Flashing a consumer router with DD-WRT turned a weak signal and an expensive upgrade into a free afternoon project.
Mohamed Shamil
IT Administrator & Hobbyist Developer
Wireless internet is great until you're in a room far from the router and the signal strength drops off. The obvious fix is buying a more powerful (and more expensive) router — but a friend suggested flashing the existing one with better firmware instead.
After some research, DD-WRT turned out to be the most reliable and capable router firmware available, and it's free. Flashing it took less than three minutes, and the difference was immediate.
DD-WRT unlocks a long list of features that stock router firmware usually leaves out:
Bumping the Tx Power value up significantly boosted the signal throughout the house — no new hardware required. DD-WRT supports the vast majority of consumer routers, which makes turning a cheap router into a feature-rich one a genuinely free upgrade.