Asus RT-N66U firmware for me? (need QOS + stability)

[joms]

Hi guys,

I need your help. What firmware would you recommend me if my main priority is QOS and stability?

I would like to be able to prioritize our netflix + browsing. Also, I'd like to be able to restrict bandwidth to various computer/TV like i would give one of my TV only a 80kb/s download speed and another 100kb/s. Is this possible? Or are all QOS percentage based?

I can assign static IP on my computer/TV but can i assign a limit of 100kb/s on that particular TV or computer?

Stability is my next priority. Our download speed is only less than 8Mbps from our ISP (we are in the Philippines) and we have lots of computers/laptop/ipad/TV.

What would be the best firmware for me then? Tomato Shibby? Merlin? DDWRT? stock?

Oh and it would also be a plus if we can restrict a certain IP from using facebook or youtube by clicking a button (during study time).

Thanks a ton!

 

[RMerlin]

For better bandwidth control, go either with Toastman or Shibby's Tomato.

 

[joms]

For better bandwidth control, go either with Toastman or Shibby's Tomato.

Can you give me a rundown on what the difference is between the two? Thanks

 

[RMerlin]

Can you give me a rundown on what the difference is between the two? Thanks

I don't know them in details. In general, Toastman focuses on fewer but mature features and top-notch QoS, while Shibby focuses on more bleeding edge features.

Check on Google, I know there are some pages detailing the differences (maybe on Wikipedia itself).

 

[joms]

anyone else wana give their suggestion?

 

[analogkid]

QOS Tip

FYI there is a QOS bug in the Stock firmware (all versions up to and including 3.0.0.4.374).

The Traffic Manager/QOS screen asks for your max upload and download speed in either Mb/s OR Kb/s. However, it interprets the number as if you gave it Mbps . The dropdown labels on the input boxes are wrong. They say Mb/s and Kb/s... they should be labeled as Mbps and Kbps.

Example: Say you have 50 Mbps service with Comcast (like me). Converting the units, to match the input box in Traffic manager gives you: 50 Mbps = 6.25 Mb/s. If you enter 6.25 into the Traffic manager, your router caps the speed at 6.25 Mbps NOT Mb/s... So you get a super slow router!! translates a capped speed of 0.78 Mbps!!

 

[joms]

analogkid - thanks for the heads up! this doesn't apply if I use tomato/merlin firmware right?

 

[got_milk]

analogkid - thanks for the heads up! this doesn't apply if I use tomato/merlin firmware right?

I don't know if Merlin has fixed this in his firmwares, but Tomato is entirely different from Asuswrt and won't have this problem.

 

[joms]

I don't know if Merlin has fixed this in his firmwares, but Tomato is entirely different from Asuswrt and won't have this problem.

Entirely different? I thought tomato was based from the stock firmware and it is DDWRT that is entirely different. Hmmm. I need to read more LOL. Maybe it is Merlin that is based on the stock firmware and not tomato.... lol

 

[RMerlin]

FYI there is a QOS bug in the Stock firmware (all versions up to and including 3.0.0.4.374).

The Traffic Manager/QOS screen asks for your max upload and download speed in either Mb/s OR Kb/s. However, it interprets the number as if you gave it Mbps . The dropdown labels on the input boxes are wrong. They say Mb/s and Kb/s... they should be labeled as Mbps and Kbps.

Example: Say you have 50 Mbps service with Comcast (like me). Converting the units, to match the input box in Traffic manager gives you: 50 Mbps = 6.25 Mb/s. If you enter 6.25 into the Traffic manager, your router caps the speed at 6.25 Mbps NOT Mb/s... So you get a super slow router!! translates a capped speed of 0.78 Mbps!!

Lowercase b = bits, uppercase B = bytes. The labels are correctly identified.

 

[RogerSC]

There is no difference between Mbps and Mb/s, just two ways of saying the same thing. The "p" stands for "per", and stands in for the "/" when using Mbps.

MBps is megabytes per second...or MB/s as well.

 

[got_milk]

Entirely different? I thought tomato was based from the stock firmware and it is DDWRT that is entirely different. Hmmm. I need to read more LOL. Maybe it is Merlin that is based on the stock firmware and not tomato.... lol

Asuswrt is a fork from Tomato, but Asus has modified it so far away from Tomato you could hardly call it a Tomato fork anymore. Asuswrt-Merlin is Merlin's take on the stock firmware. (As the name implies )

 

[RMerlin]

Someday, someone should design a family tree of the existing firmwares. People would be surprised to see some of the relationships out there. When you think of it, Linksys spawned Tomato, which spawned Asuswrt, which spawned Asuswrt-Merlin - that's an unexpected branch just right there

After that, you got some cross-breeding. Asuswrt took the PPTP code from DD-WRT, some other parts (I forgot which) from OpenWRT. Then, I took the OpenVPN code from TomatoUSB/VPN, and merged it in Asuswrt-Merlin... Mix with that kernel patches coming from the WL500G FW, which has ties to OpenWRT (I think).

Still confused? Good.

How a lot of current router firmwares have evolved over the years is a fascinating topic on its own.