If you are in the market for router, consider going open source. In case you are wondering how a hardware device can be open source, it is actually quite simple. While the physical device may not be modified (easily at least), the firmware can be which allows for open source developers to essentially control how the device works.

Netgear has recently released an open source router which follows suit to what Linksys did some time ago and spawned quite a bit of projects. The important thing to keep in mind here is while custom software can be written to work on the routers, they are still consumer grade hardware devices. So don’t get the idea you can buy a cheap router and through the magic of open source project, update the device’s capabilities to that of enterprise level hardware.

Regardless, I think it is a great idea to support devices which allow consumers to do anything they want with them. After all, you paid for it, so why should the manufacturer really care?