Teach Your Router New Tricks With DD-WRT 257
snydeq writes "InfoWorld's Serdar Yegulalp offers an in-depth look at DD-WRT, open source router firmware that can 'breath new life — and advanced features — into your old wired or wireless router.' Quality-of-service controls, iptables-based firewall, IPv6 support, DNS controls, Kai Daemon for allowing game console network tunneling, and a host of features for using your router as a public-access hotspot are among the many possibilities for hacking your router with DD-WRT."
no fucking shit (Score:2, Insightful)
welcome to 5 years ago dipshits
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I have an article for Caldera Linux laying around here somewhere if you guys wanna go further in the WayBack machine.
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Which would you rather trust for the "security" excuse they use to lock down the firmware?
A private company with closed source stuff that you can't be sure doesn't have some abusive feature sweethearted into it on demand of another company or the government?
Or an open source sunshine drenched codebase maintained by geeks with a passion for programming who consider it a personal affront if their crap gets hacked or bugged?
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Especially since I haven't seen a DD-WRT release in a LONG time.
I'm fairly certain I was running build 13064 (the "latest development release" listed on dd-wrt.com) over a year ago.
"Recent News" on dd-wrt.com has the latest entry as 10/13/2010
No-IP updating has been broken for over a year. The router says it's updating, but I still get inactivity nastygrams every 30 days from No-IP
Re:no fucking shit (Score:4, Informative)
Paid advertisement for a lie? Because it sure the hell isn't open source.
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dd-wrt is very much closed source.
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Yeah I'm a huge fan of tomato, I've been using it on my routers for several years. Though I might give openwrt a go on my next router, since my wrt54gl is getting a bit long in the tooth.
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Installed Tomato on my WRT54GL and I lost about 5 dB. After spending about a month mucking with all the settings (and loving that I could do that) I had to go back so I could sit where I am now and use the internet. I used to have to use a less comfortable chair.
Also, there is no QOS to say things like: prioritize movies from my server to my TV, or give my laptop the bandwidth of the internet connection if I'm moving files up or down from the server.
But YMMV.
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Also, there is no QOS to say things like: prioritize movies from my server to my TV, or give my laptop the bandwidth of the internet connection if I'm moving files up or down from the server.
But YMMV.
I think you need to look at Tomato again. It has QoS. Not sure what you are talking about.
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Was the stealing shameful or not?
It's only stealing if the "victim" does not consent to it.
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Open-Source my ass! (Score:5, Informative)
Since when has dd-wrt been "Open Source?" It's very much closed-source. OpenWRT [openwrt.org] is actually open source, as in, you can download the code, modify, and compile it yourself. dd-wrt is closed, and often includes proprietary drivers.
Re:Open-Source my ass! (Score:5, Informative)
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DD-WRT is also an OpenWRT fork from what I heard, hardly an "open source" model Slashdot should be promoting.
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Since when has dd-wrt been "Open Source?" It's very much closed-source. OpenWRT [openwrt.org] is actually open source, as in, you can download the code, modify, and compile it yourself. dd-wrt is closed, and often includes proprietary drivers.
the source IS AVAILABLE and has always been.
svn co svn://svn.dd-wrt.com/DD-WRT
http://svn.dd-wrt.com/browser [dd-wrt.com]
Re:Open-Source my ass! (Score:5, Informative)
DD-WRT is open source in the same sense that the original Linksys firmware was open-source. Clearly, the GPL parts are open source, including all kernel modules and command line tools based on BSD/Linux. And yes, it must be possible to compile a bootable image with minimal shell support (otherwise they wouldn't be complying with the GPL). However, (this was true two years ago--haven't checked sense) DD-WRT has several binary blobs and closed-source components that handle higher-level tasks (for example, at the time I was looking into this, it was not possible to extend the webserver.)
Additionally, DD-WRT was still on the age-old nvram model of configuration, rather than using a read-write overlay filesystem to allow editing any configuration files. This means that some things were a pain in the ass to change once you have flashed the router, and building a custom image requires compiling a 10GB svn checkout. I'm sure you got it to compile, but I'm just saying that compiling isn't as easy as it should be. I (as did many other angry slashdotters) wasted several hours trying to compile DD-WRT. This is why the words "open source" in the description gave such a backlash.
Anyway, I didn't bother to figure out the compilation process, and I just went over to OpenWRT for my Linksys WRTSL54GS (kernel 2.6 broadcom with b43 -- works really well), Airlink AR-430W, and D-Link DIR-615. They all work really well.
That said, DD-WRT is a fine firmware if you want something that works and does more than the default images--I have friends who love it. It does Client Bridging which is the one feature I sorely miss from openwrt. So in my opinion it's a good choice if you are the sort of person who wants things to work and doesn't plan to write scripts or tweak things from source. And because fewer things are configurable and Brainslayer tests it on a ton of routers, you can be sure that an image will work on your hardware without tweaking anything (if it's on the Supported Devices list).
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Went to Tomato last year. Clean interface, works well. Won't go back to DD-WRT
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Agreed, however, the nice thing about DD-WRT is that there's one place to go for virtually all routers, but for Tomato the mainline only handles a small group of devices. (I am very lucky and happen to have only supported devices...)
Re:Open-Source my ass! (Score:4, Informative)
TomatoUSB started life as a USB storage addition to tomato, but is now the "extended router list" distro for Tomato.
I run it on my linksys E3000 and love it. Gigabit, dual band N, and performance to spare.
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Sure, try to download from ther SVN.
More than 20Gbytes, their server has a _crappy_ connection, it could last weeks...
So you're saying their QoS really works? :)
And Netflow as well! (Score:2)
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why would i want to use another linux box to do this?
Did you not completely read the post? I said you could do it on a linux box OR openWRT. DD-WRT is basically like manufacturer firmware, only with more features. OpenWRT is much closer to a full linux distro than a stock router firmware.
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Because someone on here always has to one-up someone else's post of why something is useful. For instance, I could post that my motorcycle I bought has fuel injection. Then someone would come along and state "WELL, MINE HAS HAD THAT FOR YEARS GET WITH THE TIMES". That's what douches do.
old news and openwrt is better (Score:2, Informative)
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Your font is old so shut up.
Re:old news and openwrt is better (Score:4, Funny)
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Openwrt hardware support sucks.
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It supported my DG834 better than DD-WRT, which does not [dd-wrt.com].
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It doesn't support my WRT600N, which is like 4 years old.
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And "by yourself" you mean if you're a programmer capable of troubleshooting and writing code for routers. It's far less trouble and more cost-effective to just go out and buy a new router.
Tomato (Score:5, Informative)
I used DD-WRT for some time, but if you want QOS bandwith managment for games (which was what I was really after), you have to buy your way into the forum where a premium version can be downloaded.
Anyway, after some more looking I found 'Tomato' which fitted what I was looking for a lot better. Feel free to try it for yourself.
http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato [polarcloud.com]
Re:Tomato 2nd'd (Score:2)
Even better than stock Tomato (who's GUI and features are awesome) is TomatoVPN [keithmoyer.com] that includes a build of OpenVPN!
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Yep, Tomato VPN is fantastic. I've been running on an ASUS router for quite a while now.
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Tomato seems to be a little stale, at the moment. See TomatoUSB: http://tomatousb.org/
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Tomato seems to be a little stale, at the moment. See TomatoUSB: http://tomatousb.org/ [tomatousb.org]
I have to cron reboot my tomato router daily and it still goes into the ozone sometimes.
Any advice for upgrading from tomato to tomato-usb (no-usb) on a WRT54GS from someone who's tried that route?
I spent some time at the tomato-usb site so I saved nvram off box for reference and will save away the various config pages. So just firmware upgrade to the 2.4kernel no-usb build and 30-30-30 reset?
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Tomato seems to be a little stale, at the moment.
Anyone who would use the term "stale" to describe software would probably also use the term "snappy."
Go to the back of the line.
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Yes, but some advanced QOS features are only present in the premium version.
With projects like this and OpenWRT (Score:2)
When there are all these good firmwares around, why do so many companies stick with their shitty proprietary ones?
(Also applies to cheap NAS boxes; I just bought one where half the text was translated terribly from chinese, and the other half not at all -- with the aid of google translate I eventually figured out that to edit a user's password I had to click "Clam Party"... would just sticking freenas on it be so hard? :( )
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Buffalo routers come with ddwrt installed. It seems a lot of people have a lot of trouble with ddwrt but ive installed it on a bunch of routers with no problems.
"firmwares" is not a word (Score:2)
Stale Firmware (Score:2)
I looked into a Buffalo router that comes with DD-WRT preinstalled and Buffalo tech support. But the latest firmware is almost 2 years old. Surely there's been bugs and vulnerabilities in it found since then, but no patches.
It turned my Linksys Router (Score:4, Funny)
into a brick.
Which, interestingly enough, was an improvement. WiFi is from the devil.
Burn in hell, Sveasoft / James Ewing (Score:3)
Props for being the first to have custom firmware for the Linksys WRT54G but talking about earning the right to be the poster boy for "complete fucking asshole".
Heard you're broke - sucks to be you.
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Yea that dude got his social skills the same place Hans Reiser did, apparently.
Replace Astaro Router? (Score:2)
Which FOSS router OS/SW can I use to replace what's installed on an Astaro router? I stopped paying for the annual license so it stopped working, but the HW is just fine. Twin WAN, firewall, antivirus, internal VLANs, VPN... but closed and locked down. I'd still pay to subscribe to patches, but not on something that just disconnects from the networks when I'm late.
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OpenWRT is well supported with security update and bugfix patches?
Where did this article come from? (Score:4, Interesting)
Leave it to InfoWeek to be both completely confused and 5 years behind the times.
To wit, this article [lifehacker.com] with the same premise from Lifehacker in 2006. And that was before DD-WRT sucked.
First, the author's router is not "an old router". In fact, it ships with DD-WRT. Take an old WRT-54G 1.0 and stick DD-WRT and that would be breathing life into an old router. All you're doing here is using a Buffalo-preconfigured (and encrypted, closed-source) version of DD-WRT.
But more to the point...DD-WRT? Ick. If you want QoS (as the author seems to), you need pay for the commercial version. The QoS in the free version is known broken and has been for quite a while, and there is little motivation to fix it. Also, old routers cannot use the QoS, because you need 4MB or bigger flash. Maybe it works in newer routers but who cares - there are plenty of better alternatives to DD-WRT.
Finally, for Slashdotters, let me say two words that will have you running screaming from DD-WRT: software activation.
Tomato is a fine, free (in all senses) alternative, and I personally love the Tomato-USB [tomatousb.org] version.
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Also dd-wrt was unstable for me, they release version too often and sometimes they are buggy.
I am using the Toastman build of TomatoUSB, with IPv6, OpenVPN, QoS, all the bell and whistles.
Why the obsession with DD-WRT? (Score:2)
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What are you talking about? OpenWRT has had a web interface for at least 5 years.
If this were FireFox that would be like 270 version releases ago.
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DD-WRT works, but Linksys WRT54GS chokes 21 Mbps (Score:5, Informative)
I used DD-WRT for years on an old Linksys WRT54GS (I think that's the model) router and it worked great for me. But after upgrading my internet to 100 Mbps I found out it pukes out at around 20.5 Mbps or something like that, haha. Almost wanted to swear at my ISP, and then decided to try plugging straight into the new Cisco modem/router they gave me, and found all the bandwidth I was paying for was there after all. Haha. But plug back into the Linksys and it chokes me back to just over 20 Mbps again. Couldn't believe it.
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Very few consumer routers can handle 100 Mbps throughput across the NAT (well, technically PAT) layer. They simply don't have the CPU power, bus speed, and memory required. I would be interested to know what routers are capable of such speeds and are compatible with the likes of OpenWRT.
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Well, this might get you started :
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/router-charts/view
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Yup, I have FIOS and ended up switching to the Verizon-provided router for this reason. The biggest issue with it is the NAT table is limited, but I think I've mostly worked through that.
You can potentially put the router into more of a bridging mode and use your own router (which obviously has to be decent), but that is pretty tricky due to how the whole setup (internet+cable) works.
Try making sure... (Score:2)
Check your radios, folks (Score:2)
I have a cheap router with an Atheros radio. DD-WRT did not deal with it well at all, with the WiFi connection dropping & very unstable. The router works beautifully using OpenWRT - WiFi included. DD-WRT probably works great with a Broadcom radio 'cause that's where it was born but my Atheros radio router likes OpenWRT much better.
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As a happy DD-WRT user for users, with many SO-HO routers and LANs to my name, I never buy any routers unless it shows up on the DD-WRT router support database first. To do anything less is probably a waste of time.
http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/support/router-database [dd-wrt.com]
BTW, how is this word actually pronounced? Does is sound like rowter or rooter? /troll
Worked on my ASUS RT-N16 (Score:2)
I have nothing to do with any authors or developers but have had a pretty good experience with DD-WRT.
I bought an ASUS RT-N16 on sale some time ago:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320038 [newegg.com]
I liked the speed specs and also the USB ports -- I wanted to set up a network printer. The firmware that came with this router was GARBAGE. I mean totally, utterly, completely USELESS. My internet connection would constantly drop, forget about printing or NAS. I downloaded a particular build of DD
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I have the same router and I run TomatoUSB on it, works GREAT!!!
version clusterfck (Score:2)
My experience with DD-WRT for the WRT54GL has been less than optimal. After much tinkering it's stable with the features I want, but it took quite some effort.
If you're considering installing DD-WRT, know that there's a good chance that the "stable" version listed on the main site [dd-wrt.com] is probably not your best bet, nor is whatever the router database [dd-wrt.com] suggests. Instead, hit up the forums [dd-wrt.com], find the relevant forum for your hardware, read all the way through the sticky posts marked "READ ME" (in the case of WRT54
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Please upvote this -- there's been a longstanding issue with the searchable "recommended" firmware being wrong in many cases.
Check out this excerpt from a thread in the Broadcom section of the forums for proof:
Old news and my OpenWRT does it better (Score:2)
Not exactly "news", both dd-wrt and truly open source open-wrt has been out outperforming stock firmwares for 5+++ years
Which one is the best and stable for WRT54GL v1.1? (Score:2)
I am still using the latest stock firmware. It works fine for me, but I don't want to have to keep upgrading and reconfiguring. So which ones are the stable, simple, etc.? I don't want to have to fiddle with frequent upgrades, reconfigurations, etc.
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Ah. Did you ever had that problem with the stock firmware?
Router with whitelist feature? (Score:2)
Is there an easy-to-use router package with a whitelist feature?
It would be nice if it had an easy workflow. I.e., instead of editing a whitelist file, you'd have something like:
-user tries to visit an un-whitelisted site.
-the site is automatically added to a "request" list, optionally with a comment from the user
-admin is presented with the request list in a web interface and approves the ones he wants to
Speed (Score:2)
My biggest issue is trying to find a router can that run DD-WRT/Tomato/etc, is trying to find a router that can handle 400mpbs+ of WAN LAN Performance.
Are there any high performance routers that support open source?
but does it? (Score:2)
But does it allow say a wifi router to go from being a wifi g and b to to a wifi n as well?
If it does, then I would pay for that for sure, instead of buying new stuff, just reuse the old one with the firmware update and voila no more junk in the garbage dumps that could be recycled, so to speak.
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I know nothing about the project, but I wonder whether your hardware is fast enough to do whatever pppoe needs done to push data faster. Isn't your DSL link limiting the speed to what you see? How did you verify that it's DD-WRT's problem? Just asking.
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ppoe's not that bad.
I had similar experiences myself, but with a simple TCP/IP router role (eg, not acting as a modem). It was slower than you'd expect, and it had *plenty of free RAM and CPU.
* plenty being relative, of course.
The trouble with OpenWRT is, however, you have to go back to the 8.x White Russian release. 9.x and Kamikaze won't fit into flash smaller than 4mb. This is quite limiting. For example, most Linksys 802.11b/g gear (excepting the WRT54GL) seem to use a 2mb flash.
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If they do, they are in some dev's personal space or something. The only things in the official mirror are too large.
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Too big, it's gotta be a hair below 2mb to fit on these things :(
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DD-WRt has QOS settings, but they're function so horribly they may as well not even be there. That, and the hardware in most DD-WRt routers isn't capable of keeping up with more than basic functionality.
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Even stock routers come with web servers(the config webpage being the interface of choice) and OpenWRT or DDWRT offer webservers that are a touch more customizable.
The only downsides are that running a webserver can be an excellent way of discovering how little RAM most routers have, and you either have to get one with USB host support, or scrounge enough GPIO lines to bodge in an SD card interface, if you actually want to serve any nontrivially size
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One thing that the various WRTs did give me was proper control of iptables so I could do things like redirect to squid and the like. Yes, you won't get goodies like openvpn on slim hardware, but still, even having a bit more direct control of the networking that is there can be a boon.
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How do I replace the DD-WRT firmware that came with a Buffalo router with openwrt or x-wrt?
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Router Model WHR-HP-GN
Firmware Version DD-WRT v24SP2-EU-US (08/19/10) std - build 14998
I know how to flash the image. What I need to know is which OpenWRT or x-wrt version will work on the HW, and how to build the firmware image, including reliable source repos - or where to get a trustworthy, optimized binary for the HW.
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http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/start#buffalo [openwrt.org]
Re:People still use dd-wrt? (Score:5, Funny)
Tomato?
Not until they legalize marinara.
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not that it's an optimal fix - but you can on DD-WRT set a timed reboot cycle.. only problems i've seen with DD-WRT that i would consider a bug is it doesn't do DST changes to the clock except on boot (which screws up time profiles twice a year and hence why i have it set to reboot when they happen).. the other problem is (at least on the version i'm using) iptable entries are backwards when you enter them.
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Hmm, I have used DD-WRT for that many times, using Linksys WRT54GL routers. I have three of them at home... the main one has the Internet connection (cable) and does the DHCP assignments and NAT'ing etc. A cable runs upstairs to another one that acts as an ethernet switch and wireless access point. I have a third DD-WRT router running as a repeater bridge, to cover the rest of the house with WIFI. Nary a glitch... these routers have been running for years and literally go hundreds of days without a reboot (
same thing steve jobs did (Score:2)
are you saying that steve jobs is a douche?
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Build or download a firmware image for your model router and DD-WRT should let you flash it from the admin webapp same as it would a new version of DD-WRT firmware.
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So all the versions of openwrt and x-wrt are compatible with my Buffalo router HW?
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I was just looking up the instructions for a G300NH and it looks easy:
http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/buffalo/wzr-hp-g300h?s [openwrt.org]
That said, there's no incentive for me to upgrade from DD-WRT to OpenWRT. DD-WRT works flawlessly and has all the features I want so far, but if you want to do really advanced stufff OpenWRT looks like a better option.
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I think the reaction is hostile because it's not news, and it's probably not the most appropriate advice for most people. I spent a long time, years ago, looking very hard at the choices for my router (Linksys WRT54G 2.2) and settled on Tomato because that looked like it maximized the feature/hassle quotient. I'm pretty sure it's the right choice for most people who might ever install 3rd party firmware on a router.
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It's not that you count, or not, but that focusing on DD-WRT is (apparently) far for the best choice for the vast majority of people who are ever likely to flash their router, and apparently also (though I did not know this) if you are an open-source purist. Tomato's got a nice UI with relatively well-organized options, OpenWRT has the open-ness. DD-WRT gave the impression of being not as easy to configure/understand.
Understand, this for me is not unlike choosing a cell-phone provider, where you're trying
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I just installed it for the first time on my router yesterday (linksys e2000.) Easy to install and it's working well. Good QOS is nearly mandatory in my house.
QOS is nice, but implementing it only on one end is pointless. Is your provider actually doing QOS on the downstream traffic?
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I imag
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