Upgrade the WRT54GL?

[audiorecon]

I live in San Diego. My current setup is:

Cox Internet with around 25 Mbps down, 5Mbps up
Motorola 6120 modem connected to WRT54GL running Tomato 1.27. This router is then connected to a GigE switch which interconnects:
- PS3 GigE
- Win7 Desktop
- Fedora GigE NAS

Wireless via WRT54GL:
- Macbook (802.11n capable)
- iPhone 4 (802.11n capable)
- Moto Droid smartphone

I do a bit of Hulu and Netflix on the Macbook over wireless.

My LAN speeds are fine since they go through the GigE switch. My Internet speeds on the macbook are slow. When I do a speed test (speedtest.net), I get 25Mbps down. But general surfing tends to be slow for the Internet speeds I should have. I also occasionally bittorrent and do PS3 online gaming.

My question is, should I upgrade my WRT54GL? I am considering a WNDR3700. Your thoughts? How would this improve my internet experience?

 

[teknojnky]

Personally I was not that happy with my wndr3700 after 'upgrading' from wrt54gl (dd-wrt).

The main problems with the 3700 are lack of port mapping (ie mapping external port 1234 to internal port 4321, for running multiple vnc and such.

and 3700 would often lose dns resolving (pinging ips work, but can not resolve dns).

also, I don't like the way dhcp works on the 3700, devices always get a new ip unless you reserve each one independently.. whereas dd-wrt remembers the device and gives the same ip unless you run out of dhcp ips.

wireless N worked pretty good tho.

currently I am back to running wrt54/dd-wrt as the gateway with the 3700 as a secondary router for wifi.

 

[audiorecon]

How did the LAN to WAN speed compare? How fast is your internet speed? My main reason for doing all this is to get faster LAN/WLAN to WAN performance.

 

[teknojnky]

I only have a 3 meg dsl, so it didn't affect my internet performance.

dd-wrt seems to handle torrent connections better then 3700 tho

 

[overdrive31]

In your opinion, what is slow internet speed in relation to speeds you should be getting?

You do realize that speed tests calculate in megabits to correspond with advertised speeds yet majority of all other software calculate speeds in megabytes so the number represented in MB/s vs Mb/s will be eight times smaller in a more simplistic form. So depending on the bandwidth available from the source, which you need to realize as well, your speeds may not reach full capability because bandwidth isn't cheap and not everyone can afford to feed each individual their available caps worth of content. In case you're confused by the megabit to megabyte reduction, a 25Mb/s connection has 3.125MB/s(some calculate that in KB/s too which you just drop the decimal 3,125KB/s) available bandwidth when comparing browser, download manager, and torrent client speeds reported.

The WRT54GL is a nice router with 3rd party firmware in terms of customization, however if you take a look at Tim's Router Performance Charts, it's one of the worst performers. It might be the perfect router for the lower end DSL service users, but today's FiOS and cable speeds require much more horsepower. Taking a look at Tim's router charts can sure help judge performance expectations in a router prior to purchase, your consideration in the WNDR3700 is right on track if you want performance. The Netgear does have some drawbacks compared to it's competition, it is a clone of the D-Link 825 Rev. B. They both support open source firmware, the 825 has upgradable external adjustable antennas, the 3700 uses internal antennas(look into Tim's Wireless Charts to see comparison of range/speed). The 825 has USB printer(OEM firmware)/storage sharing, 3700 only supports USB storage. If you need 3rd party firmware support those are good choices. Try looking into all available resources including Tim's charts, manufacturer support forums, and if needed 3rd party firmware forums to help make a decision.

Good Luck

 

[audiorecon]

What is slow internet speeds? Well, when surfing, a lot of web page elements take time to load. Perhaps they are flash and my macbook is a few years old. Perhaps it is simply a computer processing thing rather than a connection thing.
I don’t use too many of Tomato’s features so losing them isn’t a deal-breaker. I am mainly concerned about speed. I recently upgraded from 12Mbps to 25Mbps and to the speed when surfing feels to have gotten almost laggy. Its almost like the router is dropping packets and they have to be resent or something weird like that.
I took a look at the router charts. The WRT54GL has a WAN to LAN speed of 53Mbps. So if I am paying for around 25 Mbps, then I should be fine with my current router? What about latency WAN to LAN latency? I have done a traceroute and I didn’t notice a huge lag.

 

[overdrive31]

Think of the results gathered by Tim's tests to point out only that one particular job at that moment in time, not accounting for many other stresses being put on the components, your network consists of more than just the laptop remember. Also, Tim's results are using OEM firmware, Tomato with all it's capabilities could hinder the performance even more as a possibility.

Go to your local BB or electronics store with a good return policy and get a router you think will do the job, then give it a try-out.