of port LEDS to show connection/activity (hence why they are so cheap).

Also, are you OK with refurbished? The reason that I asked is the E3000 is often found on Newegg for $49.99 refurbished and is a great router for Tomato (my favorite) or DD-WRT.

Refurbs kind of scare me b/c of the 90 day warranty, so I'd prefer to buy new.

 

[hydroponik]

Also, what's so bad about these routers?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833704038

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833122334

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833162069

 

[Engineer]

Also, what's so bad about these routers?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833704038

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833122334

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833162069

The Netgear 3500L model would "seem" to be tomato compatible:

http://tomato.groov.pl/?page_id=69

Would need to investigate to make 100% sure. Not a bad price though (it is DD-WRT compatible though per Newegg's page so it is "probably" Tomato compatible based on the page I linked also).

Edit: The Newegg reviews suggest that Tomato works with this router. Should be good to go.

Edit #2: Even the description mentions Tomato. Also has 8GB of Flash and 64MB of ram....single band but does have Gbit ports.

:thumbsup:

I do not see the other two routers listed on any Tomato chart. As for DD-WRT, haven't seriously used it in a long time so not sure how stable it is on these routers, although it's very well received in the 3rd party firmware community.

 

[s44]

The Newegg 3500L seems to be v2, which has 128mb of both RAM and flash (!).

Definitely works with Tomato.

 

[Engineer]

The Newegg 3500L seems to be v2, which has 128mb of both RAM and flash (!).

Definitely works with Tomato.

I saw the 128MB of flash on Shibby's site and thought it was a typo. 128MB of flash is insane for a router.

 

[hydroponik]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

I think I'm going to narrow it down to one of the followingL

Netgear WNR3500L - it supports Tomato, WWDRT, and Gargoyle, and has a shitload of ram compared to other routers in this class.

Buffalo WZR-300HP - only has 64mb of ram, but comes with a custom wwdrt firmware as default.

edit - the wnr3500L is actually v2, which only support tomato it seems.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I saw the 128MB of flash on Shibby's site and thought it was a typo. 128MB of flash is insane for a router.

The verizon "Rev I" routers that they send out, with a red stripe along the front, supposedly now have 128MB flash and 128MB RAM. Unknown if there is any sort of modding community for those routers. I don't think that the stock firmware is Linux-based.