Upgrade Your Old Router and Turn it into a Wireless Repeater Bridge… and More!

If you’re a true geek, and I mean a true geek, you’ve undoubtedly got some old PCs sitting around that aren’t necessarily wireless-capable. Now, if your house or apartment isn’t wired for ethernet and your router is on a different level or room, you can still get those PCs online without having to worry about wireless cards or wireless dongles. (Heh, I said “dongle.”)

How, you ask? By loading open-source, Linux-based firmware on an old, spare router (there are plenty of compatible makes/models) and subsequently converting it into a wireless repeater bridge.

Once you’ve got the firmware loaded and configured all of the necessary settings, you can place your wireless router anywhere you’d like and then plug those old PCs into the network switch component of the router.

The DD-WRT firmware, when properly loaded, can super-charge your existing router giving you the type of features and functionality you’d normally find in a much higher-priced, enterprise-level router.

Interested in learning more about the DD-WRT firmware project? Check out some tutorials currently available on the project’s wiki or find out how you can assist in further developing the project; or, just dive right in and start installing the firmware now. Once you’ve messed around with it, drop us a line and let us and our other readers know what you’ve done.

(By the way, there’s always a risk when it comes to loading unsupported 3rd-party firmware on your devices. Just be careful, follow the directions and you should be fine. Similar free and/or open-source router firmware projects include OpenWRT and Tomato.)

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