Tomato Linksys

[Totaly Pavlina]

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Brian Murray is a versatile software developer proficient in Javascript, Python, HTML/CSS, React, Bootstrap, SQL, Flask, REST APIs and Git. He also works as a freelance writer, focusing on B2B, cybersecurity and consumer VPN topics. With a background in economics from George Mason University and specialized training from 4Geeks Academy, Brian combines technical expertise with writing skills to deliver insightful content for tech companies and enthusiasts alike.

Tomato is an open-source firmware upgrade that improves the usability and overall functionality of your router in almost every way. While there are other third-party firmware options, which we look at in more detail in our Tomato vs DD-WRT comparison, Tomato is widely considered one of the best and the easiest to use.

To get Tomato onto your router, you will need an ethernet cable to connect a computer to your router and a computer to manage the installation process. Other than this small step, almost nothing is required other than downloading the firmware and possibly a utility software from your router manufacturer.

While Tomato does not support as many models of routers as its main competitor, DD-WRT, it still covers many of the most popular brands out there, including Asus, Netgear and Linksys. This table shows every model of router verified to work with Tomato and its compatible versions.

The first step of flashing the Tomato firmware onto any router will be roughly the same across compatible brands. You will need to download the firmware itself, as well as the firmware restoration utility required for your router.

The next step when preparing an Asus router for new firmware is to clear the memory. This will reset most, if not all, of your current settings but will also ensure the device has enough memory to work with during the installation process.

The process we used for our Asus router is easily the most complicated out of all the ways to flash Tomato firmware onto a router. As we mentioned, many routers have a firmware utility built directly into their OEM firmware, which is much easier than having to send it through a restoration utility on a computer.

The next step to flashing firmware onto a Netgear router is to restore the default factory settings. If something is wrong during the setup process for one of the other routers, this is also a good troubleshooting step to try.

Not all routers work with Tomato, but many of the major manufacturers and models are verified to work. The main brands that Tomato is compatible with are Netgear, Asus and Linksys routers, but a few others are covered as well.

The installation process varies slightly from one router to another but should only require a computer and an ethernet cable as well as about five to 10 minutes if everything works properly. Read our guide for the complete step-by-step instructions.

Tomato and DD-WRT both specialize in different areas. Tomato delivers a user-friendly experience while still improving router functionality. DD-WRT is geared toward power users that want the absolute most out of their router without concern for how complicated it might get.

Freshtomato will install on the R7000 and R8000 routers with no problems at all, you will need to first flash the initial-64K.chk file to load a older version of Netgear software, than you can flash the trx file to install Fresh Tomato.

The R7000P and R8000P routers are NOT supported!!!

REPEAT THE P version outers are NOT SUPPORTED in Fresh Tomato

DD-WRT supports them though.

If my understanding is correct, you should not need Wan dhcp. Try to backup your tomato configuration then reset to factory settings. Then, try setting up pppoa again without changing the default dhcp wan setting (off) and see if it works for you. If not, you might want to double check you have bridge mode setup correctly.

Since 2004 I have been using a Linksys wrt54g as my access point at home. Having tried a lot of different firmwares (original linksys, sveasoft,DD-WRT, OpenWRT) over the years, I eventually settled for the nice and easy tomato firmware in 2008.

Here in 2010 I got my hand on yet another wrt54g linux based access point. This time it was an wrt54gl. Ofcourse I then had to join those two into a wireless distribution system (WDS). One of the reason that I like the tomato firmware is that things like that become fairly easy. Growing older also means that you value your sparetime much higher than you did while you were younger

Currently, I run four routers, all part of the WRT54G/GL/GS series, that allow a house to receive wireless internet. These routers provide sufficient, although not yet ideal, coverage for the house. Since the WRT54G/GL/GS routers are built on a Linux framework, they are easily upgraded to more powerful firmware, such as the Tomato Firmware available from Third-party firmware such as Tomato adds increased functionality to what would otherwise be considered a standard router. One of the more interesting features that Tomato provides is the ability to increase the transmission power of the wireless signal. The picture below shows this setting.

I think the reason why this is is because the clients radios are not increasing their power, and because of that, the effective range is limited by the transmit power of the clients radios. However, I have found increasing this setting to 84 to be useful when setting up WDS to repeat the network over longer distances. Obviously, since you have two devices that are communicating with each other and BOTH are transmitting at a higher output, it would make sense that the range is increased, which it seems to be.

The stock linksys setting is 43mW which, in my opinion, seems rather low. I noticed a significant boost when upgrading from this stock value to 70. I would never recommend jumping above 100 unless you want a dead router in a short amount of time.

I have my router running at 80 mW. As an experiment I did boost it to over 150 mW and some of my wireless devices (a wireless webcam for example) lost connection from time to time. At 80 mW the problem ceased.

I wonder if the interference is caused by the hardware itself and not Tomato. When setting the transceiver power, my guess is it changes voltage to only one area on the motherboard, and the fact that the WRT54G, as good as it is at accepting third-party firmware, is a really cheap router that muddies up the signal. Linksys isn't going to use top-end, noise-reducing components in a low-end router, especially one not rated for the power output Tomato is pumping into it.

It'd be interesting to try it with another firmware (DD-WRT) and see if the same happens, or in a router with different components. Unfortunately, it seems like most routers capable of supporting third-party firmware that are not WRT54* routers are in the $100s range. Plus more expensive doesn't always mean better components, it usually just means better firmware =).

I have had a WRT54 router online for over 3 years with the tomato software and set at 105 milliwatts. I have not reset the router in 2 years. I have no problem with disconnects or unstable transmissions. I had a separate access point in my house before using the tomato software to turn up the signal. I have not had the same experience as Dustin had. Turning it up worked well for me.

The channels I was using for this setup were 1, 6, and 11, with two of the four using the same channel further away from each other. In addition, this was in a more-populated neighborhood with several other wireless access points from neighbors in the area, causing even more interference.

You may have very well answered the problem of many routers having issues these days even with manufacture firmware. Maybe router makers are simply setting the routers up for a problem by increasing output to compete and make customers happy with better advertised coverage. Knowing full well of the pitfalls of shortened lifespan and unstable connection. It may very well answer why some initial review are positive but then turn negative after a few months. I find that very true as my Linksys E1200 drops WiFi every couple weeks but continues to have it Wired connections work just fine.

Its like anything that you max out in power for a long period. Its just going to fail early.

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