How does DD-WRT Work?

Kaustubh KatdareI stumbled upon project DD-WRT. The project offers custom firmware for your router and promises to unleash the full potential - something that the official firmware won't do. I see that the project supports a ton of popular routers and I'm tempted to try it out on my router.

I'm curious to know if anyone on CE has installed a custom DD-WRT firmware on their routers. Is there any way the firmware can help you improve the signal strength? If yes, how does it really work?

I am not sure how they are improving signal strength by firmware but as they are tweaking with hardware they might be playing with some filter settings which gives better signal reception.
May be Cean #-Link-Snipped-# can give some more information about the signal strength in routers.

Do anyone know the cheapest supporting router from the #-Link-Snipped-# ?
If anyone knows the cheap router among the listed devices please name the model here.
I am eager to test this.

Well, it is possible to have finer control of the TX power. If you want better signal strength, its better to invest in external antennas (if your router has the required connectors).

The custom firmware helps more on the routing performance and added functionality, compared to signal strength.

#-Link-Snipped-# : Could you talk a bit more about -

ashWell, it is possible to have finer control of the TX power.

I'm curious to know how can the firmware affect routing performance. I always thought once the hardware was all set; there's nothing much you can do about it.

Kaustubh KatdareI'm curious to know how can the firmware affect routing performance. I always thought once the hardware was all set; there's nothing much you can do about it.

Some firmware has features of creating separate networks, one for you & another for guest.
You can decrease the range of wifi, so that it doesn't reach out of home, so you feel secured about wifi.

I don't think any router's signal strength can be increased with mere custom firmware, the signal strength improvement is the hardware-side tweak.

Kaustubh Katdare#-Link-Snipped-# : Could you talk a bit more about -

I'm curious to know how can the firmware affect routing performance. I always thought once the hardware was all set; there's nothing much you can do about it.

For the TX power, you have more finer control. Some stock router software either have limited or no option to adjust the antenna power. Yes, you can't increase it beyond its specs, but you can increase it beyond the stock limits. They are usually set for optimum reasons.

Regarding routing performance, it depends on how you set the functionality. Default settings with DD WRT may get you better wireless throughput, but you can also test out different QoS controls depending on what kind of traffic you have in your network. DNS caching is also available to speed up host name lookups.