Wireless Joint

I know this is a basic question and maybe there is a tutorial I have missed?

I have beat my brains out trying to tether a phone to a ASUS router and get around tethering (verizon). I run Linux primarily and the wifes work computer is windows.

I have tried VPN on the tethered phone and on the router, separate and at the same time and still gets tethered. I can get PDAnet to work and defeat tethering but I have to use the phone as a hot spot and I need the router. I tried USB tethering to the Windows machine and sharing the internet connection to the router. Worked well for a couple of days then I got the dreaded Network busy error and nothing seems to fix that.

I have read till my eyes hurt and finally come to conclusion my best bet is flash the router.

My question is which software? My needs are very basic. Just typical usage, a little streaming at night on a Roku device. So I would like to keep it simple. Plus we should get Starlink in the next few months. Really not looking to do anything else. Well, keep the VPN on the router.

I have looked at golden orb and DD-WRT and from what I read WRT seems to be the simpler of the two??

Any advice is welcome.

Well I woudnt hold on breath on starlink either being available or being reliable, I have read many horror stories on it as at one time I was also looking into that.

So

Best short term solution would likely be goldenorb as most of the people in here are much more familiar with it and its really a version of openwrt customized to handle all the mobile data stuff we deal with in here.

Longer term BETTER solution would be to do what most in here have done and that is to get a new router and an internal modem for that router. One box that serves all your needs and that can be controlled from one interface. No more having to keep a phone cabled to the router.

Also if you do some research there are ways to make certain modems act just like actual phones by "spoofing" the imei (we dont talk details about that in here however), and that would resolve all your tethering issues although its a very grey area as to the legality.

If you're considering third-party firmware, I think you'll find FreshTomato more reliable, friendly, and feature-rich than DD-WRT. I gave up on DD-WRT years ago, and have never looked back.

BIAS: I wrote a lot of the FreshTomato documenation. Of course, that doesn't mean I'm wrong.
You might want to surf over to the website and check it out.

Tethering via Android phone to that firmware is workign for many modern phones. USB dongles are another story. There are a few USB 4G modems that are supported alredy, but the lead developer is too busy to focus on others right now.

Of course, there are many great reviews of Goldenorb and the other gear solder here.

If you're considering third-party firmware, I think you'll find FreshTomato more reliable, friendly, and feature-rich than DD-WRT. I gave up on DD-WRT years ago, and have never looked back.

BIAS: I wrote a lot of the FreshTomato documenation. Of course, that doesn't mean I'm wrong.
You might want to surf over to the website and check it out.

Tethering via Android phone to that firmware is workign for many modern phones. USB dongles are another story. There are a few USB 4G modems that are supported alredy, but the lead developer is too busy to focus on others right now.

Of course, there are many great reviews of Goldenorb and the other gear sold through Wireless Haven.