DD-WRT Routers

What is a DD-WRT router?

DD-WRT is a type of firmware, or operating system, for routers. Similar to how computers need an operating system such as Windows, Linux, or MacOS, and so do routers. If you use the router that come from your ISP, it’s likely to have basic stock firmware with no special features and won’t be upgradeable. Whereas if you buy a more advanced router, you will be able to upgrade the firmware to on of your choosing, such as DD-WRT.

If you buy your own router from a company such as Netgear, Linksys, or Asus, you’ll usually have their firmware pre-installed. This factory firmware is usually better than what comes on your ISP’s router, and should give you access to some more advanced features such as VPN capability so you can connect to your VPN directly through the router. A custom firmware such as DD-WRT or SabaiOS, however, will give you far greater control and setup options.

Why upgrade to a DD-WRT router?

There are several benefits of upgrading to a DD-WRT. If you want advanced control over your network, but don’t have a computer science degree, then DD-WRT could be just the thing you’re looking for.

OpenVPN on DD-WRT

One of the most popular uses of DD-WRT for the home network is VPN. Installing a VPN on your router allows you to connect all your internet devices to a single VPN tunnel. This gives you privacy across the network thanks to the VPN’s encryption, and allows you to connect even non-VPN compliant devices. Thanks to the VPN, any device on your network can access geo-blocked content such as BBC iPlayer, Netflix, and blocked YouTube videos.

We recommend only connecting via OpenVPN whenever possible, as it provides the most privacy.

Now, Installing a VPN on a DD-WRT router is slightly more complicated than it is on computer or phone, because most VPN companies have their own VPN app, although even on DD-WRT it’s not that difficult. A DD-WRT router doesn’t actually have a VPN built into it, so you’ll still need to subscribe to a VPN provider. If you haven’t done so already, check our article on how to choose a VPN provider.

Quality of Service (QoS)

QoS is a set of instructions you can give to your router to divide the available bandwidth between devices and applications. By setting your QoS rules on your DD-WRT router, you can make sure your online gaming isn’t interrupted by someone watching YouTube in another room, or that your housemate doesn’t slow down the internet for everyone by downloading entire seasons of HD video.

QoS is simple to set up in the DD-WRT interface, but you should make sure you accurately test the actual speed of your internet before setting any values, rather than relying on what your ISP told you.

It’s possible to set up QoS in various ways such as prioritizing certain devices so you always know your main computer will get the fastest connection, or specifically limiting guest devices. You an also prioritize or limit apps or services such as Netflix, YouTube, or Bittorrent clients.

Network Attached Storage (NAS)

One of the great features of most upgraded firmwares, DD-WRT included, is the ability to hook up an external hard-drive to the router so it can be accessed via WiFi. This is awesome if you have a massive music collection on a hard-drive and a network player in your hifi, or loads of movies that take up too much storage on your computer.

A DD-WRT NAS will allow you to download files from the internet directly to your external hard-drive, which you can just leave connected to your router and forget about. Then whenever you want to access those files, simply navigate to the drive’s folder.

This option is especially useful for keeping regular backups of your system and documents (which you should be doing). You can schedule your PC to run a full backup of all your files and settings so even if your computer suffers catastrophic failure, you won’t lose that report you’ve been working on for the past 4 days.

Overclocking

Just like with your PC, you can overclock your DD-WRT router so it performs faster. Overclocking a DD-WRT router can cause it to overheat and stop working, so this feature should be used very carefully.

Now, overclocking can seriously increase the speed of your router, so if you’re short on cash but need something very powerful, then you could try this, but we generally advise against it, especially if you can buy a more powerful router in the first place.

Remote Access

You can connect to your DD-WRT router from anywhere in the world if you want to access your NAS or just use your home IP to connect to the internet. It takes a bit of setting up, and you need to be careful that you’re using strong enough security measures so as not to just open up your entire network to hackers, but if you travel around a lot and need access to your home network, or even want to watch movies from your NAS whilst at a friend’s house, then this feature can be pretty handy.

Which is the best dd-wrt router?

We stock a range of DD-WRT routers, and deciding which is best for you will come down to a variety of factors including price, size of your home, and what online services you use. We’ve created a guide to choosing a SabaiOS VPN router, but since it mostly focuses on the hardware, most of the information translates to DD-WRT.