Hey, just so you know ... this post is now about 12 years and 7 months old. Please keep that in mind as it very well may contain broken links and/or outdated information.

Last month I spotted a Fatwallet deal for the Buffalo WZR-HR-G300N gigabit wireless N router ($60 from Amazon with free Prime shipping) that I couldn’t pass up. I didn’t have any wireless N clients and wasn’t having any real problems with my four year-old Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 wireless router (running DD-WRT), but hey, cheap new tech, right?

Back in 2009 I had jumped on a similar deal and snagged a Buffalo WHR-G300N wireless N router for $35. After getting it all set up with DD-WRT, though, I discovered that with the lack of external antennas and no high-power radio the wireless signal wasn’t strong enough to cover my entire house like the WHR-HP-G54 was currently doing. Since I had effectively voided the warranty by flashing DD-WRT onto the router, I kept it for use as a switch in my office (and am still using it today, in fact).

I was hoping that the three antennas (two external, one internal) and high-power radio in the WZR-HR-G300N would do the job of replacing my WHR-HP-G54 plus give me a gigabit switch in the computer closet. I was also excited because Buffalo now included their own branded version of DD-WRT (they call it the “professional” firmware) on the router, so no more voided warranty issues!

Things never go as planned, though.

I set up the new router with identical settings to the existing one so I could just do a simple replacement. Once everything was ready, I turned off the old router, swapped in the new one and powered it on. My iPhone, iPad, and Foscam cameras re-connected to the “new” wireless network just fine, but the TrendNet cameras wouldn’t associate. I tried changing a bunch of different settings on the router and even posted on the Buffalo tech support forums but could not get the cameras to connect. Frustrated, I tried upgrading DD-WRT to the latest build from Buffalo’s web siite … and it bricked the router (it had a solid red diag LED and I couldn’t even connect to it via TFTP).

I ended up having to return the router to Amazon and put the old G router back in place while I waited for the new one to arrive. Once it did, I tried again to upgrade to the latest Buffalo DD-WRT again and it kept failing (but at least it didn’t brick it this time). I’d never had this many problems with DD-WRT before so I decided to just go with the community build instead of Buffalo’s customized version. After upgrading to v24-sp2 (build 17201) I again configured the router to match my existing setup and did the swap again. Just like before, though, the TrendNet cameras wouldn’t connect. WTH? 😕

I jumped through several more hoops (setting up a “guest” wireless network, playing with wireless security settings, switching channel widths and network modes, etc. etc.) but could not get the TrendNet cameras to connect. Buffalo and TrendNet support were no help so I gave up and decided to use my original router alongside the new one. I re-configured the WHR-HP-G54 to set up a wireless network specifically for all of the cameras … and it worked just fine. So I’m now running two wireless routers instead of one (so much for consolidation) but the new setup does have the benefit of separating all of the camera/Zoneminder traffic from the main wireless network.

I ran into a few more setup issues (DynDNS not updating, NAT loopback) but they were all related to the build of DD-WRT I was using, not the router itself, and I was able to work around them with command scripts. Finally I had the home network back to “normal” with the new router in place. Whew!

It’s been over a month now since I put in the WZR-HP-G300N and I haven’t had any problems with it. The signal strength/coverage seems to match the WHR-HP-G54. Even after tweaking the power settings and antenna orientations I wasn’t able to get anything better than the old router, which was a little surprising, but at least it wasn’t any worse. I wish I could get the TrendNet cameras to connect to the new router, but for now everything is stable so I’m leaving well enough alone.