My Tech Adventures

From the hardware point of view, the PTCL/Tenda W150D is not much different from other BCM6328 based routers but the difference surely lies in the software/firmware ... so let's take a look at the gui side of things ... From the start it was apparent that the firmware for PTCL was not 'special/locked' one and just used image replacement replacing Tenda's images/logos with those for PTCL ... anyways it also didn't seem to work well, felt kind of like a beta version of the firmware ... couldn't hold onto some settings ... my long line and difficult stats didn't help either (awaiting conversion from copper to fiber) ... so in desperation I looked at firmware updates for the router on Tenda's website knowing full well that a corrupted/interrupted/slightly-changed firmware update would brick the router with no obvious way to recover as serial & jTAG pinouts are not known (there are some test points ... but lack of interest) and no full flash backup c...

Finally I received a wireless router from PTCL with my "new" connection few days ago after a long wait! As expected it turned out to be a PTCL branded router supplied by another company in this case Tenda ( www.tenda.cn ) with model W150D ... a 150Mbps wireless n (half) xDSL router ... looks nice with a big 5dBi  fixed antenna ... lets take an inside look: 4 x Phillips-head screws  Plastic locks and tabs  Notice the Heatsink ... just as well as it runs very hot  Antenna is soldered onto the pcb and there is one pad free for mounting another antenna ... hmmmmm  the wireless "chip"  No need to remove heatsink to id the processor ... this router is based on the BCM6328 Some more test points ... but more later ... let's take a look at the software side ... (in part 2)