Fixing a nagging problem –Tomato to the rescue

For a long time I have been struggling with a speed issue – my network speeds were/are north of 15M/s.  Which is really quite nice. But my work area in the playroom was much slower.

I had two Linksys G routers running DD-wrt linked together. The best I could get was 7M/s. Tried multiple things, with nothing really pushing the pace higher, including tweaking the settings and adding larger antennae.

First Pass

My first thought was to replace the working solution with a N network. I picked up two  N-routers for cheap.  One was a german one LevelOne. Very cheap on amazon and relatively ok. It came with stock firmware which I do not think can be upgraded to anything open source.  So I used this this became the base solution. It is a very nice router although a little weak reach. But very very fast.

I picked up a wrt310n off E-Bay for cheap. Put dd-wrt on it as soon as I could. I set it up in the playroom as a client bridge to the new N-router downstairs.

This setup was promising, with speeds in the work area going up to 10M/s initially. BUT the solution was not stable.  I saw speeds with a wide variety and felt like it was a step backwards.

Taking a step back and one big step forward

I consider looking at more or different hardware. Even looked at several N routers online and in person. But felt like between the two G and two N that had enough hardware. So I started to look online specifically at dd-wrt, and alternatives to this solution.  Looking specifically at Tomato. 

I installed Tomato to my g-router downstairs, reconfigured my other router as a client bridge in the work area.   SUCCESS. I basically doubled or more my speed. My network speed was up to 16 to 18 m/s.  So, it was the firmware on the g-router.

Took the n-router solution and I amusing to run my direct tv on demand solution for my HD tv in the family room. Seems to work ok