Rosewill RNX-GX4 Wireless-G Broadband Router / Open Source & DD-WRT Firmware support IEEE 802.3/3u, IEEE 802.11b/g

Pros: It supports DD-WRT! It's inexpensive!

Cons: No 802.11n.

Runs warm when you stack multiple units on top of each other. This problem happens when you stack the Linksys WRT54GL units, too, and they have a 5-egg rating.

I used a cheesy fix this week where I put a coffee cup on top of the bottom unit, and then I stacked the 2nd unit on top of the coffee cup. It's not one of my finer jobs, but it worked, and since the deployment was at a coffee house, it didn't look too strange.

Other Thoughts: The Rosewill RNX-GX4 is a rebranded NetCore NW618. The RNX-GX4 is nearly equivalent to the Linksys WRT54GL as far as horsepower, RAM, and Flash memory specifications are concerned. The wireless tweaker geeks say that the antennas on the WRT54GL are better for customization, though.

The RNX-GX4 is much easier to flash than the WRT54GL because you can flash with the Standard build, first, instead of having to start with the Mini build.

First, I flashed the unit with the following build: dd-wrt.v24_std_generic.bin (8/12/10)
Then I upgraded it to the following build: dd-wrt.v24_vpn_generic.bin (8/12/10)
Both builds can be obtained at the following link:
ftp://dd-wrt.com/others/eko/BrainSlayer-V24-preSP2/2010/08-12-10-r14929/broadcom/

I always use the DD-WRT VPN build so that I can configure OpenVPN to allow a remote VPN connection for my laptop so that I can tweak the router configuration or access other network resources if necessary.

Pros: Cheap, reliable, and good looking.

Cons: Management software has room for improvement.

Other Thoughts: Been buying these up for my clients; haven't heard a single complaint.

Pros: Setup quick and has never gone down. I setup a small retail business with 6 computers running off this router. A lot of file sharing between the computers (Quickbooks Point Of Sale) and no problems. 76% of the feedback is 4 or 5 stars.

Cons: It has been deactivated. Just when I a find a good router with a lot of good feedback from users at a great price, Newegg discontinues it.

Other Thoughts: I should have bought several of these.

Pros: Easy upgrade of firmware to DD-WRT. Made into a WAP to carry wireless signal further. (see Other Thoughts)

Cons: The box is 1/3 empty (or 2/3s full...) I may take a small saw to it to whittle it down to almost pocket-sized. Will also watch it for longevity. I thermal-pasted a heatsink onto the Broadcom chip even before I flashed it with new firmware. It does get pretty warm to the touch, so I'd hate to see how hot the chip would become without that $2 add-on.

Other Thoughts: I have it connected to a powerline adapter that feeds the signals to/from the main router at over 100Mbps. Since the PL adapter has only 1 ethernet plug, this box is plugged into it to provide an access point for multiple devices that are distant from the main router.

Pros: Very Inexpensive and easy to set up, well worth the pirce.

Cons: B/G, no N

Other Thoughts: I put this on a switch so I could have wireless access for my Kindle without any access to the rest of the network. Works fantastic with only a few minutes of setup, works great for the intended use. Well woth the money, if you want speed for wirless best to get an N wireless router.

Pros: Great wifi range, very flexible firmware

Cons: This is a great little router, but it runs hot. So DO install a heatsink on the Broadcom chip, I even added a fan from a broken laptop which fits so well it looks like it was made for the router. I messed up and completely crashed the firmware loader. Below are brief instructions on how to revive the unit from it's cardiac arrest using the port U8 (a serial port).

Other Thoughts: Here is how to unbrick, using the internal serial port:-
1. Install Tera Term
2. Install Tftpd32
3. Download the default firmware called:- Rosewill_RNX_GX4_V1.1.08.trx
4. Set the PC's Local area Network to 192.162.1.33, 255.255.255.0
5. Use FTDI USB MM232R module. Connect to the router U8 as follows. Linked. 3-4 (3v I/O) 14-15 (USB powered)
13 (gnd) to U8 pin1, Pin7 (RX) to U8 Pin2, Pin5 (TX) to U8 Pin4 (Or any 3.3v to serial level convertor) the one I
used :- http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Documents/DataSheets/Modules/DS_MM232R.pdf
6. Run Tftpd32, point the current directory to Rosewill_RNX_GX4_V1.1.08.trx, set server interface to 192.168.1.33
7. Set Tere Term to 115200 baud
8. Power on you should see some text. There are two options "T" and "D"
9. Choose "T" enter the file name to be installed.
10. Router should connect to the Tftpd32 server and install the file in about 3 seconds and then program itself.
11. Set the Local area Network back to normal

Pros: DD-WRT
Simple to flash by web interface
The DD-wrt database lists it as NETCORE NW618 PB20
I Flashed mine with the standard version

Cons: None

Pros: Installing DD-WRT (or similar firmware) is very easy compared to most other routers, simply use the WebGUI firmware update and hard resets if necessary.

It works pretty solidly as a repeater in above average residential usage, though it might choke with several very heavy users. I ended up using the Brainslayer v24 sp-2 build 14929 mini DD-WRT version. The router can possibly run out of RAM when using DD-WRT and handling thousands of connections, but mini and micro versions fix that.

Cons: No Wireless-N, but that is clearly in the description, and I currently don't have a real use for it personally. Even with repeater mode lowering effective wireless bandwidth, G is perfectly fine with a typical North American internet connection.

Gets noticeably warm to the touch, which may become a serious problem in the summer heat, but for now seems fine.

The power cord that comes with it is quite short, there is no way it could reach from a highly elevated spot to a ground level socket without an extension.

Other Thoughts: Installing DD-WRT is much touted feature. It works very well with this model and is easy relative to most others, but it may be over your head depending on your level of expertise and patience.

Only time will tell how reliable this really is long term, but after getting everything configured it currently has an up time of a week with heavy use and zero issues.

Pros: Cheap!, DD-Wrt, plenty of FLASH/RAM.

Cons: Gets hot with lots of connections (torrents)

Other Thoughts: This is an awesome router for the price. It runs DD-Wrt (Std, Mini, Micro) without problems. Lots of flash space and ram, when installed with the Mini build it leaves lots of space which helps it handle the demand of torrents and streaming over wifi and gaming - at the same time.

Time: 06:04:57 up 51 days, 10:28, load average: 0.48, 0.17, 0.05

^^ Haven't had to reset it since the day I set it up.

I've installed a heatsink & fan to the SoC because it does heat up.

Pros: I won't go over the pros others have listed. Yes it is cheap, although I originally paid $29.99 for it. It has Broadcom chip, it accepts opensource very easily. Particularly DD-WRT, which I ended up flashing on mine after several failed attempts at installing TOMATO. It has decent range and can be setup to be a bridge or repeater.
Great security features, handles WPA, WEP, WPA2, PSK.

Cons: From day one, regardless of which firmware I used, the router seemed to throttle or bottleneck my throughput speeds--even on my wired connections!
The antennas are very finicky, at least mine were. You can't angle them straight up or you lose signal! They either have to be far apart in almost 180 degree angle from each other, or essentially touching forming an apex.
The wireless although reliable was also slow. At best I would have my laptop, psp, and cellphone registered on the wireless network and not always sending data at the same time but still get mediocre speeds. I'd hate to imagine a more wireless household.

This thing overheats! I should've listened to the forum posts and installed a heatsink but fearful of ruining my warranty I didn't. Alot of good that did, this thing died anyways barely over the 1 year mark. To make matters worse, I had it well ventilated, even better than my Xbox 360!

Other Thoughts: If you're getting this for hooking up your video game consoles, beware!

Sony PSP works wonderfully with this as long as it connects using WPA, WEP will not work at all.
Sony PS3 wireless works well enough but again has same security issue as PSP.
MS Xbox 360, never got to try the wireless, since the router bricked before I had upgraded to wireless.
Wired Xbox 360, trying to connect to LIVE was an issue. It took several attempts and configurations for the console to work and even then it would sporadically give warnings about the router not meeting the UTI-1500 threshold needed to keep a good connection.
So use this at your discretion when it comes to console gaming.