Tag Archives: asus

The Results of the Second WDS Attempt

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I completely forgot about following up on the progress of my wireless bridging solution.

First a little recap of the inter-site wireless journey I went down. The first WDS attempt was a failure. Then I decided to try the wireless ethernet bridge but sidelined that idea after repeated router failures. I then decided to acquire new hardware and retry the WDS.

As I noted back in October, the second attempt was accompanied by a new router, the ASUS RT-N66U. With the new router’s wireless signal strength, I’m now able to establish and maintain the WDS without any issues.

Here are the settings that I employed on both the ASUS RT-N66U and Linksys E4200 v1 routers:

  • Channel 13
  • Channel Width: 20 MHz
  • 2.4 GHz band
  • WPA2 Personal + AES encryption
  • Spanning Tree Protocol enabled
  • Routing Mode: Router
  • Use user-entered gateway if WAN is disabled: On

Up next? Guest wireless networks.

ASUS RT-N66U First Impressions

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My ASUS RT-N66U arrived from Amazon.ca yesterday. I installed Tomato (Shibby) on it and have it up and running.

The build quality helps justify the $150 price tag. It has heft and a solid feel unlike any router I’ve ever owned. It even has a power button and a stand which may seem like odd things to highlight but these are the kinds of features that I expect from a router this pricey.

Initial performance impressions are positive but it did not quite achieve the level of exterior wall performance I was hoping for. The 5 GHz antenna on my E4200 was good. It was able to reach all the way from the top floor to the basement with a reasonable signal. The RT-N66U signal, however, is excellent no matter where I am.

The WDS performance is better but it’s not a night and day difference. The signal strength and quality seems to be more stable than with the E4200 I previously used though. Stability with reasonable throughput (10+ Mbps) is the goal here and so far this RT-N66U is delivering on that front. I’ll check in after some days have passed. Hopefully the link stays up.

Checkpoint: Turkey Day 2012 Edition

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checkpoint-turkey-day-2012-edition

It’s Turkey Day and there’s a turkey in the oven. We didn’t plan on it; it sorta just happened.

Extra long weekend isn’t yielding extra play time. It did yield some additional movie time which enabled me to knock off a viewing of Training Day and a rewatch of Total Recall (1990). I enjoyed both.

But you know what I’m not enjoying? This flaky Wireless Ethernet Bridge setup that I have going. The router serving as the bridge stops accepting wireless clients after awhile. The bridge on the 2.4 GHz network still works but the 5 GHz network stops for no reason. And on top of that, the router’s website becomes inaccessible too.

What’s the answer? Another attempt at the WDS but this time it’s just a WDS and not WDS+AP. I’m hoping the ASUS RT-N66U that I purchased works with the Linksys E4200.

Enjoy the grub, folks.

Checkpoint: Home Networking Edition

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This networking wiring setup is taking longer than expected because I underestimated the tools and equipment required.

First of all don’t get these ethernet tips from Monoprice because they are terrible. I didn’t think it was possible to screw up ethernet tips but there you go. I forgot I actually own a bag of regular CAT5e tips so I got some of those awful tips from a friend.

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The ASUS RT-N16, Tomato & 802.11n

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I was planning to upgrade my gateway router after I moved to my new house, but a sale caught my eye and changed that.

I’ve been using factory firmware and routers for a long time. It started with Linksys, followed by another Linksys and then two identical D-Link routers. This ASUS RT-N16 router is my first custom firmware capable router.

ASUS RT-N16

I chose this particular router because it was affordable and recommended as one of the best custom firmware capable routers. It also featured 802.11n, four gigabit ports and 2 USB 2.0 ports.

And I got all of it for $90 some odd dollars after shipping and taxes. There was also a $10 mail in rebate offer, but it’s coming in as an inconvenient MasterCard debit card. I hate those things. Maybe I’ll donate it to Child’s Play or something.

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Checkpoint: Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Edition

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I’ve been patiently awaiting a competitor to the ASUS Eee netbook. Why? So I can be writing stuff like this without actually sitting at my desk. It’s not meant to replace my desktop — merely accompany it. I’ve looked at the MSI Wind, the Acer Aspire One and the ASUS Eee line, but I just couldn’t commit to any of them. Then Dell shows up with their Inspiron Mini 9.

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The “Eee Monitor”

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…Or how no one can make a decent looking PC aside from Apple.

It’s not hideous, but it’s not going to win any beauty pageants either. Take a look at the iMac. That’s gorgeous and the girls will be complimenting you for having one because it looks sleek and “posh”.

This, “Eee Monitor” from ASUS, however, looks so very cheap by comparison. It’ll probably be several hundreds cheaper when it comes to pricing, but why must PC users be forever doomed to half-hearted copies?