demanding teenagers... seeking speed

General discussion about Gargoyle, OpenWrt or anything else even remotely related to the project

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adrianjt
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2015 9:40 am

demanding teenagers... seeking speed

Post by adrianjt »

Thanks for advice from previous thread...

This may be a bit worn for some... I muddle along with networking and modems, no-one else in my home is the least bit interested, but they have eyeroll, "Dad, the internet's too slow" downpat.

Current setup is wndr3800 flashed with 1.11.0 as gateway & wired DHCP to (optus cable) CG3000 modem.

Most users (x4 kids + Mum) seated in one large room adjacent to wndr3800, connecting wirelessly using 5ghz (or 2.4). I use ethernet. My speeds tolerable.

It's often complaints about delays with pages loading/reloading. Kids have surface 4 that school maintain, ie i don't believe we have virus/bloatware (i also run malware and bitdef. on macs

6-7 laptops, 1-2 desktops, two 'smart' tvs, ipad, 7 phones, two printers, (6-8 devices used concurrently esp. 5pm - 10pm, mostly running wirelessly off the wndr3800).

I think the wndr3800 has done a terrific job with gargoyle for almost 5 years. Time to upgrade.

Wifi Analyser used select better bands. Plenty of space on 5ghz in our neighbourhood.
QoS up+down enabled. (now off)
Users (who are not given admin rights by school to their laptops) forced to use opendns. No torrents.
Gargoyle also used to impose time restrictions.

is WRT1900acs adequate? I could run more ethernet, keeps the kids tethered. It's known, affordable, reliable. Or...

WRT3200acm, extra $$ for sanity... Worth $150-$200 over 2years? (B&H $370... not for sale in Oz?).

Doesnt seem to be in wide use, however some (very?) encouraging comments in a nearby thread... Would hate to brick it of course...

Any feedback on WRT3200acm or other suggestions greatly appreciated.

cheers
Adrian

pythonic
Posts: 230
Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2019 5:47 am
Location: Australia

Re: demanding teenagers... seeking speed

Post by pythonic »

There still seems to be some stock of the Linksys EA8500 floating around (e.g. Wireless1 on Ebay) for around AU$160 - these can run the experimental ipq806x 1.11.x build and should be supported in a future general release. I got one new from Wireless1 a couple of months ago and had no problems installing the Gargoyle build but if what I read is correct I wouldn't upgrade the factory firmware before installing Gargoyle (or OpenWrt) as it seems later OEM firmware versions may make life hard :-(.

Performance-wise the ipq806x architecture seems the closest to the capabilities of the mvebu architecture other than x64...

adrianjt
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2015 9:40 am

Re: demanding teenagers... seeking speed

Post by adrianjt »

cheers Lantis, Eric, everyone who has made Gargoyle such awesome router firmware. & ispyisail & fifonic for helping me see the problem I had/have (old router without headroom). & Pythonic, thanks, EA8500 (for $125! from wireless1) is super!

Have ordered EA8500, woohoo, happy (school) dayz!

cheers
adrian

fifonik
Posts: 124
Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2016 3:52 am
Location: Brisbane, AU

Re: demanding teenagers... seeking speed

Post by fifonik »

I heard that WiFi on these WRT + Gargoyle are "not very good" (like lacking some HW features as all these beam formings etc). I personally do not have issues with WiFi, but in our home it is used for one laptop + mobiles only, all desktops are wired.

As you have many WiFi devices I'd go for something like router (depend on your BW requirements) + good separate WiFi access point.

However, you are trying to improve things without finding out what causing slowness in your case right now. I'd try to find it out first.

pythonic
Posts: 230
Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2019 5:47 am
Location: Australia

Re: demanding teenagers... seeking speed

Post by pythonic »

adrianjt wrote:EA8500 (for $125! from wireless1) is super!
Great you could score one on special! The performance is pretty good for the price, even at the price I saw.

The Wifi throughput with OpenWrt/Gargoyle is not as good as the factory firmware because there's no support for some of the hardware acceleration features which the factory firmware supports :-( however it still should perform quite a bit better than your current router.

A tip: you have to use the "linksyssmartwifi.com" address to login to the Linksys factory firmware, not the IP address... :roll:

RomanHK
Posts: 794
Joined: Sat May 04, 2013 4:18 pm
Location: Czech Republik

Re: demanding teenagers... seeking speed

Post by RomanHK »

pythonic wrote:A tip: you have to use the "linksyssmartwifi.com" address to login to the Linksys factory firmware, not the IP address... :roll:
:) You do not need to register anywhere to get OEM firmware, just download the appropriate * img file from here (EA8500): https://www.linksys.com/us/support-arti ... Num=156300 ;)
Turris Omnia with OpenWrt 21.02 - Tested
Linksys WRT3200ACM with Gargoyle 1.13.x
TL-WR1043ND v2 with Gargoyle 1.10.0

http://gargoyle.romanhk.cz custom builds by gargoyle users

pythonic
Posts: 230
Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2019 5:47 am
Location: Australia

Re: demanding teenagers... seeking speed

Post by pythonic »

RomanHK wrote:
pythonic wrote:A tip: you have to use the "linksyssmartwifi.com" address to login to the Linksys factory firmware, not the IP address... :roll:
:) You do not need to register anywhere to get OEM firmware, just download the appropriate * img file from here (EA8500): https://www.linksys.com/us/support-arti ... Num=156300 ;)
Sorry, that wasn't what I was referring to - when you power up the Linksys router with the factory firmware active, you can't connect to the router's web user interface by IP address (as you can with OpenWrt/Gargoyle) but need to actually type in the above address to connect.

pbix
Developer
Posts: 1373
Joined: Fri Aug 21, 2009 5:09 pm

Re: demanding teenagers... seeking speed

Post by pbix »

You did not mention your ISP speed.

What evidence is there that a new Router will change anything?

The router you have is pretty good.
Linksys WRT1900ACv2
Netgear WNDR3700v2
TP Link 1043ND v3
TP-Link TL-WDR3600 v1
Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH2
WRT54G-TM

adrianjt
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2015 9:40 am

Re: demanding teenagers... seeking speed

Post by adrianjt »

thanks All.

novel suggestion pbix, being on optus cable with 'speed pack' have'nt bothered to check this for ages

scored a very dismal 7.2mbps. sure it is 10.30pm sat nite but that still seems below expectations. several tests. rang optus, miracle, it's been 100mbs or thereabouts since...

anyway awesome new ea8500 has arrived... here comes gargoyle, woohoo!
and thanks pythonic for heads up re router login (which would have had me stumped)

should have some positive great news soon

cheers
adrianjt

adrianjt
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2015 9:40 am

Re: demanding teenagers... seeking speed

Post by adrianjt »

being a bit daft i forgot/overlooked Pythonics advice and now have permanently installed linksys latest firmware on my new ea8500, doh. yes could rollback but too much fiddling for mr crusty

advice sought, i think my options are a) sell it buy another and do it right or

b) have ea8500 serve wifi to study using linksys firmware (where there are about 10 connections ie x5 iphone 6s + x5 surface4) ethernet bridged to existing wndr3800 AP running gargoyle (wifi off).

& apple airport extreme 5th gen (in my office) also ethernet bridged to wndr.

Would that take strain off wndr3800 whilst still allowing me to manage and monitor all devices using gargoyle?

Would the wndr3800 constrict throughput noticeably?

We have an optus cable CG3800 modem wired to AP.

appreciate all suggestions

cheers
adrian

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