Skilling up your router

One of the topics we revisit every now and then is third-party router firmware. That is, firmware that replaces the factory software on a router with a new operating system, potentially adding new features and capabilities.

There was a time when third-party firmwares like DD-WRT and Tomato were the bee’s knees, turning cheap off-the-shelf routers into much more capable security routers that would normally retail for hundreds of dollars more.

But are these third-party firmwares still worth upgrading to in 2020? That’s actually a difficult question. Commercial firmware has come a long way and has become much easier to use and configure. At the same time, the third-party firmwares have been somewhat stagnant. DD-WRT doesn’t do much now that it