RV042 vs DD-WRT

[sbresin]

Hi
Our network is composed of about 10 computers and a nas QNAP. As a router we have a rvs4000, which shall be replaced by a RV042 for better VPN performance. Meanwhile I heard of DD-WRT based router being 'exeptional', 'wonderful', 'brilliant', ... So the question is : is it worth buying a new DDWRT compatible router instead of RV042?

Additionally our network needs are:
- internet connexion sharing
- firewall
- Internet Policy (mainly P2P blocking)
- no wifi
- DHCP
- VPN (one or two users at the same time)
- smb grade router and good performance
- if possible : internet bandwith utilisation logs
- if possible : DNS server

thanks
stanislas

 

[zentec]

My opinion...

DD-WRT has its advantages, but the latest builds are not necessarily targeted at small businesses. Some of them have had SNMP yanked out, yet there's some ad hoc free wifi ad network thrown in there.

While you can turn off the wifi, your spec list indicates you don't need it. If you don't need it, you probably can do better not buying a consumer grade router with it.

The problem I've had with DD-WRT and OpenWRT is that the stability can be an issue. I don't think that applies to everyone, many people seem happy and not to have the issues I have experienced. Both projects have had problems with the WAN ports disconnecting on my Netgear hardware. And while I very much like all the flexibility (such as being able to select drop or reject responses as opposed to just "deny" on the RV042), the hassles are often not worth it. Especially, considering a business environment.

I've been looking to replace my trusty version 1 RV042, and have yet to find something that reliable in custom firmware for consumer grade routers. I thought I had it happening with Netgear's more recent WNDR series, but eventually they need a reboot.

I also tried some of Cisco's small business line like the RV180. That's not a terribly bad little device for the price, but it is new and it too eventually required a reboot.

Not finding too many options for a gigabit wired router with jumbo support, ipV6 and snmp...

 

[sbresin]

ok interesting feedback...

shall keep the good old RV042 then.

thanks

s

 

[zentec]

Since I made that reply, I decided that maybe I needed to look over my OpenWRT install and see really what is happening.

I couldn't get a WAN IP address, and after a bit of work and looking over forums, this is an issue between the dhcpd on the OpenWRT box and my ISP. I can take it elsewhere and it works fine, but on my ISP it really is unreliable. Loading the stock firmware, and it works fine.

So, you may find it to be more reliable. If you don't mind playing spin the bottle with $150 or so, you could come up a winner or spent a lot of time for naught.

It is fun to experiment with it though...wish my ISP had their act together.