Which firmware for gigabit speeds?

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kaw700zn
kaw700zn's picture
Which firmware for gigabit speeds?

I have R7000 running recent DD-WRT. I am aware that currently gigabit speed cannot be achived with DD-WRT due to firmware limitations. I would switch back to Netgear firmware but for some reason their DHCP is spotty on my network (I reproduced the same issue with different Netgear router model). Would Tomato be any faster? With Netgear firmware I get 960 Mbps with DD-WRT I get about 300 (ethernet). What would I get with Tomato?

Thanks!

AJ

Aztecface
Aztecface's picture
AJ, I wonder if this is a

AJ, I wonder if this is a common problem or if this only affects you?

kaw700zn
kaw700zn's picture
i doubt it is a common

i doubt it is a common problem. Less technically people would riot :-)

microchip
microchip's picture
DD-WRT uses a different, and

DD-WRT uses a different, and much up-to-date Linux kernel and Broadcom's CTF hardware acceleration is not compatible with it as it's closed source and only targeted at a specific kernel Broadcom supplies to its router manufacturers.

Tomato just takes whatever Broadcom provides (including CTF) and builds a router environment around it. It is the only open source firmware that offers hardware acceleration (CTF) so yes, you'll be able to reach close to Gbps speeds

kaw700zn
kaw700zn's picture
Microchip, thank you so much

Microchip, thank you so much for your reply. Hopefully Tomato fixes the issues I am seeing. I'll keep you posted...

microchip
microchip's picture
Note that some features like

Note that some features like QoS are not compatible with CTF. If you use them, CTF will be auto-disabled and you won't reach close to Gbps speeds. This is not a Tomato issue as it's the same on all vendor firmwares as well. 

kaw700zn
kaw700zn's picture
So, I installed Tomato by

So, I installed Tomato by Shibby 1.28 AIO. I am running default settings and getting only 300 Mbps. With original firmware I was getting around 960. Any suggestions? Is there any configuration I need to work with? I did not touch QoS.

microchip
microchip's picture
By default, CTF is disable.

By default, CTF is disable. Enable it in Advanced -> Miscalleneous. You may need to reboot the device, if it doesn't reboot on its own

kaw700zn
kaw700zn's picture
Thank you so much microchip.

Thank you so much microchip. You saved me $300! I was so sick of messing around with the router and different options that I went and bought a different router. I turned on CTF and now my router is screaming. The new router goes back to the store.

To highjack my own thread. Where can I find some good documentation on tuning my router with Tomato? Specifically wireless signal but I want to check out some other features.

microchip
microchip's picture
Tuning wireless can actually

Tuning wireless can actually be pretty hard as it depends on so many factors that need to be taken into consideration. For starters, scan your environment and see how many braodcasters there are. Then see which channel gets the least used and use it. Also try to place your router in a central position and away from places which can cause too much interference (like many electronic devices around). If you have a big place and the router can't cover it all, you may need to place APs around

 

As for settings, these are the ones that give me both good throughput (up to 50 Mbps on my phone, which supports max of 72 Mbps) and range. Most notable are setting country to Anguilla and transmit power to 84 mW. This is actually the driver's maximum transmit power (you can see it if you telnet/ssh into the router and do a "wl | grep txpwr") so don't get fooled by the GUI that it can go up to 400 mW.

 

2.4GHz: https://owncloud.teambelgium.net/index.php/s/9DD0wvfgqDUXz1u

 

5GHz: https://owncloud.teambelgium.net/index.php/s/jFzhd1kOEzqBfPu

microchip
microchip's picture
And to answer your other

And to answer your other question, these are the recommended forums you can lears a lot about not just Tomato

 

LinksysInfo http://www.linksysinfo.org/index.php

 

SmallNetBuilder: http://www.snbforums.com/forums/

 

When it comes to Tomato alone, there's isn't really a central place about all of it, but the LinksysInfo forum above is one of the best place for it. Shibby also posts there too ;)

microchip
microchip's picture
Just found this site: https:/

Just found this site: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Tomato_Firmware/Menu_Reference

 

it's a bit outdated, but it's the best I could find explaining virtually all of Tomato's options

Phochiom
Phochiom's picture
I'm curious as to why you

I'm curious as to why you chose 1.28 instead of the latest 1.36. Any particular reason?

Currently I'm running DD-WRT on my R7000:

Firmware Version

DD-WRT v3.0-r29620M kongac (05/10/16)

Kernel Version

Linux 3.10.101 #15 SMP Tue May 10 00:09:18 CEST 2016 armv7l

Uptime    40 days, 14:09 

My ISP speeds are 200/12, so not gigabit, but happy with stability.

May try tomatousb by shibby in the future.

microchip
microchip's picture
@Phochiom

@Phochiom

was this directed at me? If so, I'm on 136 by Shibby

Phochiom
Phochiom's picture
Hi microchip

Hi microchip

It was directed to kaw700zn, but thanks for your reply. Good to know that people are updating to the newest firmware.

BTW @microchip, how did you find the upgrade process in tomatousb? In DD-WRT kong, it's as simple as ddup --flash-latest from ssh client, no need to erase nvram and re-configuerin from scratch. I find this very convenient to keep up to date.

microchip
microchip's picture
I think kaw700zn just saw the

I think kaw700zn just saw the version on the banner which says 1.28. All Shibby releases carry that version as it comes from the last Tomato released. To get the real Shibby version, you'd need to go look at the About page.

 

As for upgrading, it's very easy. You go to the upgrade page, load up the firmware file and let Tomato flash it by clicking the Upgrade button. That's all. Unless Shibby specifically mentions in his ChangeLog that an NVRAM erase is necessary, you don't have to do it each time you upgrade. I've never had problems so far when upgrading and not doing an NVRAM erase (knock on wood)

kaw700zn
kaw700zn's picture
Microchip was right again . I

Microchip was right again smiley. I am using version 136. I saw banner reading 1.28. Evrything is running great now.

I tried Microchip's settings for wifi and that did not work well. But I simply just brought back to my settings and that is acceptable. I didn't have time to tune it again. I also setup Open VPN server. It is working great!

microchip
microchip's picture
@kaw700zn

@kaw700zn

if you can't get the desired range out of the R7000, you can also try XWRT Vortex. It's basically ASUSWRT-Merlin "ported" to the R7000 (and a few other routers). I used to use it in the past and it has good range. I moved to Tomato because I needed an easy way to set up VLANs and Guest Network with bandwidth limiting.

microchip
microchip's picture
To add to the above, yes XWRT

To add to the above, yes XWRT has hardware acceleration so you'll reach your Gbps speed with no issues

kaw700zn
kaw700zn's picture
My wireless is already

My wireless is already acceptible speeds and range. I am sure once I have time I should be able to tweak it even more. I am happy with current setup. My needs were Gbps and VPN. So far so good. Next thing will be NAS.

luikiedook
luikiedook's picture
Does turning on CTF limit

Does turning on CTF limit functionality such as Access restrictions or port forwarding?  

Ideally I have 1 server on my network that I need port forwarding AND gigabit. 

Other clients I want to utilize access restrictions but don't care about gigabit. 

I still want all clients including my server on the same vLAN.

It sounds like Tomato on the R7000 will meet these requirements.