[asterisk-users] Recommended *WRT router to run Asterisk?

[Mark Deneen]

On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 9:26 AM, Darrick Hartman
<dhartman at djhsolutions.com> wrote:
> On 11/18/2010 07:52 AM, Gilles wrote:
>> On Tue, 16 Nov 2010 09:42:33 -0500, Mark Deneen<mdeneen at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>> Are you saying ADSL as in a generic term for broadband router or do
>>> you really mean that the router also acts as a DSL transceiver?
>>
>> Sorry about that. Ideally, the unit should be both an ADSL modem +
>> router, but apparently, most of them are just routers so that the user
>> would have to turn their ADSL router into a modem/bridge and connect
>> the *WRT-moded router.
>>
>> If someone's been running Asterisk on that kind of hardware for SOHO
>> use, what would you recommend? Apparently, those are hardware that
>> come up often in forums:
>>
>> http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/d-link/dir-825
>> http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/buffalo/wzr-hp-g300h
>> http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/asus/wl500gp
>> http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/asus/wl600g
>
> I never saw the point of spending $100 for something that is so limited.
>  You can spend a little more and get something like an ALIX board that
> is so much more capable and still fanless/low power.
>
> http://www.pcengines.ch/alix.htm
>
> The 2d3/2d13 are very nice for the price.
>
> If you really want to run on a small router like this, the Netgear
> WNR3500 is a decent device and can be found for around $90.

If you shop around / wait for deals, you can find the Buffalo for
~$70.  I'm sure that the ALIX rigs are low power, just like most
routers.  However, most routers also come with a 4 port switch + plus
one WAN interface.  The ALIX boards get you at most 3 independent
interfaces, but I don't believe that they can act as a switch.

A 400 MHz MIPS is fairly close to a 500 MHz Geode.  However, you can't
get the asterisk g729 module for mips.  I can't say I would want to
transcode on the ALIX system, though.

For a small setup or for a setup at home, it's really not a bad deal.
Especially if you want something to do NAT for you.

-M