I always have mine on a top of the line APC UPS system(no not a $100 or less one, most of them over $300, sometimes on sales for $270ish) and the linksys units STILL die, they overheat even in properly vented locations killing themselves

A few months ago I got one of these with the WW-DRT firmware on it. It's been amazing.

But I use it a bit differently than most. Due to the peculiarities of where the broadband connection comes onto the property (versus where I'd prefer it -- but the cable people won't go there), I use a Netgear WG102 access point in bridge mode ethernet-cabled to one of the ports on the router. The access point, connected to a directional antenna squirts the signal 400 feet where a second WG102 picks it up and re-distributes it. (and I get a pretty consistent 55dBms at the computers associated with the second WAP) For awhile I also had a Belkin combo router/repeater on the system for hard-to-reach spots, but no longer need it.

All work together swimmingly.

But one thing: I went to Walmart (sorry) and bought a couple of those clip-on fans for $10 each and clipped them to the shelves where the router/AP1 and AP2 are located and blowing on the equipment. That has made a huge difference in reliability, particularly during the heat of the day.

I also learned the hard way to have them plugged into a simple surge suppressor after someone plugged a circular saw into the circuit and the spike ate some stuff.

The Linksys WRT54GL with DD-WRT installed myself has been great.

I am, however, on my second one. I did push the power on the first one within the recommended limits, but I'm not doing that on the second one. I used Visa USA's extended warranty coverage to pay for the 2nd one.

There are other brands that use the same chip and work with DD-WRT also. Any of them would probably be ok.

I believe Scott and others used to recommend Bufalo routers based on the same chip, but they had to stop selling them.

The DD-WRT wiki lists all the supported hardware.

The stability comes from the DD-WRT firmware. Most of the firmware from the manufacturers is crap compared to DD-WRT. (just for stability alone. It also supports a richer feature set, including QoS, etc.)

-David

I have had nothing but problems with Netgear's supposedly business grade access points - the WG102 and the WG302. I have so many of them sitting around the office (due to being swapped out), I brought one home and it wasn't even good enough to keep my laptop connected to the internet reliably from 6' away! No firmware updates helped. I finally bought the access point I tell my customers to get - the Dlink DWL-3200AP. Perhaps overkill for my home, but not a hiccup since and I'm happy.

OP here. I took the advice posted here and updated the firmware. Problem solved! THANK YOU!!!

funny you should mention that. i do not have very good luck with apc ups units. most come with a 3 year warantee, but after a couple years they croak and i just dump them. i have them both at home and at my factory, which is a total of 7 or 8 units. gone through at least 20 and probably 30 of them in the past 10 years.

we have very bad power at home. get a major hit every week. the units seldom last over a year. factory power is excellent. the units there last a very long time. but, they are supposed to take power hits.

i use the 1500 somethings units. they weigh over 50 lbs. the next size up, the 2200's weigh over 100 lbs, and they are just too much of a pain to handle.

Guys, the UPS itself should last forever. The only thing you should need to change is the actual battery.

I haven't tried DD-WRT - I use Tomato, and it's great. My understanding of DD-WRT (from my uber-compu-geek friend who uses it) is that it's more powerful than Tomato but harder to configure.

There is a bit more to a ups than a battery. stabilizing 1500 watts takes a transistor or two.

what about other sources of stray voltage
 

I sure hope my Netgear equipment cannot read this and get any ideas. I have a pro-safe VPN Firewall router (FVS318) and a wireless access point. Both work fine and have for several years. I did have to upgrade the firmware for the router.
I am religious about keeping everything on UPS. I also run the Ethernet cable from the modem through the UPS surge suppressor. We did have lightning get into a network cable at work and fry a Cisco switch. All of that equipment is UPS protected as well, but sometimes voltage can get into the ethernet or cable from lightning. I guess there is only so much you can do about that.

PT

After battling these wireless routers for years, I've finally found a configuration that is very stable.

1. DSL modem
My version can hold public IP address and DNS addresses. Since these are assigned by the ISP (AT&T), they are responsible if any of these don't work.
2. Router
This is a Linksys WRTP54G with the wireless function turned off. WAN port is set to "obtain IP address automatically". The only function this box does is DHCP address assignment, be the network gateway and top level network switch. This is also the Vonage VoIP box.
3. Wireless Access Point
This is a wireless router set to act as an access point. The WAN port is not used and DHCP is turned off. I practically change this box every year due to technology changes. The latest is an Airlink 802.11n that only cost $30.

Since functions are spread across several boxes, heat is also spread across several boxes and each box is much cooler. The hottest box being the wireless box but I change it whenever something new comes along way before it has a chance to fail.

In actuality these routers all use chipsets from Broadcom, Marvell, Atheros and Ralink. It really doesn't matter what brand the box carries. Reliability depends more on the chips inside.

And in a well designed one that's not either intentionally subject to massive amounts of power problems (notably of the 2-5 variety--sags, spikes, undervolts, or overvolts), the actual unit should last forever. If it's treated right (see below).

I have a location in the Dominican Republic (which is known worldwide for their crappy power grid) with a few of 10+ year old best power/powerware units that take daily hits on all 9 of the common power problems that have never quit and still test properly on the load side. The only thing that's ever been changed are the batts. These range in size and complexity from 1200-1500 VA units (line interactive units) in 90 degree F wiring closets to 2.5kVA double-conversion units in their small data center.

The most common cause of early UPS death is plugging a surge-supressor into the load side of the UPS. Only non-surge arresting power strips should ever be used.

I use Powerware 5125 and 9125 units in the 1500 VA range, and have never had the UPS unit itself go bad. YMMV. For home use, I like the Powerware 5115 and 9115 (the latter is overkill for most applications). Their 5110 is decent too, at it's price point (but does not have some of the advanced battery management capabilities of the 5115).

The only time I had problems with routers that needed to be reset, was when the cordless phone was interfering. If you have a cordless phone, try unplugging it, and see if the router freezes. You might just need to upgrade to a different GHz.

Here in Thailand we have pretty awful power too. When going down the UPS route I was advised by people here to also use a tap-change AVR to feed the UPS. Cleans most of the power problems before it gets to the UPS thus meaning that the UPS itself has less to do (and means that it switches to battery less often). Nominal AC power here is 220V - the UPS monitor showed only 64V input even after being boosted by the AVR during a big storm here recently! I do notice from the LEDs on the AVR that it's constantly (well maybe once or twice an hour) boosting or throttling the voltage to produce a clean 220V.

Can you explain about not using surge-suppressing power strips please? Hadn't heard that one before - mine aren't, but purely by luck rather than judgement. Thanks.

Why is this?