Hack Attack: Turn your $60 router into a $600 router

Hack Attack: Turn your $60 router into a $600 router

My last blog of the evening/early morning, honest. This is an older article from http://lifehacker.com that walks you through changing out your network router's firmware with DD-WRT, an open-source router firmware package. We use DD-WRT at my house and I must say it has improved the wireless experience dramatically, and with very little real work. The biggest thing to know is that this is not a weekend project for the non-techies out there. It requires a bit of tech know-how(or a techy via phone for support) and some forum searching for answers, but the payout is truly priceless.

We've setup our router, a Linksys WRT150N, to block all ads(yes, ALL ads) using DD-WRT and a script posted in the forums. The only drawback is that it killed the web interface, but all is not lost. Also, we increased the power output of the radio antenna, so we now have wireless signal throughout our entire house. It really DOES make a difference. We also tweaked some other things, but for the most part the ad-block script and power increase have really made all the difference in the world.

For anyone who doubts, I can assure you that at it's simplest level, the speed of loading ANY webpage has been decreased exponentially by blocking the ads at the router level. No more ads has also meant a safer web browsing experience. I cannot say enough about DD-WRT and it's capabilities.

--Slick Geek