Routers Today

Smoker's Lounge
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Decided to buy a router and stop renting the POS from the cable company. Everytime internet went down, so did my ENTIRE LAN, because they have online controls for the router. This meant everything inside my house can’t talk to each other (including home assistant which controls the grow), couldn’t send files to printers, couldn’t even access my NAS when BOTH the PC and NAS are WIRED to the fuqin router. Internet goes down, so does my ENTIRE LAN. That can’t happen, the other day I couldnt do anything for 5 hours, and it was a bright sunny day to boot! (maybe the universe’s way of saying go outside, who knows)

So the GF suggests she pick one up at work (wally world), I look at whats in stock at her store, send her a model to grab (Netgear AX1800 - $99), and she sends back a different one (Netgear AX3000) (much better, normally 2x the price but according to her $10 cheaper). So she gets to the register, and it rings up at at $157. She’s like “F it, we need it and I’m already almost done checking out” and buys it. Comes home and looks on her work app to doublecheck the price, and apparently in the system its marked at $60!! Tells me that tomorrow she’s returning this one, and for me to come and snag one for $60 (employees don’t get the price match thing that customers do). And ON THE SHELF the tag said $60, still rung up at $157. So I tell the cashier that I am paying $60, thats whats marked on the shelf tag, WITH the name and model number (there’s no mistaking it). She brings over a manager (its a $100 override on a product selling for $157, thats ALOT), manager looks at shelf tag (in a locked cabinet mind you, so no customer tampers with the tags for sure), and says “Do it”. Kicking myself for not buying all 3 they had and selling 2 on ebay but whatever… I got what I needed.

Now I do have a complaint. Granted, its much better than my old one, faster, I can assign IPs based on MAC addresses (cams need that) and its got the bells and whistles I want. But the DAMN NAMING SYSTEM for these routers is convoluted and confusing. I bought an AX3000 by Netgear. Or an AX4. Both prominently displayed all over the box. Evidently neither are the actual product, as I have a RAX35V-2 model of the AX3000. Looks identical to the RAX40, which is in an identical box (and added USB port for on router storage / sharing), and nowhere on my box did I see RAX35, RAX40 or any other way to discern between the two, evidently, sub-models. Granted I dont really need it for sharing files (there’s a 42TB NAS here), but when you are looking for certain setup topics, and start running into issues deciding which to follow until you decipher that you are following instructions for a different AX3000, and where the hell is the USB port, and why isn’t this pointed out in the packaging, you get annoyed.

With an UNLIMITED number of potential model numbers, WHY TF are they doing this semi-hidden sub-model BS?

Last router I purchased was the trusty Linksys WRT-54G. The Blue router. No mistaking the router model, its features, etc. There was only ONE model WRT-54G (and it stuck around for a while). Next model was likely WRT-5X or something. ZERO confusion…

The worst part is I AM a techie person. Setting up port forwarding, assigning ips from MAC addresses, this is stuff usually above most peoples pay grade, and its cakewalk for me. If the router choices / offerings are this confusing to someone who knows tech, I can’t imagine “Schoolteacher Sally” having an easy time deciding, and probably just decides on price, or what it looks like…

All in all, I am happy with the router, SUPER happy with the price, but man… Why do they have to confuse an dilute the info like that? I didnt even know the AX3000 came in RAX35 and RAX40 sub-models till after my purchase, and I did a quick google search on reviews beforehand!

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I don’t rent one. I do have the high end one.,
The stuff gets me going. They make it difficult sometimes.

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Why cant they just put RAX35 on the box? When you start digging in, RAX seems to be the defining model number, no AX4, nor AX3000 (those are more like classes it seems, but treated as models).

RAX10, 20, 30, 35V2, 40 etc. Higher numbers currently are more powerful models up to RAX200.

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never would’ve guessed :rofl:

:evergreen_tree: recovered. jitterbugs look appealing. :rofl:

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I’ve flashed a couple routers to use Tomato firmware. It’s a nice interface, but my network needs are simple these days so I’m fine with the stock firmware on my current router.

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Those ports were pretty useless on every factory router I’ve had any xp with.

WAG different hardware vendors supplying requirements with different parts.

yeah they now have an app that I have to use to log into mine…but it doesn’t kill the intranet and wifi still functions.

I will say it does have a way to pause service to individual devices and it is easy to bedtime those who are in school for the laptops and pcs anyway.

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the wifi protocols that thing supported aren’t even considered secure anymore afaik

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Agreed, but that was the “key difference” I had to find to discern this is a RAX35V2 and not a RAX40. Like I said, there’s a 42TB NAS here, so definitely useless, except as an indicator of model.

Probably not, hence why mine were retired a while ago. But man, you couldn’t kill that router if you wanted. And everybody had one…

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Same I just use the one my ISP gave me now it works great no fuckery. Back in the day there were real benefits to flashing over the stock one, not so much now. I think a lot of the 3rd party firmware actually performs worse than stock these days, unless it’s for an older popular model ?

Before I got fiber I liked GL.iNet routers. Nice easy GUI up front, but it’s OpenWRT under the hood so if you want to do some weird advanced stuff you can without any flashing.

Yeah they’re about 20 years old now, had a pretty good run. Might still be able to find something to flash on there that’s still considered secure ?

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i lived on these for years lol. i still have like 3. my current router is some asus trash, but its the only one that reaches my garage

any recommendations for something with a good range and reliable that i can put ddwrt on?

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@beacher EA8500 using this as your guide:

I don’t consider myself techie, but I did solder some pins to my router mb to Putty in. FOSS on a $65 router, and it handles 1gbps openvpn + 30 devices over a 5000sqft area (yards included).

CPU speeds and onboard ram are key, not the latest and greatest “standards.”

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What do you consider a device? I have a TON of “devices” though most don’t actively use resources, and I really don’t consider them a device as much as another item on the network. Things like TP Link Switches, ESP32 modules measuring temp / RH / CO2. I’ll still consider the few Raspberry Pi’s running Octoprint for the 3D printers to be devices because they are actively serving up updates in Octoprint.

If they are all devices, there’s 52 “Devices” on my network. Its crazy how its not just a few computers on your LAN now. Cameras, Switches, ESP32s, Raspberry Pi’s for Octoprint and Home Assistant, Google Home Mini speakers, the TV, Tablets, Phones. I am sure I am forgetting something…

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I totally agree. We live in a connected world!

I’m only counting rasp pis, NAS, a couple network printers that get used daily, playback & dedicated streaming devices, TVs and receiver apps, phones, cameras, laptops, and some “smart” devices (of questionable intelligence) that may not be too active.

Point is, it doesn’t choke if a dozen or two devices are being used simultaneously.

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thats linksys? can i install ddwrt or something without soldering? looks like theyre around $130 here in socialist paradise of canada

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Yessir, Linksys EA8500. The soldering depends on what revision of the motherboard yours comes with.

Sounds like you’re getting screwed by the strong dollar. I’m sorry. :frowning: You might look around for new EA8500 routers with dd-wrt preloaded. I know they used to have them at various places for reasonable prices, and it’s easy to upgrade the dd-wrt to current with a lot better stability and security by following the instructions at the link I posted.

Mine’s been running nonstop for near 6 years, minus a few power outages and moving twice. The QoS features are phenomenal, especially if you want to get deep in the stacks to optimize for video and streaming.

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