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Latvia, Riga
1 Level
711 Review
50 Karma

Review on πŸ“Ά Boost Wi-Fi Performance with Buffalo AirStation HighPower N300 DD-WRT Router (WHR-300HP) by Chris Lapan

Revainrating 3 out of 5

Good for casual browsing but terrible P2P support

I've been using this router extensively for the past 3 months. Here are my thoughts: 1. Pretty straight forward at first. There is a proprietary automated Buffalo initial setup wizard that is easy to get up and running for 95% of users. I think this is a smart move by Buffalo as it keeps non-techies away from some DD-WRT overclocking tweaks that can break a router pretty quickly over time (about a month). The wireless radio actually achieves a pretty good range with the default signal level of 20dB. Tried at 25db and 30db, 20db seems to be the max. However, with 20 dB it covers the spectrum excellently. The radio in my Roku wasn't working very well. I had to keep resetting Roku. My Roku doesn't have this issue with other routers using the same encryption type and 2.4.4 frequency. It stops working and needs to be restarted when it reaches about 150 concurrent P2P TCP connections. This is bad news for people who use games based on the P2P network (i.e. PS3 Home and I suspect downloading PS4 games, although this technology has not yet been technically described) which is similar to the technology used by torrents is. Setting the IP filter setting described in the following link did not fix the issue: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Router_Slowdown5. It does have DD-WRT, but not "all" features. In particular, there is no repeater-bridge mode that allows the router to bridge both a wired wireless hub and a wireless repeater/extender at the same time. This was one of the important features introduced in DD-WRT v24 and is missing from the Buffalo build for this router. What I did: I ended up using my old router, which this router was meant to replace. I went back to my flashed Linksys e2000 DD-WRT: 8-1&keywords=linksys+e2000 By comparison, I was able to boot my e2000 Ubuntu 12.04 in about 6 minutes via a wired connection. On the WHR-300HP it stopped twice and only loaded the image after I set the maximum number of connections to 100 in my software client. After I did that, it started up in about 11 minutes. To put it in perspective, the e2000 could handle over 300 simultaneous connections without being intercepted. So I made my e2000 my primary router again and am using this WHR-300HP as a wired and wireless bridge for my PS3; Basically I'm upgrading the PS3's wireless connection from G to N. Please note, like I said, although it's bridged, it can't double as a wireless repeater like most people would expect DD-WRT; For example, I used my e2000 as a WLAN bridge and repeater at the same time. You can use the WHR-300HP as a bridge or repeater, but not both. At least, if possible, the method eluded me long enough to abandon it. Despite all that, I'm still looking for a decent 300Mbps DD-WRT WiFi router. The e2000 has a maximum speed of 150 Mbit/s, although it is constantly connected at high speed even from a distance. The WHR-300HP doesn't meet my basic routing needs, but does a good job of wirelessly connecting my PS3 to my e2000; although I suspect most casual internet users will like the WHR-300HP for its good range.

Pros
  • Easy setup wizard
Cons
  • Makes me nervous