Fred's Random Thoughts Frederic Jean's Weblog

Linksys WRT54G + Sveasoft Firmware = Wonderful Thing

A long time ago, before 802.11b, I built my own wireless home network using a pair of Aironet nics and a windows box. I did enjoy the freedom to move around the house and browse where ever I was. It was a fun and challenging project.

Times have changed sinced. Today, it cost so little to buy your own consumer grade broadband gateway and wireless access point that it is not really worth it from a financial point of view to build your own. I have since then shifted to using Linksys hardware to fill these functions. I had good luck with the hardware, and it works well with the Cisco VPN that we use at work.

Here's a quick recap of my home network. My cable modem is downstairs, next to the TV (I do not have a cable connection in my office). It is attached to a Linksys WRT54G, which acts as my firewall, router and main WAP. In my office, I have a WAP54G that was acting as a wireless bridge to my desktop and server, both located in my office.

A big selling point of the WRT54G and of the WAP54G is that these boxes are running Linux. Since Linksys was compelled to comply with the GPL, other versions of the firmware were released. Sveasoft is one of the groups that released an updated firmware. The current stable firmware is available for free. Support and access to the pre-release firmware is through a 20$ a year subscription.

A very cool feature of their stable firmware is the ability to tie multiple devices together through a Wireless Distribution System (WDS). This allowed me to use the office WAP54G as both a repeater and a wireless bridge at the same time. Up to 10 WDS links can be configured per device.

Another great feature is the ability to increase the power of the access point's transmitters while still remaining within the legal limits. This might allow the users to purchase a single access point and be able to cover a whole house or office rather than using repeaters to get sufficient coverage.

I am still dabbling with VoIP through Vonage. I had some issues where I didn't have enough bandwidth left to be able to maintain a conversation. The pre-release version of their firmware (name Alchemy 5.2) provides the ability to provide QoS based on subnet or IP address, MAC address or different services. I have configured my WRT54G to give priority to the VoIP traffic. I still have to make a few more calls to verify, but I better service since I enabled this feature.

There are a lot more features available, and I haven't had the chance to play with all of them. The Sveasoft firmware does transform what is a very good consumer level router into a capable small to medium office router.