Sure, but the router will be installed downstairs, and the floor is 21 inches of high density concrete covered with porcelain tile.

tanstaafl.

But "aren't you upstairs"? "Go down, young man, go down!" said Greely. Or something like that...

-jk

Well, I suppose if you want to make it easier, just get a caulking gun and a tube of construction adhesive, and just glue the sucker up there.

I actually considered that, but the router's "feet" extend past the body of the router to provide ventilation for cooling. I would only have four small contact points to try and attach to a rough plastered ceiling. Wouldn't work.

tanstaafl.

Not even if you sanded the contact areas?

No, wouldn't work. Two or four small screws in plugs. Done. Secure.

Apparently the FCC ground rules are changing regarding unofficial router firmware

Yes, I finally got around to installing the downstairs router on the ceiling of the apartment below mine.

I found a much simpler way of sticking the router to the ceiling, one that will make most of you a bit crazy.

The router has grillwork for cooling on both the top and bottom. By holding the router up to the light, I saw that there was an area about an inch and a half square where I could see right through the middle of the router. So I drilled right through and fastened the router into the ceiling with a single moly bolt. Works great!

I got someone who knows more about networking than I (that would consist of a subset of about 90% of the total population) to configure the downstairs router. It's connected by Ethernet from one of my ports on the upstairs router, and that's about all I understand about it.

tanstaafl.

Hey, if it works, who cares? I don't think the router is going to suffer from a lack of that half inch square section of ventilation. Being on the ceiling is probably the more thermally challenging aspect, but there should be plenty of airflow around it!


There's a few ways it could be set up, but again, if it works then it doesn't matter much. The problems that could arise from an improper configuration (like double NAT) might not even have any real world ramifications.


The only hesitation I'd have about that router is that it's only 802.11g, isn't it? We've gotten to the point where 802.11ac (two generations newer) is completely affordable. Are you able to stream video through that?

Separate from any speed limitations, old and inexpensive routers tend to accumulate known and unknown unpatched security issues. Firmware updates tend to fade in frequency and eventually become unavailable.

Hacks and botnet infestations of Internet connected devices can be hard to detect after they have succeeded. Absence of router updates can allow them to remain embedded.

Straight up bugs and implementation errors can bedevil a home network for the lifetime of the old router.

I assumed that, given it's a WRT54Gx, it was running a 3rd party firmware. I probably shouldn't assume that, or that it'll get updated regularly.

Not only are newer 802.11ac APs much faster, they're also smaller and many do the auto-updating firmware thing. With your clever ceiling mount, if you could find an AP that supports power-over-Ethernet, you could end up with a very clean install.

I don't know about the WRT54Gx, but my old WRT54GL didn't get a firmware update in ages. Depending on which version of Tomato, some of them haven't been updated in years, either.

I upgraded more for the speed aspect (the new router is insanely fast compared to that old one), but I love the auto-updating firmware (until ASUS hoses a release up, I guess).

Auto-updating firmware is only good for however long the company decides to keep updating the firmware. I have an auto-updating router (a Belkin AC 1750) which hasn't had a firmware update in a couple years.

Though I have to say that it's been the most reliable wifi router I've had so far. All other routers I've had before this one would require me physically rebooting them every once in a while, this one has been really stable. Possibly because it has its own "reboot on a regular schedule" feature built-in, so I have it reboot itself daily in the wee hours.

I use the daily reboot method on the internet ‘modem’ supplied by the ISP. And also for routers that I do not trust to be be stable long term.

I install a Leviton LT113-10W timer between wall power (or UPS) and the internet modem and/or router.

Timer is set to turn on at 4:05AM and turn off at 4:01AM each day.

There is a coin battery inside so the timer clock does not reset when there is a power outage.

The remote tethered button allows someone to cycle power off and on manually, should the need arise to force a reboot of the equipment.

Simple instructions for the home owner to ‘reboot the internet’
Press the single white button and internet equipment should go dark. Wait one minute, then press button again to power it up again. Wait for internet service to resume

Regarding availability of updates for a router, choose the router based on the ability and reputation of the company to actually provide such updates. And to get it right.