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ASUS RT-N16 with dd-wrt

ASUS RT-N16 with dd-wrt

 

The ASUS RT-N16 with dd-wrt.

ASUS RT-N16 with dd-wrt

I bought the ASUS (RT-N16) Wireless-N 300 to replace my old school Linksys WRT54G running dd-wrt.

I’ve been down this road before numerous times. The last fail was the WRT160N. I upgraded it to dd-wrt and for a couple days it seemed ok. As with all the other failures before it, it was inconsistent and sometimes unresponsive (even though I was connected) and needed rebooted. It just got worse and worse.

This left me feeling like I’d never get N speeds!

After much time researching I finally found the ASUS RT-N16. I once again dared to dream.

Important Specs:

  • CPU: BCM4718
  • CPU Speed: 480MHz
  • FLASH: 32MB
  • DDR2: 128MB

Essentially this is a computer in AP clothing.

Other cool features of the stock firmware:

  • USB Print Server
  • USB Hard drive support (NAS)
  • Bittorrent downloader (wow)

I have 32MB of flash to play with. DD-WRT is very supported on this router, so I opted to not use the stock firmware, and instead upgrade to DD-WRT (Mega/Big).

DD-WRT upgrade went well. One thing I almost forgot is that the 802.11N standard requires AES, so AES+TKIP had to be changed to AES in the wireless security settings.

This allowed me to move my old faithful WRT54G to a client bridge to serve my basement media center where G speeds are OK. I then took the WRT160N, made it a client bridge and put it on my Tivo Premier, which was previously G speeds. I can now what youtube videos without it stuttering and stopping all the time.

It's been 2 full weeks of rock-solid, blazing fast N speeds for my tablets, laptops, and my Tivo Premier. I mist say that this router is every bit as good as the WRT54G was back in it's prime. 

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  1. Thanks for the skinny. I recently upgraded to a linksys that does not support DD-WRT and I think I am taking it back today because of that reason. Currently I have no need for N speed but my WRT54GL was starting to flake out too. Lasted me for about 11 years so I cannot complain!

  2. I feel your pain, this is the Wifi router that challenged my WRT54G V2, that I've had and used probably as long as you had yours.

    I'm pretty sure this one is considered an opensource router.

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