TRENDnet Teases Open Source-Friendly Entry Level Router
Here's an entry-level wireless router that supports the open-source community.
Looking for a new wireless router but don't have loads of money to spend? TRENDnet may have what you're looking for in the new N150 Wireless Router (model TEW-712BR). It's a single-band device offering wireless speeds of up to 150 Mb/s that can shoot HD video over to your HDTV while you're lounging on the couch reading Tom's Hardware.
"The TEW-712BR is designed for moderate Internet users who live in an average sized home," the company said on Thursday. "Connect computers, NAS drives, and printers to the four Ethernet ports on the back of the router. An intuitive guided router setup takes the work out of creating a wireless network."
TRENDnet also said that it's supporting the open source community with this device, and offers Linux developers and open-source enthusiasts means to access the router's open source code by heading here.
"Instead of trying to create a single, static firmware, OpenWrt provides a fully writable filesystem with package management. This frees you from the application selection and configuration provided by the vendor and allows you to customize the device through the use of packages to suit any application," the OpenWrt site reads.
Outside the open-source feature, the N150 Wireless Router features everything you'd expect from an entry-level router including LED displays to convey the status of wired and wireless services, Wi-Fi Protected Setup, parental controls, MAC address filtering, and an on/off button for shutting the device down if needed. It also uses energy saving technology to increase wireless routing efficiency.
"Advanced encryption protects your wireless network, Access Control tools help block unwanted websites and unknown users, and embedded GREENnet technology reduces power consumption by up to 50-percent. WMM Quality of Service (QoS) technology prioritizes gaming, Internet calls, and video streams," the company said.
The N150 Wireless Router, model TEW-712BR, is currently shipping to online and retail partners, and will be available for US $44.99 USD.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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bison88 Good to know. Things haven't been the same since Linksys got bought out by Cisco, the struggle to find routers supporting this firmware or that is becoming challenging especially when each model has multiple revisions some supported and some not.Reply
I wish all home router manufacturers pursued this route (unintended pun). The things you can do if you're nerdy or even not so much, with a custom built router are amazing. -
A Bad Day Eh, Treadnet left a bad taste in my mouth with routers that supposedly support WPA2 encryption, and didn't have the processing power to run the encryption without dropping connection.Reply
Also, I fried a router after attempting to install a firmware update through Ethernet. Really? -
tntom 4MB of Flash and 32MB of Ram is not much to work with. This leaves you with only installing the most basic packages Openwrt packages. I would just get a TP-link router for this price and specs.Reply -
f4nt4sm4 I think the best part of this is there are Companies willing to use another OS on his devices, well if you want the more robust packages of OpenWRT there's always the option of going for an appliance.Reply