Linksys WRT310N: not-a-review

[x88x]

Last week I finally got fed up with accessing my fileserver (primary storage for my desktop) over 100Mb ethernet, so I decided it was time for a gigabit router. So I headed over to Best Buy and picked up a Linksys WRT310N for $100 (normally $120-$140). And thus begun a strange journey.

As it turns out, somebody thought it would be a great idea to make a $100+ router with a firmware that as close as I can tell was crafted from equine fecal matter. The main things that got me about it were:
1) Nowhere can you set a custom DNS server for the router to forward.
2) You have a limit of ~10 static port-forwarding settings.

Really Linksys? Really? ..and Cisco; what were you thinking, letting them do this?

Well, this wouldn't do. So, I headed over to the dd-wrt project (http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index) to see what could be done about this.

Unfortunately, as it turns out, only the first hardware revision of the WRT310N works with dd-wrt...and I had purchased the second hardware revision.

Fortunately, I was able to find a WRT310N V1 at the same store, and last night flashed it to the latest version of dd-wrt. And life is good :D (well, at least on my network :P )

For some reason the V1 is also significantly faster than the V2 as well. It boots in about a fifth of the time, and negotiates communication a lot faster.

So, the moral of this story is:
Don't buy a WRT310N V2. You can tell this by looking at the serial number on the box. If there is an "F11" in there, it's a V2; if there is instead an "F01", it's a V1.

EDIT:
Also, once I got dd-wrt on it, it's a great little router. Gigabit ethernet and draft-2 802.11n wireless. Solid hardware; just really bad factory software.

[Zephik]

I'll never buy a Linksys product that is from Cisco. Absolutely never. They've completely killed the brand. How that happened I really don't know, you think they would have gotten better or something, but apparently not. The reviews speak for themselves. Look at all the old products, great reviews! Look at all the new products, horrible to mediocre reviews. What on earth are they doing?? So sad.

I'm using DD WRT on my Version 3 Linksys... er.. Damn, can't remember the model name. Its one of those blue ones with the two antennas. The classic Linksys router. Works beautifully, I love it.

[x88x]

I'll never buy a Linksys product that is from Cisco. Absolutely never. They've completely killed the brand. How that happened I really don't know, you think they would have gotten better or something, but apparently not. The reviews speak for themselves. Look at all the old products, great reviews! Look at all the new products, horrible to mediocre reviews. What on earth are they doing?? So sad.

That's the weird thing; it's great hardware, way faster than any other comsumer router I've ever used....it just has a really bad factory firmware...well, for me anyways :P I imagine if I were Joe Random Consumer I wouldn't really care...but then if I were Joe Random Consumer, why would I want a Gigabit/N router? *shrugs*

I don't really understand why Linksys stuff changed when Cisco bought them either. You have two companies that make great products, one buys the other, and now suddenly one of the doesn't make as (all-around) good stuff anymore? Personally I think Cisco should just partner with the dd-wrt project, make all of their routers work with it out of the box, and just load that on them. I imagine it would cut down a lot on their firmware development expenses, and it would give dd-wrt a larger dedicated development pool.

[Collinstheclown]

What I find funny is that dd-wrt suggests the "pre-SP2" version (which is still in beta) over the stable older version.

I happen to have the WRT310N as well, and if the serial number you speak of is correct then I have v1. I did buy it a good while ago so it doesn't surprise me, I'll have to double check when I get home tonight to see. What version did you install?




-CollinstheClown

[x88x]

If you read the dd-wrt wiki page for the 310N (or it might have been in the general instructions that they link you to..I don't exactly remember), apparently SP1 has a lot of really severe stability issues with certain routers, like, they mentioned one Netgear that will randomly brick when running it. That's why they're recommending the SP2-beta. I used v24 SP2 beta Build 13064.

Another way to check to see if you have the V1 is to look at the web ui; where it says what version firmware it's using, if it's a V2 it'll have a 'version 2' or 'V2' or something after the firmware version number.

DD-WRT wiki link:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Linksys_WRT310N_v1.0

[Airbozo]

I have dealt with Cisco for many many years and this does not surprise me. When they bought Linksys, everyone in the industry knew what would happen. They have a habit of purchasing competitors and killing their product. Linksys was starting to infringe on their low end router/switch business so they bought them and basically crippled the products. They WANT you to buy a more expensive router/switch to get the functionality you desire. This is also part of the reason that the dd-wrt software will not work on the V2 hardware. They intentionally killed it for the same reason above. Why would they want you to be able to purchase a $100 router with the same functionality and performance as a $1000 router?

Can you tell I don't like Cisco? I am dealing with them now on a regulatory compliance issue. I needed to find out the model number and type of battery in one of their firewall products and their response was: "None of your business", then "There is no battery in that unit" (as I was looking at a battery soldered into the mobo). I called them on it and they reminded me that I just voided the warranty by opening it up, but still denied the existence of a battery. I had to unsolder the battery and clean off the solder to get the info. Just for kicks I soldered it in backwards and sent it back for RMA. TOOLS!

[x88x]

Why would they want you to be able to purchase a $100 router with the same functionality and performance as a $1000 router?
I guess that's the part that doesn't make any kind of business sense to me. Why on earth would a normal consumer buy a $1000 Cisco router? They wouldn't know what to do with it if they got it and they just straight up wouldn't buy it in the first place. Why try to kill a home router product when you don't make something to take its place? If I were just a normal consumer and I didn't like a Linksys router that I purchased, I wouldn't even consider buying a more expensive Cisco router, I would just go buy a D-link/Netgear/etc instead.

[Airbozo]

I guess that's the part that doesn't make any kind of business sense to me. Why on earth would a normal consumer buy a $1000 Cisco router? They wouldn't know what to do with it if they got it and they just straight up wouldn't buy it in the first place. Why try to kill a home router product when you don't make something to take its place? If I were just a normal consumer and I didn't like a Linksys router that I purchased, I wouldn't even consider buying a more expensive Cisco router, I would just go buy a D-link/Netgear/etc instead.

Agreed, but to the normal consumer, that linksys would be just fine as it ships. It is only the techies like us that know the difference and demand better options and performance.

I used to love Linksys. Now I am not so sure...

[crenn]

For me, Linksys hardware has never been the problem, it's always the firmware. I have a Linksys WRT610N and it's a good router once you fix the firmware problems. But Cisco won't completely kill off the Linksys brand. I think they'll invest in it a bit.

P.S. I have a Cisco 857W (I believe that's the model... haven't touched it in a LONG time) and had problems getting new IOS software (cisco firmware pretty much) to fix WPA issues.