Cubytus
join:2007-08-24
 ·Skype
·Vonage
 ·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Radioactif
| reply to Cubytus
Re: Most reliable and speedy variety of WRT54G for Toomato/MLPPP
Still in the topic about switching ISPs...
I just learned that Witopia.net offered a dirt cheap ($40/year) service to provide an OpenVPN service able to encrypt all your trafic to an unrestricted computer.
Well I know that most of the time a VPN service can seriously affect performance, but they provide a 30-day money back guarante if we're not satisfied. Seems solid to me.
Has anyone tried it? |
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Cubytus
join:2007-08-24
·Skype
·Vonage
·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Radioactif
| reply to HKPolice
Re: best router
Thx for the answer, although I already bought the WRT54GL and loaded it with Tomato/MLPPP 
The two other alternatives are a bit expensive, tough, and I wouldn't be able to take advantage of their advanced features, since I have no spare hard drive that can be used (Or I have to dismantle my computer!), and Tomato still doesn't support USB on it.
There exist the WL-500W, which is 802.11n draft compliant and has the same set of features as the 500g Premium, but is not supported by Tomato. Don't know why the developpers are lagging; I may have bought it as a current-generation router.
Isn't the WRT54GL overlockable also?
So far Tomato runs fine, available memory seems pretty low to me at about 13%, and load is presently very light (no WLAN, 2 PCs online but idle, very slow P2P (due to badly behaving DMZ) |
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HKPolice
join:2002-08-09
Scarborough, ON
·Look Communications
4 edits | reply to Cubytus
I've done a lot of research on linksys hardware and the wiki page says it all: »wiki.openwrt.org/TableOfHardware···edcffe0d
There are many different models of CPUs being used, and the fastest compatible with Tomato MLPPP currently is the 264Mhz BCM4704 in the WRTSL54GS or Asus WL-500G Premium. It can be overclocked to 300Mhz easily too.
There IS a difference between the various versions of routers even if they're all at 200Mhz because the CPUs they use are different models. The oldest is the BCM4710 which came clocked at 125Mhz, then the BCM4712 @ 200Mhz which is by far the most popular cpu. Then came the BCM5352 @ 200Mhz which should be faster than the 4712 clock for clock. There's also the BCM5354 @ 240Mhz but it's not officially supported by MLPPP Tomato because it requires the "ND" version.
I wish Tomato's developer would release a firmware capable of running the newer Wifi-N routers because they have a much faster cpu in them: the BCM4705 which has double the L1 cache + 4 or 5 times the prefetcher cache of the BCM4704. |
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Cubytus
join:2007-08-24
·Skype
·Vonage
·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Radioactif
1 edit | reply to Guspaz
Re: Most reliable and speedy variety of WRT54G for Toomato/MLPPP
Fine! Now I know Radioactif didn't lied!
But, to protest against such a request, one must first be aware of the proposal.
Here, I must join voices with globus999 who stated that ISPs, on the whole, didn't take any action to mobilize their customers toward the issue.
As for Purolator, I will check if it's available with NCIX, but don't think so. The main attraction toward UPS service was the advertised 3-days service, which is obviously not the case here. Bad capabilities, ineffective customer service. In fact, the Lachine main storage is always full of disgruntled customers. |
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Guspaz
Guspaz
Premium,MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC
·Colbanet
| reply to Cubytus
Purolator is very flexible and reliable, in my experience, at redirecting packages to where you need them to be.
I've also occasionally (but not always) been called by the Purolator driver asking to be let into my apartment when my buzzer didn't produce results (I was at the office, not at home). I appreciated that, even if it didn't help. |
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Guspaz
Guspaz
Premium,MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC | reply to Cubytus
The CRTC approved Videotron's $50 overage fee. It looks like nobody protested it when it was proposed, either. That might explain why the CRTC just went ahead and granted the request to raise it. |
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Cubytus
join:2007-08-24
·Skype
·Vonage
·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Radioactif
| reply to Cubytus
Time to rant again:
never EVER choose UPS as a delivery company, if you have a choice. Oh yes, the *package* will be in the delivery truck as said, in 2 to 3 business days, but they will systematically attempt to deliver it when you are at work.
If you change the adress to have your package at your office instead, they will try no further if they find a locked door, or an interphone, even if the number is given on file, and instead return to the storage.
Of course, ppl answering the phone will make no effort to help you, for example phoning the driver if he is still in the vicinity to tell him to wait a minute, enough for you to run with your ID papers to get it, even on Friday.
Because, of course, these incompetents do work 24/7, but won't give you YOUR package on non-business days, and will keep it in an inaccessible storage place.
And you will end up having prefered to use the traditional post. |
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Cubytus
join:2007-08-24 | reply to Guspaz
Oh, that's why third-party cable resellers are so expensive, and not so discounted compared to Vid's prices.
Isn't the CRTC suppopsed to regulate the tariffs? Seems so high.. |
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Guspaz
Guspaz
Premium,MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC
·Colbanet
| reply to Cubytus
Bell charges, IIRC, $1300 for a GigE (might have been $1800, going on memory), so that's where the $1.30 per megabit comes from.
Cogent advertises prices as low as $4 per megabit (for transit, to the internet), but that was, IIRC, only on 10 gigabit on a 3 year contract. Their prices are as high as $9 per megabit for 10mbit commits and up with no contract. So their pricing is between $4 and $9 per megabit.
Videotron charges wholesalers $20 per line, and then has a $50 bandwidth overage cap. So effectively, Videotron charges the wholesalers $70 per line, since almost every customer would use more bandwidth than Videotron's 20GB cap. |
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Cubytus
join:2007-08-24
·Skype
·Vonage
·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Radioactif
| reply to Guspaz
Well, thanks for the enlightenment. I knew that someone in the chain did took way too much money. Seems it's still the Big Blue Shit. 1.3 megabit/s surely doesn't cost near to $1.30 with all those black fibers underground.
Just to know, you don't have the numbers for Video-trou wholesale division? Seems they are very high.
Oh yeah, time to RANT on-topic:
As the WRT54GL was the only router compatible and available for Tomato, I checked first on RedFlagDeals, then CanadaPrice to get the best deal. I went with the cheapest listed, NCIX.
I bought a WRT54GL late yesterday evening just before the special price of $52.99+tx would end.
The order went through...At $73 approximately, taxes and S&H included
Then I just received a link from a friend telling "déniaise si t'en veux un!". Same router, same store, at $39.99+tx, which makes a bit less than $60 w/S&H and tax. There was still 71 routers in stock.
I was pwnd by $13, T.B.RN.K!!!!! Really would have better put this money elsewhere!
Why is CanadaPrice unable to provide a given item's average price over time ? Is it so difficult to add this little function in their script? Holy crap what is this bunch of lazy bastards doin'? |
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Guspaz
Guspaz
Premium,MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC
·Colbanet
| reply to Cubytus
Actually, Acanac sells their $18.95 service at a loss. It costs them ~$25 per month to provide the service (~$20 of that alone goes to Bell).
They do this because they can leverage unused downstream bandwidth from their hosting company (Canaca), and because they hope enough people will remain customers after the one-year promotional rate is up to make a profit. Their normal rate after the first year is $34/mth, I believe.
Companies selling DSL service at $30 are working with a profit margin of maybe $5.
They pay Bell about $20 per line, and in the remaining $10, have to cover all other expenses. Those include staff salaries, office expenses (rent, heating, electricity, etc), equipment (routers, switches, servers, etc), connectivity ($1.30 per megabit to Bell), transit ($4-$10 per megabit to companies like Cogent), and so on.
So, for an ISP like TekSavvy, where we estimate they make at most $5-7 per customer on average, a user who does 320GB per month is losing them money. That's why TekSavvy had to raise the price of their Unlimited service (targeted at users who use over 300GB).
In short, we're not being overcharged for internet services by the wholesalers. The only place you might consider to be overpriced is what Bell charges the wholesalers for access to the telephone network, since that's where over two thirds of your monthly payment goes. |
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Cubytus
join:2007-08-24 | reply to Cubytus
Hi,
sdeems price isn't much of an ssue to you. Still waiting for Acanac's answer on their MLPPP support. At $18.95, it means they are still doing profits! Imagine how too much we pay for high speed! |
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Guspaz
Guspaz
Premium,MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC
·Colbanet
| reply to Cubytus
3x800=2.4 if somebody had three lines.
In random other news, my second line finally got hooked up. It's only 5 meg (other is 6), so I'm seeing 8.6 down and 1.3 up.
I've asked to get my 5 meg bumped up to 6 to match the other. it's not guaranteed that they'll be able to get it done, but it'd take me up to about 10.2/1.3 rather than 8.6/1.3. |
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Cubytus
join:2007-08-24
·Skype
·Vonage
·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Radioactif
| reply to Guspaz
Well, I heard about Velcom, but didn't got any feedback. As far as Acanac is concerned, it would have been my first choice since their price is so low I could even have rented 3 lines.
Last, you told in another post on the forum that you saw a "2.4" upstream link, was it simply a keyboard mistake? |
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Guspaz
Guspaz
Premium,MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC
·Colbanet
| reply to Cubytus
Only ISPs that I know that are confirmed to support MLPPP at this point in time are TekSavvy and Velcom. Somebody mentioned that ZiD supports it, but they resell Colba for 24mbit service (a huge strike against them in my book), and we have no confirmed cases of people successfully using MLPPP with them.
eBox and Acanac are both currently working on getting MLPPP support working, but don't have it at the current point in time. |
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Cubytus
join:2007-08-24 | reply to Guspaz
Well, that's the way I will go. Just looking for the cheapest brand new one oround there.
Now i still need to find an ISP that provides both no caps and supports MLPPP and is still cheap enough for me to rent 2 lines without getting ruined. |
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Guspaz
Guspaz
Premium,MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC
·Colbanet
| reply to Cubytus
Tomato (and most other custom firmwares with a few exceptions) will only run on WRT54GS equal to or before v4 (which had two antennas).
v1 through v3 of the WRT54GS featured 32MB of RAM and 16MB of flash. In practice, the RAM might be slightly useful, but the extra flash isn't. These versions have not been sold for many years now, and I don't recommend buying a used one.
v4 of the WRT54GS was identical in every way to the WRT54G v4 and the WRT54GL. They all have the same chipset, RAM, and flash.
As for clockspeed, other than v1 and v1.1 of the WRT54G (which ran at 125MHz), all models since (be they G, GS, or GL) run at 200MHz. The one exception was the G v3.1, but that was just Linksys overclocking to 216 in firmware to get around a race condition bug in their firmware; you can overclock any 200MHz router to 216 yourself if you want.
Seeing as how the G and GS are no longer sold in forms that are compatible with Tomato (only dd-wrt micro runs on them), and the GL is the only one still on sale, the choice is rather clear on this: get the GL. |
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Cubytus
join:2007-08-24 | reply to Cubytus
Well, back to the topic, what do you think about the WRT54GS ? It is supposed to contain a more powerful processor, and more RAM and Flash, but only one antenna. |
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Guspaz
Guspaz
Premium,MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC
·Colbanet
| reply to Cubytus
I'm a very satisfied Virgin Mobile customer.
My current prepaid plan is:
$20 - 200 anytime minutes
$10 - Unlimited local incoming minutes
$7 - Unlimited on-phone internet (I use the GMail and Opera Mini apps)
Plus the e911 fee and tax. |
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Cubytus
join:2007-08-24
·Skype
·Vonage
·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Radioactif
| reply to Guspaz
Well, glad to read this about the Buffalo. So far, I understand it's only *theoretically* supported, so i guess I will go with the WRT 54 GL.
As for the firewall, having everything on IPTABLES rules may seem very powerful, but I was never able to configure IPTABLES rules properly; they were too complex for me to understand/I was too stupid/lacked time to learn how a rule is written. Plus, when I tried that on my Ubuntu box through Firestarter, it screwed the whole system network functionalities.
But, if Tomato's default firewall interface sports the same kind of functionality as a standard router's one (say, allow incoming traffic on selected ports and redirect it to a given internal IP adress, block incoming port scans, have stealth mode as default), that would be good enough for me to start with.
As for your phone, you managed to find a decent plan for Internet access from a canadian carrier?? |
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