Are you using your router to its full potential? Wayne Williams shows how to use the advanced features available on many models
Most people don’t give their router much thought until it needs a reboot or they connect a new device to it. But routers can do more than simply provide you with an internet connection and they often come with extra tools and advanced features. Exactly what you can do with your router will depend on the make and model, and the ports it’s equipped with. We’ll look at some of the possibilities.
Get more features by replacing the firmware
Firmware is the software that has been written to the ROM (Read Only Memory) of the router, and will stay installed on the device even if you turn it off or restart it. The firmware your router is running determines how it works and what you can do with it. Hardware manufacturers occasionally release firmware updates that fix bugs and add extra features, and you can apply these updates by downloading the update and sending it to the router (a process that’s usually called ‘flashing the ROM’).
However, it’s also possible to get more from your router by swapping the manufacturer’s firmware with compatible software that other people have created. There are several choices available for routers, including OpenWrt (openwrt.org) and Tomato (tomato.groov.pl), although our preferred choice is the excellent DD-WRT (dd-wrt.com). You can check if your router is compatible with DD-WRT by browsing the router database at bit.ly/dddb377.
The process of flashing the ROM is straightforward but not without its dangers, so only do this to a router you can afford to lose. Carefully follow the installation steps at bit.ly/install377 and you should be fine. Just make sure you don’t turn the router off or disconnect it during the upgrade.
Set up a guest network
Most routers let you set up one or more guest networks. These let you share internet access with friends without them being able to access other devices on your network, so they can’t go rifling through the files on your PC, for example. You can also set up a guest network that’s tailored to suit your children, with parental controls that ensure their network is switched off after bed time. You’ll be able to choose a security type (and even disable wireless security altogether, although this isn’t recommended), and allow or deny devices using wireless MAC (Media Access Control) filtering - the unique code that identifies all wireless devices.
As with most advanced features mentioned in this project, if your router doesn’t offer the ability to enable a guest access point, installing the DD-WRT firmware should make this feature available.
Prioritise traffic
If you do a lot of media streaming or gaming, it’s worth making sure that your router gives that type of network traffic priority. This is done using the Quality of Service (QoS) tool. For example, if you make streaming TV programmes or movies a priority, it should mean that someone listening to Spotify or playing online games elsewhere on the network doesn’t interrupt your viewing.
Some routers can intelligently prioritise traffic, while others require that you specify the type of traffic you want to manage and assign it a priority - typically high, medium, normal or low. You might be able to shape the traffic priorities for specific applications, ports or devices. We’ll show you how to set up QoS on a typical router in the Mini Workshop, below. Unfortunately, not all routers offer QoS - Virgin Media’s Super Hub doesn’t, for example.
If you want to use the feature, but it isn’t supported by your router, you can either buy another router or install the DD-WRT firmware which has a QoS section (just click the NAT/QoS tab to access it).
Create your own cloud storage
You can store personal files in the cloud using storage services such as OneDrive and Google Drive. This means you can securely access them from anywhere, on any device. However, they tend to be limited to a few gigabytes, which is a lot less than you’d normally get when storing files locally on a hard drive.
You can create your own cloud storage with a lot more space by connecting an external drive to your router. There are two ways of doing this: if your router has a USB port, you can connect a standard USB hard drive, or you can connect a Network Attached Storage (NAS) drive using an Ethernet cable.
Various companies, including WD (www.wdc.com) and Seagate (www.seagate.com), offer NAS drives that are reasonably easy to configure alongside a router. One of the simplest we've tried is the Seagate Personal Cloud. You can get a 3TB drive from Ebuyer (bit.ly/personalcloud377) for £125. This acts as a central repository for music and video files, and you can automatically back up data from any PC, smartphone and tablet using a free app. It also comes with two USB ports (a USB 2 port on the back, and a USB 3 port on the right-hand side), so you can back up the device to a standard hard drive for extra security. We’ll show you how to set one up in our Mini Workshop, below.
If you have a spare internal hard drive (or two), you can create your own NAS drive. You just need to buy a NAS enclosure, which will let you connect the drives to your router via Ethernet. Enclosures can vary in price depending on what options are available with it, so weigh up the pros and cons of making your own storage versus buying a ready-made option.
If you have an external USB drive, you might be able to convert this into a NAS device using an adapter. The Addonics NAS Adapter (bit.ly/nas377) lets you plug in the USB drive at one end, then link the device to your router using an Ethernet cable at the other.
Use parental controls
It’s likely your router will offer some form of parental control, which can come in handy if you have young children. You will probably be able to manage what sites they can access in two different ways - domain blocking and keyword blocking. Domain blocking is a more targeted solution and will let you prevent anyone accessing certain websites - Facebook, for example. You can choose which sites to block, and enable and disable the block at any time.
Keyword blocking takes a more scattergun approach and will block any sites containing keywords (in the URL or body content) that you specify. The benefit is that using the keyword ‘facebook’ will not only prevent access to www.facebook.com, but will also stop any results displaying for queries such as ‘How do I access Facebook if it’s blocked’.
Keep in mind that anyone accessing the internet, including you, through your router will be affected by the controls you set up, unless your router allows you to configure different controls on different networks.
You will be able to view a log containing details of any attempts to access blocked sites and keywords, and also request email alerts.