Hakin9 magazine survey

[Neo]

An IT security magazine by the name of Hakin9 has asked RouterTech.Org to conduct a survey on their behalf.

If you wish to take part in this survey, please state the make and model of your router and then answer the following questions as fully as possible:

1) Why have you / your company chosen this router?
2) Have you used any other routers? What kind of router did you use before
and why did you decide to change it?
3) What other routers have you considered and why you haven't bought these
ones after all?
4) How is the router working with your computer? Does it meet your
expectations? What are the good and the weak points?
5) Did you have any breakdowns, problems, hang - ups? What was the reason?
6) Can you rate of your router from 1 to 5? (1 = very poor, 5 = very good)
7) Final conclusions, general impressions? Would you recommend it to other
users /companies?

Please use the same numbering so we can keep track of your answers

The results of the survey will be used in an upcoming issue of their magazine

Please keep answers brief and resist the temptation to slag off the manufacturers etc - we don't want big rants or defamatory material
We reserve the right to edit posts that contravene our rules or the guidelines above, as do the editors of Hakin9.

Thanks to all those that participate

We have been given a deadline of 15th April, so we would appreciate it if all contributers could post their replies before then

PS: RouterTech is not being paid to conduct this survey - we are providing it completely free-of-charge

[thechief]

Router: Solwise SAR600EW

1) Why have you / your company chosen this router?
It was "cheap" (i.e., a free review sample from the manufacturer), and turned out to be an excellent replacement for my router at the time.

2) Have you used any other routers? What kind of router did you use before and why did you decide to change it?
I first had an Origo AWR-8210 before. That was limited but functional and reliable. This was replaced by a SWAMR-54108. The SWAMR is an 11g router, while the AWR-8210 was an 11b router, and so the theoretical increase in wireless throughput made the change stick - especially once RouterTech developed a custom firmware for the AR7WRD platform. The Solwise SAR600EW has a far better wireless range than the SWAMR, due in part to a much longer antenna. The manufacturer also has a strong physical presence in the UK, and my experience of dealing with the manufacturer was pleasant. These factors made moving from the SWAMR to the SAR600EW a no brainer.

3) What other routers have you considered and why you haven't bought these ones after all?
I looked at one or two AR7WRD routers, but there was no need to change from the Solwise. The AR7WRD platform is pretty standard and there isn't much to choose between routers based on this platform as far as the system board is concerned. Things that make a difference are the quality of the firmware, after-sales support, things like a better antenna, and price.

4) How is the router working with your computer? Does it meet your expectations? What are the good and the weak points?
The router works well with my hardware, and works perfectly fine under both Windows and Linux. This is more a firmware issue however. Some firmwares do not work well under Linux and some require Internet Explorer for configuration. Third party firmware support (RouterTech) is strong. The GPL source code to the firmware is freely available. With the RouterTech firmware, the SAR600EW does all I need it to do, and if I need it to do something else, I have the source code. These are it's strong points. I can't think of any weak point as far as the hardware is concerned.

5) Did you have any breakdowns, problems, hang - ups? What was the reason?
No breakdowns or hardware problems. Of course it was "bricked" a few times, when testing firmware snapshots under development - but this is hardly the fault of the router.

6) Can you rate of your router from 1 to 5? (1 = very poor, 5 = very good)
5

7) Final conclusions, general impressions? Would you recommend it to other users /companies?
The Solwise SAR600EW is a solid router that seems to be well supported by the manufacturer. The original series are supported by the RouterTech firmwares, and so users have a choice of firmware. I would definitely recommend it.

[eMuNiX]

Speedtouch ST546v5

1) Why have you / your company chosen this router? Because there is a DMT tool that allows you to fine tune your line and Alcatel chipsets are generally regarded to be better on longer lines.
2) Have you used any other routers? What kind of router did you use before
and why did you decide to change it? Many 3com, SMC, Origo, Safecom. The first 2 died, the Origo was old technology and replaced with an ADSL2+ capable Safecom SART2-4115
3) What other routers have you considered and why you haven't bought these
ones after all? Have considered a Netgear DG834GT or DG834Gv3, my mother in law has one and it is rock solid compared to both of my routers, excellent wireless range too
4) How is the router working with your computer? Does it meet your
expectations? What are the good and the weak points? Despite it being an Alcatel chipset this router is not very stable at all on my line
5) Did you have any breakdowns, problems, hang - ups? What was the reason? continual line drops due to a noisy line
6) Can you rate of your router from 1 to 5? (1 = very poor, 5 = very good) 2 nice looking interface but no configuration options
7) Final conclusions, general impressions? Would you recommend it to other
users /companies? yes because the DMT tool does allow for lots of tweeking, no because it is not very configurable or stable

Safecom SART2-4115

1) Why have you / your company chosen this router? Cheap and my Origo ASR8100 never let me down
2) Have you used any other routers? What kind of router did you use before
and why did you decide to change it? see above
3) What other routers have you considered and why you haven't bought these
ones after all? see above
4) How is the router working with your computer? Does it meet your
expectations? What are the good and the weak points? With Routertech firmware it is much more stable with P2P software. It is also much more stable than the Speedtouch router on my line
5) Did you have any breakdowns, problems, hang - ups? What was the reason? often prone to ‘hanging’ when not in use needing a reboot to clear (possibly a hardware problem)
6) Can you rate of your router from 1 to 5? (1 = very poor, 5 = very good) 3 a basic router that performs quite well
7) Final conclusions, general impressions? Would you recommend it to other
users /companies? yes, for less than £30 it is a bargain

[studioeng]

Safecom SWAMR-54108/54125

1) Why have you / your company chosen this router?

At the time; I chose this router as it was the best product for the amount it cost; it had all the features I needed at the time, and moving from a wired to wireless solution it was a quick cheap option.

2) Have you used any other routers? What kind of router did you use before and why did you decide to change it?

Yes, after my purchase of the SWAMR, I have worked with other routers; such as the KCorp, 3Com and TrendNET they all seem to function well; but they don't have the same user base as the AR7WRD hardware. With the RouterTech firmware, the router got alot better; more reliable and stable.

My first router was a Dynamode R-ADSL-C4 wired ADSL modem router; I changed the router to the SWAMR for an all-in-one wireless solution.

3) What other routers have you considered and why you haven't bought these ones after all?

I did consider one of the Netgear DG834 routers; but after reading up on them in various media's and learning that they sometimes do not like heavy traffic or lots of concurrent connections I was put off; and looked elsewhere. Although on reflection, it was only down to the firmware installed on the router and not the hardware itself as these also use the AR7WRD board.

4) How is the router working with your computer? Does it meet your
expectations? What are the good and the weak points?

Now after installing the RouterTech firmware it works flawlessly on both Windows and Linux operating systems; even the new Windows Vista does not seem to effect the router in anyway.

With the userbase that this hardware now has; with each new release it just gets better and more functional. There is no bad points to the hardware in the SWAMR; I think the only bad point was the original firmware which was installed by the manufacturers; and unfortunately the support given by the manufacturers was poor to say the least.

5) Did you have any breakdowns, problems, hang - ups? What was the reason?

With the original manufacturers firmware my connection would not last more than a week; a frequent reboot of the router was needed to get it working again; but after the install of the RouterTech firmware I have not had one problem; and my highest uptime was over 30 days (at time of writting).

6) Can you rate of your router from 1 to 5? (1 = very poor, 5 = very good)

5

7) Final conclusions, general impressions? Would you recommend it to other users /companies?

The hardware has performed very well over the few years I have had it, and I am sure that I will use the SWAMR for some time to come; with the wireless turbo features you can still reach 125mbps so there is no real need to change in the near future.

I would recommend the hardware to other users; but I would also recommend they move over to the RouterTech firmware; as this would open up the true potential of the router and improve its reliablity and stability.

[SyBorg]

Safecom SWAMR-54125

1) Why have you / your company chosen this router?

I was getting annoyed with my previous router at the same time that I joined the forum here. When it was clear that I could have more fun playing with the RT firmware I went and bought a router to put it on.

2) Have you used any other routers? What kind of router did you use before and why did you decide to change it?

I had an Origo ASR-8400 for a while that fully met my needs (although that also didn't have the makers firmware on it). For a while I was using that router with a dlink AP to get wireless. I moved to a Billion 7402VGP to play around with the built in VoIP features, the wireless capability and the ADSL2+ future proofing. The Billion was not good though, with many bugs relating to the VoIP and wireless signal strength (at least on the firmwares that I tried up until I replaced it).

3) What other routers have you considered and why you haven't bought these ones after all?

I was only interested in getting a router that would run the RT firmware so I chose the cheapest on ebuyer that met the requirements.

4) How is the router working with your computer? Does it meet your
expectations? What are the good and the weak points?

The hardware meets all my needs now. This is due largely to the RT firmware which has significantly improved on the vendor delivered solution. I've tried a variety of OS platforms, cable connections, wireless etc and not had any reasons to regret the decision to buy it.

5) Did you have any breakdowns, problems, hang - ups? What was the reason?

Memory handling appears to be an occasional gripe on this hardware. With the RT firmware in place I can schedule jobs to optimise the RAM, reboot the router if the WAN fails and to report the DSL signal margins to the log for line monitoring. With all this in place I have a rock-solid router on my slightly wobbly ADSL line

6) Can you rate of your router from 1 to 5? (1 = very poor, 5 = very good)

5

7) Final conclusions, general impressions? Would you recommend it to other users /companies?

The combination of hardware and firmware give a very cheap, feature ritch platform which should meet the needs of most users.

[melat0nin]

Safecom SART/GART-4115

1) Why have you / your company chosen this router?
It was cheap and seemed well featured for the money
2) Have you used any other routers? What kind of router did you use before
and why did you decide to change it?
First router so n/a
3) What other routers have you considered and why you haven't bought these
ones after all?
n/a
4) How is the router working with your computer? Does it meet your
expectations? What are the good and the weak points?
Works well with RT firmware, before I moved over the router was terribly unstable. Would crash 5-6 times a week; couldn't handle online gaming or p2p with more than one client in use simultaneously. In short, it was awful. The RT version is much, much better, although sometimes it does flake out (when too much p2p is going on) and it's very difficult to diagnose problems or know what to tweak to improve things. Lack of RAM in the router is an obvious handicap.
5) Did you have any breakdowns, problems, hang - ups? What was the reason?
Occasional crashes, usually when disconnecting/reconnecting the router to get onto a better ISP server/switch. Otherwise very solid, uptime well into the hundreds of hours.
6) Can you rate of your router from 1 to 5? (1 = very poor, 5 = very good)
A solid 4.5.
7) Final conclusions, general impressions? Would you recommend it to other
users /companies?
Recommended for home use - very simple but solid router with the RT firmware, and it was dirt cheap (~£20). Couldn't ask for more at that price. Some of the features are somewhat redundant when the router doesn't have the power to properly use them (e.g. uPnP, SNMP, IP Account etc.) which is a bit disappointing. For all the basics it is perfectly adequate and secure (seemingly decent NAT and firewall support), although for new users, the lack of good uPnP support could be a problem. Works well with Linux and Windows, good LAN transfer speeds and very streamlined once it has been optimised (turning off the features mentioned above).

edit: typos

[hanabi]

thanks guys for giving your opinions!! they are really great!
waiting for more!


Piotr Musiał

www.hakin9.org/en

[Alan]

DRAYTEK 2800G

1) Why have you / your company chosen this router?
Needed A router that I could manage bandwidth between my LAN clients, and wouldn't lock up with 5 users using P2P.
2) Have you used any other routers? What kind of router did you use before and why did you decide to change it?
Origo 7210 and Safecome SWAMR-5410. Changed the Origo because it was old wireless technology. Changed the SWAMR because it was very bad at holding a stable connection once I moved over to ADSLMAX. (This is my backup now, and with the RT firmware he holds sync a lot more reliably) And UPNP never worked on it.
3) What other routers have you considered and why you haven't bought these
ones after all?
Zyxel Prestige 660HW, Linksys, Solwise.
4) How is the router working with your computer? Does it meet your
expectations? What are the good and the weak points?
The router is rock solid, will go for months without having to re-boot. has 2 tweaking tools built into the firmware for tinkering with your SNR margin. These are done at the command line so not very friendly for most users.
5) Did you have any breakdowns, problems, hang - ups? What was the reason? No breakdown. Stock firmware did not give a stable connection, this has been improved with later firmwares.
6) Can you rate of your router from 1 to 5? (1 = very poor, 5 = very good)
5
7) Final conclusions, general impressions? Would you recommend it to other
users /companies?
Yes would recommend this router, however not to a normal home user, there are far to many featurs on this router for most home users, unless like me you like playing. First class router for business use.

[hanabi]

havve anice Easter everyone

Piotr Musiał

www.hakin9.org/en

[Liberator]

Router: Safecom SWART2-54125 (eBuyer GURU with a GART2-4115 sticker even though its 4-Port WiFi)

1) Why have you / your company chosen this router?
Cheap and with an active Open Source developer support base. I also like having telnet access to my network devices.

2) Have you used any other routers? What kind of router did you use before and why did you decide to change it?
Solwise SAR715PV - I loved it, its paranoid firewall was great, after a lightening storm it wouldn't sync to the ADSL line, took it apart and found that one of the IC's on the modem circuit had blown apart and its no longer available from Solwise.

3) What other routers have you considered and why you haven't bought these ones after all?
Heard bad things about the cheaper D-Link WiFi modems and went for a cheaper generic option with an active support community.

4) How is the router working with your computer? Does it meet your expectations? What are the good and the weak points?
Works fine, I haven't really played with it as much as the SAR715PV, but the RouterTech firmware is friendly and doesn't need much reconfiguration. Regularly has 4+ hosts running through it with no problems.

5) Did you have any breakdowns, problems, hang - ups? What was the reason?
I had some problems originally when I decided to enable SNMP monitoring, this was on an early firmware version and it was only because I like messing. The router would hang after a time, I put this down to the internal logs filling up and hanging the router. Since then I haven't bothered with SNMP and it never hangs even though its up 24/7.

6) Can you rate of your router from 1 to 5? (1 = very poor, 5 = very good)
5


7) Final conclusions, general impressions? Would you recommend it to other users /companies?
Its not a professional piece of kit, but I would and have recommend it to techies and technophobes alike as a simple to configure, but tweakable (if you want to), box with a solid user support base and full features. Also gives a 100% stealth result on a GRC.COM shields-up test straight out of the box.

[Shotokan101]

Safecom SWAMRU-54108/54125 + SWBRU-54108 in WDS Configuration

1) Why have you / your company chosen this router?

I was looking to extend my home network which was a single PC on a Connexant Router (non-wireless) to include my two childrens PCs via wireless. As I live in an older property with thick internal walls I couldn't get wireless reception with a single wireless Access Poit downstairs so I added a SWBRU-54108 which I could bridge to the SWAMRU-54108.

I chose the Safecom Units at the time because they were by far the best value for mone units which met my requirements and they had an extremely active and well supported support forum.


2) Have you used any other routers? What kind of router did you use before and why did you decide to change it?

Yes, as noted above I have previously used a Connexant Clone Router (Trust Manufacturer) and changed it to add wireless connectivity at home.


3) What other routers have you considered and why you haven't bought these ones after all?


I considered various other wireless router and Access Point solutions from Linksys and Netgear and D-Link but I couldn't get the same "value for money" ratio from them for similar hardware as I could get for the Safecom branded units.


4) How is the router working with your computer? Does it meet your
expectations? What are the good and the weak points?

The router/Bridged Router combo has served me well for the past two years but I recently have upgraded to a Solwise SAR-600EW Wireless ADSL2/2+ Wireless router in combination with some Solwise Homepluh - Ethernet Over Power Adapters - due to increasingly poor wireless reception in my area due to several neighbours adopting wireless routers.

Good Points - Cheap - well made - reliable - good firmware support (initially while current models) - good tech forum support (for a while) - very good feature list

Bad Points - proprietary (non open source) firmware - poor firmware support after model no longer current - abyssmal forum tech support after a period of time as Tech resources (who were non safecom/adsltech staff) left forum and were not replaced.


5) Did you have any breakdowns, problems, hang - ups? What was the reason?

NO real problems other than lack of support for anything other than WEP wireless encryption when wirelessly bridged to the SWBRU - despite both units supporting WPA-PSK encryption....


6) Can you rate of your router from 1 to 5? (1 = very poor, 5 = very good)

5


7) Final conclusions, general impressions? Would you recommend it to other users /companies?

The hardware has performed very well over the few years I have had it. As the hardware is now a couple of years old I would hesitate to recommend it [other than to a potential purchaser of my units ] and instead I would recommend an AR7 BASED ROUTER SO THAT THEY COULD TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE Excellent 3rd Party RouterTech Firmware which would no doubt be more stable and functional than the Manufacturer supplied Firmware.

[Simon]

D-LINK DSL-G604T

1) Why have you / your company chosen this router?
My previous router blew up in the hot weather last summer, and the D-Link was the only wireless modem/router available in PCWorld.

2) Have you used any other routers? What kind of router did you use before and why did you decide to change it?
The one that overheated was a Belkin. Prior to that, a NetGear which also died after about a year's constant use.

3) What other routers have you considered and why you haven't bought these ones after all?
As stated in (1), there was a choice of 1 in the local PC World. However, I would probably have avoided Belkin and NetGear on reliability grounds, had they been available.

4) How is the router working with your computer? Does it meet your expectations? What are the good and the weak points?
Working fine, with a small wired/wireless network of up to 5 PCs running Windows XP, with an ADSL1 2 Meg connection. I access my network from work, and very occasionally the router has lost its WAN connection and I have therefore been unable to connect. The RouterTech GPL firmware offers a solution to this (reboot router on loss of WAN) which will prove really useful.

5) Did you have any breakdowns, problems, hang - ups? What was the reason?
No. The D-Link firmware, however, seems rather weak and featureless in comparison with the RouterTech version.

6) Can you rate of your router from 1 to 5? (1 = very poor, 5 = very good)
5

7) Final conclusions, general impressions? Would you recommend it to other users /companies?
This router has been in constant use for almost a year and has served my needs well. It's actually discontinued now, but I would still recommend it.

[micronanopico]

Router: Safecom GART2-4112

1) Why have you / your company chosen this router?
Cheap price, reliability and open-source firmware alternatives.
I preferred a wired router because of the added security.
I also wanted it to have only 1 port, because I have a separate
8-port switch.

2) Have you used any other routers? What kind of router did you use before and why did you decide to change it?
Yes, a Safecom SAMR-4110.
It was falling over after approx. 10 days uptime. The only way
around that was to use a 7-day digital timer to power cycle it for one
minute once a week.

3) What other routers have you considered and why you haven't bought these ones after all?
Was looking at Draytek routers but I found their price excessive for
my needs and wallet.

4) How is the router working with your computer? Does it meet your
expectations? What are the good and the weak points?
Seems to be running ok so far with Routertech's 2.2 firmware.
The good point is DDNS support.
The weak point is lack of loopback capability.

5) Did you have any breakdowns, problems, hang - ups? What was the reason?
Yes, the router seems to be temperamental when first powered on.
Things just don't always work as expected, but after that it seems to be very stable.

6) Can you rate of your router from 1 to 5? (1 = very poor, 5 = very good)
I would it give a 4.5.

7) Final conclusions, general impressions? Would you recommend it to other users /companies?
Have recommended it to friends and family - they are happy as well.
For the price of 14.99 quid, it was one great buy!

[Robsnow]

SOLWISE SAR-600E

1) Why have you / your company chosen this router?
Suggested by ISP (Kingston Communications).

2) Have you used any other routers? What kind of router did you use before
and why did you decide to change it?
This is my first router.

3) What other routers have you considered and why you haven't bought these
ones after all?
Did not consider any others - went with suggested make and model.

4) How is the router working with your computer? Does it meet your
expectations? What are the good and the weak points?
Connected to PC via LAN / Homeplug technology; no problems at all connecting this way.
It's reliable as far as I can tell, the only problem encountered so far was due to the telephone line (see (5)).
Weak point would be the supplied firmware. The RouterTech firmware allows for a better set up and can run cron jobs to keep the limited memory clean.

5) Did you have any breakdowns, problems, hang - ups? What was the reason?
Would not stay sync'd to ADSL; would lose sync every 5 minutes or so. Investigations showed it was a combination of noisy extensions and the telephone line bell wire. Now this has been fixed the router has remained in sync for over ten days now. The RouterTech firmware has improved the response too.

6) Can you rate your router from 1 to 5? (1 = very poor, 5 = very good)
5

7) Final conclusions, general impressions? Would you recommend it to other
users /companies?
I would recommend the router, especially with the RouterTech firmware.

[Barry Mung]

Netgear wpn824.

1. Good reputation,reccomended by many. Good support.

2. Had a netgear before (adsl) but changed to cable as faster. Belkins before, but limited support, 2 blew up, had a 3-com buisness connect in between but tiscali didn't support it as thought it was a buisness line not domestic. Superb functions and interface though.

3. Was told to stay away from linksys, thats about it really.

4. Works fine, don't know its there really. Wireless is excelent, reaches parts of my massive house others wouldn't I believe.

5. None to report yet.

6. 5.

7. Seems to be the most reliable yet, although first with cable, so no conclusions really to be made. As said before, wireless range exceeds anything else I've had. No hackers (wireless) have succeeded in breaking in. (Yet.)