Hello All,

I have encountered this device, the Asus WL500GPV2 and found out that I can attach a 3G USB modem in and use that as internet connection. With that since it has embedded linux, it can also run torrent (can attach portable usb hard drive) and possibly other linux services that uses internet.

The problem is, this device is old, and I can no longer find it in local market. My question is, is there other router that have the same functionality? Furthermore, I have found a guide which combines usb modem with WL500GPV2, and I am wondering if this can also work with the new routers?

Regards,
archieval

Hi archieval,

unfortunately i can't name you one specific device which suits your needs, but here are some links which may help you finding a device (hope you dont know all already )

• own distributions for routers
  • https://openwrt.org/ see the Supported Devices list
  • http://www.dd-wrt.com/ with its Router Database.
• 'normal' distri (e.g. debian) on NAS etc.
  • Dockstar, GoFlex, or Pogoplug with forums

My devices:

• I own an old Asus Wl-500gP (v1) and got OpenWRT for quite a long time; there are many possibilities (USB-soundcard etc), but it was always tricky to get such things running..
  At this moment i've got dd-wrt on it and use it in client mode to get LAN-only devices in my home network (via WLAN).
• I'm using a Seagate dockstar with debian as a little homeserver (external harddrive, usb-soundcard, trac, svn, download managers (e.g. pyload), ...).

Depending on your needs -

• you depend on WIFI and multiple LAN-ports (without "very special" features) : take a look at an adequate router
• you need your 3G USB modem for internet connection and you are able to integrate it into an existing network: grab a device, which can run a "full/normal" distri, because i think its much easier to configure and there are more packages available and so on.

good luck..


edit: fixed broken link.

1 members found this post helpful.

The Asus WL-330N3G has support for 3G via outboad USB modem. Thee Asus RT-N16 also has multiple USB port support. Though not sure about 3G

Netgear's 3500 and 3800 routers support open source options and both have USB ports that can support both printers and storage. I am not certain they can support the outboard modem however.

I am assuming that the support for an external USB modem depends on whether the router has an embedded linux OS or none. If it does and the firmware can be updated, then it would be very useful.

@yenco
My needs are very simple, a wireless router that:
1. have at least 2 USB ports
2. enable 3G modem support attached on one usb port
3. enable external hard drive support attached on the other usb port
4. runs embedded linux
5. the firmware can be updated by me so i can run some linux scripts and apps like torrent and perl scripts

Does this router exists?

Regards,
archieval

Like written before, i got an old Asus Wl-500gPv1, so i am not up to date which routers exist at the moment and which of them are ideal/easy/supported by the alternative firmwares, sorry.
Try to find a router with >=8MB flash and >=32MB ram when you want to run your own scripts and/or install additional packages. Everything below that may cause resource problems.
Your points 1-4 shouldn't be a problem for a router regarding ram, point 5. may eventually lead to problems. I used rtorrent on my dockstar (128MB ram) and had to tweak the settings a bit to get it running (but with apache and other ram consuming processes in parallel), so on a router with less ram.. (?) Honestly - i don't know.
Try to look though the forums/wiki of the pages mentioned above.. (Sorry for my vague answers).

Thanks yenco, that ram restriction narrows down my search. If the router has only one USB port, can I use a usb hub to increase it? The Cisco E3000 is available on my local market, and has dd-wrt support. I wonder if it can run a huawei usb modem on its usb port.

> Cisco E3000
Found "Linksys E3000" in dd-wrt database, i think this is the one you meant.

> Flash ROM 8 MB
> RAM 64 MB
That looks sufficient..

> Radios 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz
I can't name a source, but i have something in mind that there was a problem running 5GHz and 2.4GHz at the same time with some custom firmware..? Maybe i'm completely wrong, but if you need this, look a bit around for wlan issues on this model/chipset

> Switch 4x GigE + 1 WAN
Gigabit. Hey. thats nice too..

> USB 1x USB 2.0
> [...] has only one USB port, can I use a usb hub [...]
Short: Yes. Should be no problem.
( Long: I remember some weird behavior with an usb-soundcard. On my Asus WL0500gPv1 (2 usb ports) with Openwrt, i had to use 1 specific port of the 2 and the soundcard had to be directly connected to the router. It did not work behind a hub. But this affected only the usb-soundcard and no other usb device i connected. I tested .. hdd, usb2serial, ... connected to a usb hub and they worked fine. )

> The Cisco E3000 is available on my local market, and has dd-wrt support
Maybe one last look in the dd-wrt wiki/forums if there are known problems with something, but it looks good to me on first sight.