http://www.maximumpc.com|SEP 08 |MAMAMAXIMXIMXIMXIMUUUUMMPPPCC| 17
And the Winner Is...
N
ever considered switching from your router’s factory fi rmware?
All we can say is try it, you’ll like it! Tomato and DD-WRT are
both great solutions, even if Tomato is more limited in the devices
it supports. Both enable interesting, useful, and valuable features
that your router’s manufacturer didn’t think you were interested in
utilizing (or maybe just thought you weren’t entitled to).We’re not willing to limit ourselves to running an 802.11g
network, but that’s not the only reason we’re recommending
DD-WRT over Tomato. The ability to operate up to 16 WLANs on
a single router, each with a different SSID and separate encryp-
tion (or none at all, as the case may be), is a supremely useful
feature.ROUND 3
USER INTERFACE AND DOCUMENTATION
Tomato’s GUI is dead simple, but don’t
mistake its austerity for lack of sophisti-
cation. The interface is extremely easy to
navigate, and Tomato’s real-time charts
and graphs can provide visual feedback
on your tinkering. DD-WRT’s interface is
more complex, but that doesn’t necessar-
ily render it inferior to Tomato’s.
Tomato’s author has written an online
FAQ and a Readme fi le accompanies the
download, but the fi rmware itself doesn’t
have anything in the way of an integrated
Help system. That can be a problem if
you’re having an issue with the router
that’s preventing you from getting online to
fi nd that FAQ. We prefer DD-WRT’s (some-
what) context-sensitive help system, and
the authors have an excellent wiki.
WINNER: DD-WRTROUND 4
SPECIAL FEATURES
Both Tomato and DD-WRT offer a host of
special features that can greatly enhance
your router’s capabilities. DD-WRT,
however, offers two features that To-
mato doesn’t: support for XLink Kai and
the ability to operate up to 16 wireless
networks using a single router. If you
own an Xbox, PS2, or PS3, XLink Kai lets
you connect your system to your router
to play games over the Internet. The
ability to operate multiple independent
WLANs enables you to maintain a secure
primary network and create a second
network for wireless devices that don’t
support encryption.
WINNER: DD-WRTDD-WRT V
Free, http://www.dd-wrt.comKitchen (Mb/s) 23.6 24.3 22.
Patio (Mb/s) 23.2 23.6 23.
Bedroom (Mb/s) 15.9 18.7 13.
Media Room (Mb/s) 10.2 11.5 8.
Outdoors 1 (Mb/s) 7.2 8.1 8.
Outdoors 2 (Mb/s) 8.0 8.8 7.
Best scores are bolded. See http://tinyurl.com/yo8qa4 for detailed benchmark criteria.BENCHMARKS
(Native) (Native) (Native) Linksys Linksys Linksys (Native) WRT54GL Linksys Linksys Linksys (DD-WRT) (DD-WRT) (DD-WRT) (DD-WRT) WRT54GL^ (Tomato)Linksys Linksys (Tomato)Linksys (Tomato)(Tomato)WRT54GL