Flashing Routers with DD-WRT

RavingSmurf · October 15, 2014

Hey guys i was thinking of getting a new router as the multi functional S**T the ISP has sent me keeps breaking, seriously this is like the third one. Anyway i wanted the linksys E2500 v3 as it is a inexpensive 1Gb router with dual band wireless n, i have heard the firmware on it is bad and with custom firmware i can get more options and maybe even better performance. I had a look around and decided on DD-WRT, this router supports it but i wanted to research a bit more in to it before deciding on either of these things. So I was wondering if anybody on here has had experience with flashing routers, is there anything i should know, is there better firmware than the one i have chosen and is the router ok i have heard fixed reviews about it and decided to try it out and return it if it is bad.

cloclo8003 · October 15, 2014

I flashed DD-WRT a 3 year-old D-Link router (I don't remember the model but I can check), cause I didn't really cared about bricking it (yes, this may brick your router, however it should not if you do everything correctly), I didn't need it anymore. It worked well for me, however it involved editing a binary file with a hex editor and this is not the kind of thing a newbie could do, but I guess you can do it if your router needs to do so. It worked fine with some minor issues at the beggining, but now I don't regret at all doing this.

failblox · October 15, 2014

I'm not sure about the E2500, but it's really easy to flash custom firmware on my ASUS RT-AC68U. You literally select the file and click a button. It depends on the router, but I believe for a somewhat lower-end router the process will be more difficult. If you're okay dealing with technical problems and you have a pretty decent understanding of computers and networking in general, I'd say do it. You can get a lot more out of your router than if you use the stock firmware. Just keep in mind though - you can brick your router if you screw up.