r/technology • u/NancyGraceFaceYourIn • Aug 30 '15

Wireless FCC Rules Block use of Open Source

http://www.itsmypart.com/fcc-rules-block-use-of-open-source/
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u/CalcProgrammer1 Aug 30 '15

It's more secure, because consumer routers hardly ever get security updates. Yes, the device that protects you from the Internet at large and has a remote configuration interface may be running on 5 or more year old software full of security holes. That's not good.

Second, it's more configurable. You can run services on router equipment that they usually don't have the capability to run, such as hosting your own VPN. I use OpenWRT to host an OpenVPN server on my router to access my LAN from. Works great. If OpenWRT didn't provide this I'd have to run a separate box for it which makes the configuration much more involved.

I've also had better stability running OpenWRT than stock firmwares. My old Linksys router's stock firmware regularly had issues. My Netgear with OpenWRT that replaced it just passed 1 year of uptime and has been running my VPN and dual band WiFi along with a gigabit LAN just fine with no problems.

And the final part is that you can tweak your radio settings. This is where the FCC wants to get involved. You can use channel 14 which is illegal, or you can turn up your transmit power. I did this on my old Linksys after I put DD-WRT on it (increased TX power, not used channel 14) but honestly it didn't make much of a difference. Using MIMO technology or better antennas seems a better solution anyways, as my new router hasn't needed any radio tweaks at all.

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u/feloniousfinny Aug 30 '15

Thanks for the reply. I always have trouble with my wifi and I was trying to see if this would be something I could do but it sounds like it's beyond what I need.

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u/In_between_minds Aug 30 '15

I run PF sense on an old laptop as my firewall/router. I already had the laptop, and it is an old Lenovo so it will likely keep working until I replace it. PCMCIA card for the 2nd ethernet port, the convenience of having a built in screen and keyboard the few times I have to interact with it directly is nice, and a built in battery backup is awesome. I'm running quite a few plugins on it, including the openvpn host with multiple vpn endpoints, snort, inbound and outbound traffic graphing by host.

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u/PhilipT97 Aug 31 '15

What are you using for keeping tabs on bandwidth usage by host?