Searching for a good Wireless N 2x2 MIMO Router (DD-WRT ability major +)

Alright well it seems my room is a Faraday cage and no matter what floor the router is on I am not going to do well. At the moment I have a WRT54G in repeater mode just outside my door allowing me to use the net on my router down stairs. Believe me when I say its my room I get better reception with the modem and router anywhere and me anywhere as long as its not my room (router and modem in room of course would work perfectly but would also be selfish).

So I have a 6200 and since 2.4ghz is better through walls I am not necesarilly worried about 5Ghz or dual band but am more worried about 2x2 MIMO.

TP-Link TL-WR1043ND - Looks interesting, not liking the atheros chipset or the fact that this model isnt as easy to unbrick. I am liking the 2x2 MIMO support and the three removable antenna's.

Netgear WNR3500L - Loving the unbrickability and broadcom chipset. Not in love with internal antenna's or the issues people seem to have with it. Seems to be better off on stock firmware with N.

Downloads also recommended the Linksys E2000 but as far as DDWRT goes its an experimental one and the internal antenna's are another downer.

Anyways looking for something good under 100 bucks with a future in firmware mods. If it works great out of the box and has 2x2 MIMO and good reception its a start.

Adding to the list
RT-N16 Seems to be well supported.

 

If you're going to put dd-wrt on it anyways go with the asus - they are nearly unbrickable and function far better with ddwrt opposed to stock firmware. These days it really seems like internal vs external antenna is a moot point or an aesthetic choice, unless you want to hook up a bigger antenna or a yagi or something.

Why is your room lined with tinfoil?

 

LOL, no clue. I was talking to david and he makes a point about the possibility of metal in the paint. The house is a row home with a very recent renovation. The middle floor has no walls and managed to get the exact same signal readings up here as i get from the setup in the basement regardless of antenna choice either.

Yeah I am thinking the ASUS, gonna sleep on it. 2 year warranty and assuming i don't get a bad one I should be happy with it.

Little concerned about G devices with it, but i think the ASUS U50F we have also has an N adapter so the only G devices will be the game consoles.

 

Asus RT-N16 and Netgear WNR3500L are basically identical in terms of hardware with the exception of Asus heaving 128MB RAM (which is irrelevant) and external antennas (which may be an advantage over Netgear)

The thing is Asus costs some $90 and has appalling stock firmware and Netgear costs $70 and has good stock firmware.
Both are supported by DD-WRT and will have identical performance running this firmware (since both use the same chip BCM4718) however Netgear running stock firmware will be faster than Asus running either firmware and will still offer WDS/bridging and some other advanced firmware features.

So unless wireless range is really a very important issue Netgear seems better since it offers better performance and is cheaper.

 

Thanks downloads. I believe range in the indoor sense is one of the most important things at the moment but in comparison with G any router @ 2.4ghz with MIMO might do me well I dont know.

The thing thats bothering me about the Netgear is on Netgears own myopenrouter site. The number of users that cant use N under DD-WRT and other issues I have seen. It probably will all be fixed but I need a now solution. Running the stock firmware seems like the now in that case.

That said the ASUS hardware failure scares me a little but from the source and the warranty not so much as long as i don't make physical changes.

 

Alright update from my phone. Being the impatient person i am i took a chance on the Asus RT-N16. Will put DD-WRT on it out of the box and see what happens. If it has software issues ill return it eat the fee and get the netgear. If i get a bad one i will rma it or if N just doesnt help me ill return it eat the fee and the whole situation. Thanks for the input.

 

If you haven't already bought the Asus, I'd still recommend taking a look at the E2000. I am running DD-WRT on it and using it as a client bridge. I have my PS3 attached to it in my living room and it bridges the wifi from my main router at the opposite end of the house. Netflix is always HD quality now, no buffering issues with any video or audio stream and lightning fast load up times, and thats with 38% signal strength. The PS3 speed test clocked 9MBps download speeds which is extremely respectable. I am running BrainSlayer's latest build 15962 and followed the E2000 forum post on DD-WRT's site to optimize the settings. I am sure it would have no problems as your main router either.

 

Not only did i buy it already. It arrived 23 hours after ordering from newegg on free 3 day shipping.