linksys Archives

Home » linksys

Is the Linksys WRT54G obsolete?

Dave Farquhar DD-WRT May 14, 2020October 19, 2021asus, linksys, netflix, wrt54g

Is the Linksys WRT54G obsolete? Depending on how many devices you have and how fast your upstream connection is, it probably is. And it’s difficult, though not impossible, to secure.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

dfarq.homeip.net

Linksys vs TP-Link

Dave Farquhar Servers and Networking February 21, 2017August 1, 2017belkin, cisco, FCC, firewall, linksys, TL, wrt54g

If you’re looking for the pros and cons of Linksys vs TP-Link, I have experience with both and I’m glad to share it.

Linksys is a well established brand. From 2003 to 2013, they were Cisco’s consumer products division. Since 2013, they’ve been part of Belkin. Prior to Cisco buying them, they were an independent company, founded in 1988. Linksys was the first company to sell 100 million routers.

I don’t blame you if you’ve never heard of TP-Link. They were founded in 1996 but if you were buying their stuff before 2005, you’re well ahead of me.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

How to disassemble a Linksys EA6200 router

Dave Farquhar Hardware February 15, 2017April 22, 2017linksys, metal polish

The Linksys EA6200 is hard to open or disassemble. But there’s a trick. This trick looks like it will work with other 6000-series routers as well, such as the EA6300, EA6350, and EA6400. Here’s how to disassemble a Linksys EA6200 router.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

D-Link vs TP-Link

Dave Farquhar Servers and Networking January 5, 2017March 13, 20211990s, d-link, FCC, linksys, TL

If you’re looking for the pros and cons of D-Link vs TP-Link, I have experience with both and I’m glad to share it.

D-Link is a well established brand. Founded in 1986, it started doing business as D-Link in 1994. It’s been around a long time. If you’ve been involved with computers for any length of time, you’ve probably heard of it.

I don’t blame you if you’ve never heard of TP-Link. They were founded in 1996 but if you were buying their stuff before 2005, you’re well ahead of me.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

Asuswrt-Merlin vs Cisco

Dave Farquhar security, Servers and Networking December 16, 2016December 13, 2021asus, best buy, cisco, linksys, vulnerability

I recently saw advice to buy a Cisco RV130W instead of buying an Asus router such as an RT-AC66U and souping it up with Asuswrt-Merlin. I can see both sides of the argument but in the end I favor the Asus solution when I consider Asuswrt-Merlin vs Cisco. Here’s why.

Now, if you’re arguing business vs personal use, there’s no contest. In a business setting, buy the Cisco.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

DD-WRT compatible routers

Dave Farquhar DD-WRT November 1, 2016July 15, 2017d-link, linksys, TL, wrt54g

It’s not as easy to find DD-WRT compatible routers as it should be. Or maybe I should say it’s not as easy to find out if a particular router is compatible with DD-WRT as it could be. Here’s the trick.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

Adjust DD-WRT TX power

Dave Farquhar DD-WRT, Servers and Networking July 4, 2016November 26, 2018dd wrt, linksys, netflix

I had a DD-WRT router that was dropping a lot of packets. I got a lot of errors and that caused poor playback in Netflix and especially MLB.tv. It wasn’t a bandwidth issue. My wireless network connection was just too noisy. I had to adjust my DD-WRT TX power to fix it.

I probably adjusted it the opposite way you would expect. Read more

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

Linksys EA6200 DD-WRT installation

Dave Farquhar DD-WRT, Servers and Networking March 28, 2016January 11, 2021asus, DDWRT, DLNA, linksys, NVRAM, wrt54g

I picked up a couple of refurbished Linksys EA6200 routers this past weekend. For whatever reason, DD-WRT isn’t officially supported on them, though it does seem to be a popular DD-WRT router. A lot of people make the upgrade far more difficult than they need to. With some simple hacks, Linksys EA6200 DD-WRT installation is pretty straightforward.

I came up with an 18-step process that I simplified just as much as I could. Unlike some methods I’ve seen, I don’t have you editing any binary files or creating custom startup scripts.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

When DD-WRT doesn’t work with Charter

Dave Farquhar DD-WRT, Servers and Networking January 11, 2016April 9, 2017d-link, dell, linksys, WAN, wrt54g

I set up a DD-WRT router on Charter’s Spectrum broadband, and had a hard time getting it to work. It wouldn’t pull an IP address on the WAN side, or it would pull a 192.168 address rather than a Charter public address.

Here’s what I had to do to fix it.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

You might need a new router

Dave Farquhar Hardware, Servers and Networking October 15, 2015February 10, 2018asus, linksys, New York, new york times, usb port, wi-fi, wrt54g

Do you need a new router? If your Internet is slow after upgrading to a faster service, and if your wifi range and reception is poor, or your Internet connection just generally misbehaves a lot, you might need a new router.

Even the New York Times, of all places, has published articles extolling the virtues of new routers. If your wi-fi at home is bad, they say, think about picking up a TP-Link Archer C7 router. I like the Asus RT-AC66U myself, but in my experience, and the experience of my colleagues, a new router makes a huge difference.

When one longtime friend upgraded to a TP-Link Archer, he told me his wi-fi improved so much his wired network was suddenly struggling to keep up with it. That’s fixable. He’s a candidate for Gigabit Ethernet.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

← Previous