But does it have removable antennas a la WRT-54G? Do you know of any (other?) N devices to which you can attach external antennas (i.e. unidirectional, specifically)?<div><br></div><div>Kevin<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">
On Sun, Jun 13, 2010 at 2:51 PM, <a href="mailto:athompso@athompso.net">athompso@athompso.net</a> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:athompso@athompso.net">athompso@athompso.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<br>
Further to my comments at the last meeting, I was pleasantly surprised<br>
when I bought a D-Link DIR-825 and discovered it can run DD-WRT.<br>
<br>
This is a *simultaneous* dual-band (i.e. two radios, one at 2.4GHz, one at<br>
5GHz) 802.11N router with 5 GigE ports, a USB port, two antennas, and the<br>
usual array of activity lights on the front.<br>
<br>
There is a beta build of DD-WRT that runs on this unit (and thus<br>
presumably OpenWRT will also support it soon if not already).<br>
<br>
Range & performance are OK but not great.<br>
<br>
The price, however, is impressive: you can typically find it online (in<br>
Canada) for under $150. If it were a $250 unit, it would be utterly<br>
unremarkable (aside from being one of the first dual-radio models to run<br>
DD-WRT) but considering that you can still regularly find 802.11G and<br>
single-band 802.11N routers for over $150, that makes it impressive - for<br>
now.<br>
<br>
With the stock D-Link firmware, the USB port can be used for (apparently)<br>
*any* device whatsoever, and includes software to remotely connect a<br>
Windows PC to the port. Not sure how they've done this, but I'm told it<br>
should work for any USB device (subject to bandwidth limitations, of course<br>
- USB2.0 is still faster than 802.11N).<br>
<br>
DD-WRT can expose USB storage devices and (I think) printers; so you do<br>
lose something compared to the factory firmware. Flashing DD-WRT onto the<br>
device requires TFTP while putting the device into disaster-recovery mode;<br>
it was harder to find the instructions online than to actually do it.<br>
<br>
Also see CNet's review here:<br>
<a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/routers/d-link-xtreme-n/4505-3319_7-33246906.html#cnetReview" target="_blank">http://reviews.cnet.com/routers/d-link-xtreme-n/4505-3319_7-33246906.html#cnetReview</a><br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
-Adam<br>
<br>
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