[olug] DD-WRT Router Suggestions?

Wed Dec 30 02:59:10 UTC 2009

I have not looked at the cable modem logs yet. That is a really good idea.

-- T. J.

On 12/29/09, Adam Lassek <adam at doubleprime.net> wrote:
> Have you looked at the logs on the Cable Modem itself? They usually have
> some sort of web-based interface. When I was having connection issues with
> Cox, there was some useful information there.
>
> On Wed, Dec 23, 2009 at 9:28 PM, T. J. Brumfield
> <enderandrew at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> I have skipped the router and connected directly to the modem.
>>
>> I also build and repair computers fairly often for people on the side.
>> I've hooked a number of computers up, most of them Linux, and some are
>> netbooks with SSDs. My main rig is a Phenom II X4 940, overclocked,
>> with 4 drives in RAID, and 8 gigs of RAM. My machine flies. I don't
>> think it is my hard drive not able to write fast enough to cache. That
>> certainly isn't a factor with pings timing out.
>>
>> The worst is that it takes 20-30 minutes to talk to someone. I tell
>> the automated attendant I don't want to go through their automated
>> troubleshooting (reboot PC, reboot modem, lather, rinse, repeat) but
>> it puts me on hold for 5 minutes, and then forces me through the
>> automated troubleshooting none the less.
>>
>> Never does it ask what the problem is. It just forces me to go through
>> the steps, checking to see if my signal from the cable modem drops or
>> picks up at points to make sure I'm really rebooting stuff. In the end
>> it asks if I can see a web page, when I say yes, it says it is going
>> to hang up on me since my problem is solved. Since my problem is
>> intermittent and slow service, it isn't solved. I tell the automated
>> assistant I'm not happy, and then it puts me in a hold queue for
>> another 10 minutes.
>>
>> Then a Cox employee tells me they know for a fact it can't possibly be
>> them, and it must be that I need to defrag.
>>
>> When I explain that I'm a friggin' systems engineer, they still insist
>> that I can't know what I'm talking about.
>>
>> I purchased a new cable modem out of my pocket to see if that would
>> help, and it hasn't. But I did spend $60 to troubleshoot Cox's
>> problems.
>>
>> I tried switching to Qwest briefly out of frustration, but it requires
>> PPoE authorization. I can't use my router, which I didn't realize when
>> I signed up for service. I called their support several times telling
>> them I needed to configure their DSL modem to just be a pass-through
>> and do the PPoE authorization via my router, and that I'd need my
>> login and password for the account. Tech support kept insisting there
>> was no such login, and it didn't exist. But I could see in the DSL
>> modem config that there was a password (replaced with asterisks of
>> course). I talked to a friend who was a Qwest employee who did verify
>> I needed to do PPoE with my router to make it work, but when I called
>> Qwest back yet again, they still insisted there was no login and
>> password.
>>
>> I hear Verizon might offer their FiOS in town to compete with Qwest's
>> new FiOS, but I live on the East side of town where neither is
>> available. So I'm stuck with Cox, and they refuse to help me.
>>
>> If there is a better alternative, I'd love to hear it.
>>
>> -- T. J. Brumfield
>>
>> On Wed, Dec 23, 2009 at 7:09 PM, Kelly Williams
>> <kellywilliams81 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Defrag the hard drive wtf. Sorry i read that i know cox would say that
>> > is
>> > kinda funny. Have you connected the computer direct to the modem..
>> >
>> > Kelly Williams
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On 12/23/2009 5:51 PM, T. J. Brumfield wrote:
>> >>
>> >> I bought a high-end router a year ago, but I'm not 100% happy with it.
>> >> My internet connection is still slow. Cox refuses to talk to me about
>> >> performance since a router is involved, and they won't come out to the
>> >> house to check the signal, even though pages time out all the time.
>> >> They insist I need to defrag my hard drive.
>> >>
>> >> Even though I assume the issue is really on Cox's part, and I've shown
>> >> I still have trouble with pages timing out when not connected to the
>> >> router, I wouldn't mind trying to get a better router to get the best
>> >> possible performance I can get given the circumstances.
>> >>
>> >> I purchased a DIR-655, which got rave reviews, is supposed to have a
>> >> fast processor and do decent QOS, has 4 LAN gigabit ports, and does
>> >> 802.11n wireless.
>> >>
>> >> The question is, can I find an equivalent or better router that
>> >> supports a Linux firmware (like DD-WRT?)
>> >>
>> >> Ideally, I want something with at least 32 megs of RAM for processing,
>> >> and at least 8 megs of RAM for flash storage. The newest releases of
>> >> DD-WRT are getting larger than 4 megs. It would have gigabit ports,
>> >> and 802.11n support.
>> >>
>> >> Does anyone know of such a router?
>> >>
>> >> -- T. J. Brumfield
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