Time for a new router

bp2008 said:
Neat. Apparently these can be hacked to install 3rd party firmware so you would be getting a $150 router for $60.
Click to expand...

@bp2208...where might I learn more about this "hack" Brian?
 
  • Like
Reactions: bp2008
If the firmware flash works this will be a very good deal. Thanks fellas. thumbsup.gif
 
That is tempting, I can't sleep now..my finger is getting trigger happy but i will hold off and let Q be the guide on this one. Good luck!
 
Q™ said:
Thanks all! One of my goals is to cut electrical use, so I won't be running pfsense on an extra computer. Another requirement is that the router must include wireless.
Click to expand...

not that it matters now, the tmobile router is a good deal! but i run mine on a mobile process so its not bad (intel i7 u something). they are also doing arm builds now which have very low power consumption. they will sell hardware too all preloaded, one of which is an arm option.

Hardware Requirements and Netgate Appliances for pfSense

the two downsides is that it is a pure firewall, so no torrent/nas/cloud/usb options. more secure, but less flexable. secondly i've ran wireless on mine with a usb adaptor, but its not well supported (eg, my n adaptor would only do b/g, and it was harder to setup. a big deal if your looking for speed). its picky about which adaptors you use for wireless.
 
I use my pfsense router with a netgear r7000 to provide wireless and USB cloud storage, works great! There are many YouTube videos to learn about pfsense.
 
looney2ns said:
My TM router arrived. Can anyone confirm that doing this will work: How to flash other firmware on the T-Mobile Cellspot WiFi router - Pocketables Or do you need to do this: Asus T-Mobile Cellspot - DD-WRT Wiki
Click to expand...

I would advise you to leave well enough alone. As I understand it, your T-Mobile TM-AC1900 router will operate fine as is and it will more than meet your routing needs. If you decide to leave well enough alone then I would recommend that you try to find the latest T-Mobile provided firmware for your router.

I decided not to leave well enough alone and I've successfully converted my T-Mobile TM-AC1900 to a stock Asus RT-AC68U router on which I've installed the latest Asus Firmware version 3.0.0.4.380.4164.

It wasn't easy.

While Nayr or Brian (or many other un-named ipcamtal.com members) could have completed this process in one or two hours, it took me six. In part because I have trouble concentrating on reading stuff in full...and I skip and skim and foul-up as a result. In the end it may well have been cheaper to purchase a new stock Asus RT-AC68U unit...but I did save over $100.00 and it was kind of fun (after the cursing and throwing stuff subsided).

If you're determined to try to do this yourself you need to understand that any foul-up (particularly the step where you edit the CFE) will BRICK YOUR ROUTER. read all instructions CAREFULLY and proceed deliberately. Note that I decided to use the optional "auto CFE modifier" program instead of using the manual CFE editing procedure. The "auto CFE modifier" worked great for me.

There are two (2) web sources which I used...

First follow and complete these steps...

Slickdeals: The Best Deals, Coupons, Promo Codes & Discounts

And then follow these steps (specifically this part: "This firmware is needed after upgrading your CFE to expand your rootfs partition from 32M to 64M. Later 376.xxxx and all 378 and 380 firmwares need this 64M rootfs partition. They will not load otherwise."

ASUS RT-AC68U T-Mobile WiFi CellSpot Gigabit Router $59 + Free S/H

My advice? Leave well enough alone---or send the T-Mobile back and purchase a stock Asus RT-AC68U router bro.
 
  • Like
Reactions: spencnor
Nice router! It took about 5 minutes to set up on my LAN. Lots of features and very fast. A+ IMO thumbsup.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom