Sorry to bother your guys. :rolleyes:

A quote from TP-LINK official website:
Some official firmware of TP-LINK products can be replaced by the third party firmware such as DD-WRT. TP-LINK does not provide technical support and does not guarantee the performance and stability of third party firmware. Damage to the product as a result of using third party firmware will void the product's warranty.

Hi Mavis thanks for clarification here. If you have a look at the link Jorge posted I think I personally will be staying away from any custom firmware - plenty of bricked WR1043ND's. I have returned my first box so I need the warranty supplied with the second box (on its way), if the second box is still the same its going back. Sad to say if this is not resolved I will never buy a TP-LINK product again. If Jorge is right and it appears to be a software issue, this gives me even less confidence in the brand.

Its a sad state however that customers are lead to consider the custom firmware route...maybe a BIG hint that the firmwares provided for this router by TP-LINK is bugged. I say this because I assume you are a TPLINK employee, this is a BETA forum after all - there are quite a few people on here with just their first names as a username, the same type of names technical support use in there emails...or maybe I am wrong :-)

Jorge: I have read all the reviews at amazon and for some people they have solved this by a full 30/30/30 reset... another found that using WPA and selecting your own channel has helped. Maybe the latter has some meaning... there are 8 other routers in my area and for some reason my TP-LINK uses channel 4 AND channel 8. My cordless phone is also very close too, though this has never....ever....caused any problems before for my BT Home Hub 3.0 (what this router is replacing.

Mavis wrote

Sorry to bother your guys. :rolleyes:

A quote from TP-LINK official website:
Some official firmware of TP-LINK products can be replaced by the third party firmware such as DD-WRT. TP-LINK does not provide technical support and does not guarantee the performance and stability of third party firmware. Damage to the product as a result of using third party firmware will void the product's warranty.

If one uses alternative firmware is because the original firmware, does not meet the minimum requirements.
TP-LINK official , should, as we say in my country, "navel gazing"and do some self-criticism.

jorgecorazondeleon wrote

If one uses alternative firmware is because the original firmware, does not meet the minimum requirements.
TP-LINK official , should, as we say in my country, "navel gazing"and do some self-criticism.

I agree.

rumburake wrote

Thanks Jorge! I just installed it, seems to be working so far... :-)
I'll come back after a week or two...

Romorake:
Pardon my curiosity:
Any news on the beta firmware testing?

Okay I received router WR1043ND #2 today. I also purchased the hi gain WN822N adapter (which I have to say is better than my netgear WNA3100 adapter which was twice the price at £30). And when I say better I mean stupidly better with a 300MBPS link across TP-LINK and my BT Home Hub 3.0 - no fluctuations! As you can see I am trying to eliminate any failing hardware.

Back to the router issues. Okay I have yet to send router #1 back but I thought I would set it up as a extender using WDS (which was surprisingly simple to do) - this gives me a chance to test router #2 and also see how router #1 copes in expanding the network. Interestingly when using the TP LINK hi gain adapter in like for like location, router #1 struggled to link at 300MBPS and settled around 117MBPS. Router #2 is currently linked at 300MBPS no problems - my intuition is telling me I have a dud with router #1.

This is further confirmed with speed tests. Using router #2 (hitting the 300MBPS link) I get the full 60MBPS from my line. I have also noticed with router #1 that I would initially get 60MBPS from my line but after it has been left it seems to throttle at 20MBPS if it hasn't frozen beforehand.

I haven't updated firmware in router #2 either. Not sure what you make of this Jorge but I am hoping this all points to a failing box. I will keep you posted - I have yet to leave router #2 for any length of time, currently 1:23 up time so early days but better speeds at least.

doufas wrote

Okay I received router WR1043ND #2 today. I also purchased the hi gain WN822N adapter (which I have to say is better than my netgear WNA3100 adapter ( which cost me £30)...and...to clarify.... when I say better I mean stupidly better with a 300MBPS link and no fluctuations - the new adapter cost me £15)

Back to the router issues. Okay I have yet to send router #1 back but I thought I would set it up as a extender using WDS - this gives me a chance to test router #2 and also see how router #1 copes in expanding the network. Interestingly when using the TP LINK hi gain adapter in like for like location, router #1 struggled to link at 300MBPS and settled around 117MBPS. Router #2 is currently linked at 300MBPS no problems - my intuition is telling me I have a dud with router #1.

This is further confirmed with speed tests using router #2 hitting 300MBPS link I get the full 60MBPS from my line, with router #1 i would initially get 60MBPS from my line but after it has been left it seems to throttle at 20MBPS if it hasn't frozen beforehand.

I haven't updated firmware in router #2 either. Not sure what you make of this Jorge but I am hoping this all points to a failing box. I will keep you posted - I have yet to leave router #2 for any length of time, currently 1:23 up time so early days but better speeds at least.

Ok.
What version is the router they sent you?
What version of firmware do you have?
It seems perfect to test the router just as they have sent you, without updating

Firmware Version:
3.13.12 Build 120405 Rel.33996n
Hardware Version:
WR1043ND v1 00000000

I can confirm its a V1.9. The serial number is also lower than the first one I received. Another thing I noticed is that when rebooting the new router, and the GUI refreshes, it is already connected to the BT Network. I had to wait at least 30 seconds for the old router to connect to the network after a reboot before I could use my line - which again leads me to think it is a dud box.

Then, the previous router really has a hardware problem.
In my router, restarting, the disconnection is negligible.

http://forum.tp-linkru.ru/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=18
Since I do not understand Russian, but with an automatic translator well understood.
The Russian friends have experienced many similar problems

see:
http://www.gargoyle-router.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2270
Transcribe:
Hello UsernameTaken
I also have TL-WR1043ND 1.8, i started with Gargoyle because for me oryginall firmware was freezing every few days. On russian forum it appeared there are many, hundrets of people had same problem that i got. So i try to search something different. DD-WRT didn;t work well, Gargoyle was better, but had some problems, that finally looks gone, and it works fine for me.