It's not all about locking down your access point -- there are some conveniences, too. You can limit the bandwidth guests use so that they don't kill your own connection, and there's "state-of-the-art" network queuing to make sure that video chats and other lag-sensitive services work as expected. The EFF is also promising ease of use, although you'll have deep control if you're handy with a command prompt.

Just watch out before you leap in. The new firmware only works on Netgear's WNDR3800 so far, and it's characterized as a "hacker alpha release" that will almost certainly be laden with bugs. Really, this is for developers who want to help the EFF fulfill its dreams of creating a best-of-all-worlds WiFi hotspot. If you're one of those tinkerer types, you can check out the project at the source link.