Linksys or netgear?

[Going_nowhere]

I second this recommendation. I installed dd-wrt on my $10 ASUS router and it has been solid as a rock. You can check the router compatibility list on dd-wrt site.

I have Tomato on my linksys.
Question: How difficult is it to upgrade router firmware (especially free ones like tomato, dd-wrt)? Any advantage of using newer firmware?

[layman]

mhmm, I just bought a D-Link N router last thanksgiving and it works like a charm. Every laptop in my home , internet radio WLANs worked fine. Linksys, D-Link, Netgear they all should work fine as a home wireless router I think.. Is there a need to install a different firmware on a router? Is there a need to do QOS for home networking?

[boca]

Is there a need to do QOS for home networking?

QoS is mainly for outgoing traffic. If you want your PC (with a specific IP) to get priority over another device, then QoS may help. Example, you may want VOIP devices (Vonage, etc.) to have higher priority than your PC. It is more useful when the bandwidth is low and for those that use peer-to-peer uploads/downloads. Ensures that the torrent uploads don't hog the bandwidth.

As to inbound, typically we have the ADSL/Cable modem/router before the traffic hits the wireless router. So, QoS in such instances doesn't buy anything.

BTW, if you are into open sourcing, the golden rule is that "anything that you pay for is bound to break, while anything that is free and open source don't". So, overwriting the firmware with open source has some benefit. :) There is a community of developers to help fix issues for free, while it is an agony to get in touch with any product company's support.

[FB2020]

I have Tomato on my linksys.
Question: How difficult is it to upgrade router firmware (especially free ones like tomato, dd-wrt)? Any advantage of using newer firmware?

Its not much difficult to upgrade the firmware. I was scared too initially, but patiently go thru the instructions (website should have it for your model), and follow step by step and it should be easy enough. If I can do it anyone can.

It was worth it, since they fix bugs etc in the newer version. I'm feeling it a little more stable after I did the upgrade.

[Going_nowhere]

Its not much difficult to upgrade the firmware. I was scared too initially, but patiently go thru the instructions (website should have it for your model), and follow step by step and it should be easy enough. If I can do it anyone can.

It was worth it, since they fix bugs etc in the newer version. I'm feeling it a little more stable after I did the upgrade.

Thanks for the assurance. I was asking about upgrading opensource firmware (tomato), not the one that came with linksys. Do you think it should be a breeze too?

[layman]

QoS is mainly for outgoing traffic. If you want your PC (with a specific IP) to get priority over another device, then QoS may help. Example, you may want VOIP devices (Vonage, etc.) to have higher priority than your PC. It is more useful when the bandwidth is low and for those that use peer-to-peer uploads/downloads. Ensures that the torrent uploads don't hog the bandwidth.

Do these downloads use TCP? If it uses TCP then the incoming traffic will also slow down if the outflow is controlled.

[gujjubhai]

Thanks for the assurance. I was asking about upgrading opensource firmware (tomato), not the one that came with linksys. Do you think it should be a breeze too?

Most if not all the custom firmwares are easy to upgrade. Here's the FAQs which says how to upgrade tomato http://www.polarcloud.com/tomatofaq.

Since there isn't any data loss if you mess up the upgrade, worst case scenario you can wipe the whole thing and install it as new. You will have to set your wireless authentication ID and password again if you wipe it completely.

[Going_nowhere]

Most if not all the custom firmwares are easy to upgrade. Here's the FAQs which says how to upgrade tomato http://www.polarcloud.com/tomatofaq.

Since there isn't any data loss if you mess up the upgrade, worst case scenario you can wipe the whole thing and install it as new. You will have to set your wireless authentication ID and password again if you wipe it completely.

I'm afraid of turning my router into a brick. Not sure "wiping out and reinstalling" is an available option, unless some hacks can be done which I'm not good at.