ASUS RT-N16 router

23 Jun 2010

I recently picked up an ASUS RT-N16 router. It has a 4 port gigabit switch, 2 USB 2.0 ports and an 802.11n 2.4GHz (only!) radio. While the radio is not ideal (there is no 5GHz), I think this a nice upgrade to the Linksys WRT54GS v2 I’ve been using for the past 5-6 years.

This router runs a tomato mod, of course. So far, things are working great. I’ll update this post if I discover any problems. Sadly, this tomato mod doesn’t contain the MLPPP modification to bypass Bell’s DSL throttling in Canada.

Wireless performance

Local WLAN (ThinkPad x61 tablet with Intel 4965 abgn card) to LAN connected machine is roughly 7-9.5MB/s, up from 2.5 MB/s. Not earth shattering, but a very nice improvement. There’s quite a bit of interference around, and since this is a 2.4GHz only radio, this is to be expected. If only ASUS had shipped this thing with a 5GHz radio… and I had a new Intel n card =).

Notes on router hardware choices

Ideally, I’d like to find something with USB, gigabit switch, dual radios in 2.4GHz and 5GHz, while running tomato. As I write this, I don’t think there’s a tomato firmware that has dual band support - yet.

I would really only consider something that runs tomato. I’ve had stability problems with dd-wrt. The Linksys WRT320N is a 2.4GHz or 5GHz (single radio, operates in either mode but not simultaneously) router, and the Linksys WRT610N has a gigabit switch as well as dual radios operating in 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Sadly, people only seem to be running dd-wrt on these, which is a deal breaker for me.

So for now, the massive amount of RAM (128MB) and fast CPU in this ASUS router make it my replacement of my Linksys WRT54GSv2/WRT54GL. All things considered, it’s a nice upgrade as not all my machines have radios that support 3 wireless-n streams yet (like the Intel 5300).

Hardware specifications

• from http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Asus_RT-N16
• Stock Power Supply = 12V - 1,25A max
• Ethernet Ports = WAN x 1 RJ-45 for 10/100/1000 Base T, LAN x 4 RJ-45 for 10/100/1000 Base T
• Antennas = 3 x external detachable antennas
• USB ports = USB2.0 x 2
• WiFi Operating Frequency = 2.4GHz ~ 2.5GHz
• 802.11n Draft = up to 300Mbps
• 802.11g = 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 54Mbps
• 802.11b = 1, 2, 5.5, 11Mbps
• Unit RAM = 128 MB (2x 64Mb - Samsung K4N511163QZ-HC25)
• Unit Flash = 32 Mb (MACRONIX MX29GL256EHTI2I-90Q)
• Unit CPU = Broadcom4718A, 533 MHz (Factory clocked to 480MHz)
• Unit Switch Chip = Broadcom BCM53115SKFBG
• Color of LEDs = Blue

Firmware

• I logged into the ASUS firmware, fed it the dd-wrt file below, then once that was done, upgraded to tomato.
• I flashed the latest dd-wrt firmware on the stock ASUS router via the web interface.
• Download/details: http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/downloads/others/eko/V24-K26/svn13491-snow/Asus/RT-N16/dd-wrt.v24-13491_NEWD-2_K2.6_mini_RT-N16.trx
• Then I flashed/upgraded to a tomato mod via the dd-wrt web interface and did a full reset/defaults of the router. I renamed the .trx to .bin so dd-wrt would accept it.
• Download/details: http://www.linksysinfo.org/forums/showthread.php?t=63587

You are able to rollback to dd-wrt, then flash the original ASUS firmware back - so there really isn’t any danger here. Give it a try and see if you like it. For myself, USB support is nice, but stability is king. Tomato is working well for me.

Custom settings

I made the following settings changes:

• In Basic Wireless
  • select Wireless Mode = Auto (default setting)
  • select Channel Width = 40 MHz
  • select Security = WPA2 Personal
  • select Security = AES
• In Advanced Wireless
  • select Transmission Rate = Auto (default setting)
  • select Country/Region = Japan (default setting to get 14 channels)
  • select WMM = Enable (not a default setting)
  • select 802.11n Preamble = Mixed Mode (default setting)
  • select transmit power = 39 mW (not a default setting, this is the same as 16dB)