Cisco-Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router
by Linksys
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Our Price: $72.97 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $22.95 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Cisco-Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router
Customer Review: LINKSYS WRT54G WIRELESS ROUTER
Summary: 5 Stars
So to start off I am in the tech industry working on Wi-Fi,WLAN, UWB and so on, yada, yada. The 802.11G standard is for 54-108 Mbps. The next generation is 802.11N which is 480 Mbps second but guess what, your access and speed is ONLY as good as the internet allows. My points are intended for the average user here:
1. The difference between this and the Super G router as someone pointed out is the extra flash memory which is not much. Save your cash. A couple of companies I have been at use nothing but this router and we had 20 or so folks on the network with no problems. I'm sitting here downloading 1-5 Meg files as an example fairly quickly.
2. Most hotels offering broadband access run at 10 Mbps or the lower end of the 10/100 standard, so 1/4 the speed of this routers capability. Most T1 lines in business are running at the higher end or 100 Mbps but the pipeline is usually running pretty full due many folks on the system.
3. I'm a road warrior traveling globally so I have been the Guinea pig for my last 3 companies and IT departments. So this router works flawlessly through my present companies VPM through which I'm typing this review right now.
4. So for the quick and short of it, ordered on Sunday evening at around 10 PM Pacific Std Time and 3 days later on Wednesday I have my wireless router up and running. So kudos to Amazon for another great job in delivery!
5. This router replaces another Linksys Router, the BEFSR41, which is a standard router we have had for > 3 years and still works great. I did do a firmware upgrade about a year ago. The reason I'm replacing it because it is hardwire router and it's a problem when my wife and I both want to use our office, with one desk, at the same time. So now I'm using my laptop on the kitchen table about 60'away from where the router is and getting 3.7 Mbps speed via Comcast cable through my VPN connection. This is based on a measurement speed test by going to either www.cnet.com or www.2wire.com and running their bandwidth meter test to see actual connection/throughput speeds. These are both free sites so check out your connection.
6. Setup - got it with the disk but had some difficulties running and connecting to the internet after disconnecting the old router per the instructions. Called tech support, got a very nice lady in Argentina who was very helpful and gave me a couple of helpful suggestions. Had to disconnect the power plug on the Comcast cable modem box for 10 seconds to reboot the cable modem box, which was still reading our old IPCONFIG address. This got me connected to the internet again after the IP address reset itself. Doing the normal START/CMD/Ipconfig /release & /renew for some reason didn't release the Ipconfig address in the cable modem I guess.
INSTEAD OF USING THE CD that comes with the Linksys router, was told to go to www.linksys.com/easy which ran a more sophisticated setup wizard program that configured the router, the WEP Security protocol and I imagine the VPN protocols as well and was up and running within 10 minutes through my VPM. Very cool, wish my Adobe Acrobat 6.0 upgrade went that easy recently. (In all fairness to Adobe, got that upgrade running but not till I had several phone calls and downloads to do with Tech Support who also were great).
Some General Comments from other reviewers - why in the heck do you want to upgrade your distance from 200' to 2100' as one person pointed out? If I want to go drive almost a half mile away from my wireless network what the heck do I need my laptop for? Are you downloading music at a friends or what? I'm really curious about that.
Amazing what reading directions and being POLITE to technical support can you call with a lousy attitude and tear up the person on the other end of the phone, don't expect good results. Most of the tech support people I have dealt with are trying in most part to do a good job.
Customer Review: Excellent product - best extensibility
Summary: 5 Stars
I own Netgear, Buffalo and Dlink equipment as well, but I will never go back after setting up this unit.It literally took 2 minutes before I had my wired and wireless computers up and running, including 128-bit wep - I only needed the manual because it sets up camp on 192.168.1.1, rather then 0.1 like most. The web interface is the best I have ever used. Very well laid out.
Let me take a minute to bark about the competition - the DLink AP has the absolute worst management software ever, and they dont even have a web interface - its a nightmare and their support is horrible. I'm sure Buffalo stuff has matured since their first AP I bought, but their web management system looked like a 4th grader designed it.
Anyways, back to the Linksys. Besides having the best management software I have seen, it is also a great looking piece of equipment compared to the competition.
But what originally drew me to this unit was the optional Wireless Signal Booster. It is not marketed for the 54g unit because it is not FCC licensed to be paired with it, but it works perfectly with it nonetheless.
The major feature of wireless networks that all these vendors drop the ball on is range extension options. Walk into a Best Buy and tell me how many 2.4GHz antennas you see - NONE! CompUSA? NONE! WHY? I have no idea. Alas, even Linksys has none, but they do have a range extension option at least with the booster, and it gave me 10 dbi, which is excellent, and my wireless range went from 2 rooms with my Buffalo to my entire property! People's experiences do vary with the signal booster however, so if you buy one make sure you have the option to return it if it doesnt work with your layout.
I would mention that Buffalo does market their own antennas, and perhaps DLink also, but you never find them in the store. Dlink also has a repeater option I have never tried.
However, the linksys booster is much more expensive then, say, a decent panel antenna setup ... But what I like about the booster is that it boosts the RADIO - leaving you the option of adding an antenna AS WELL, making the Linksys the most extensible consumer AP out there.
I've done a lot of wardriving, and about the majority of ssid's read 'Linksys', and now I know why. I just wish I had gone with Linksys first instead of last.
A final note is that I have not played with NAT etc yet, which some people have reported having some problems with - b ut so far so great!
Also to note - I experienced range on par with the Dlink and Buffalo when I tried this unit without the booster and my 802.11b Lucent Orinoco card. I gained an excellent 10 dbi with the booster. But what really amazed me is that I got an extra 7 dbi by pairing the unit with the Linksys 54g card rather then my trusty standard Orinoco, which tells me the Linksys PC cards are excellent radios. This was a very unexpected surprise.
The only complaint I have is that this setup doesnt recover from notebook standby very well, which could become a big problem for me. I may just need to fiddle with it.
Again, when it comes to range improvement, its all YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary) so always be ready to experiment and bring stuff back until you get the solution thats right for you.
Customer Review: Excellent Router
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm using this router with Sprint FastConnect DSL service. Sprint DSL provides you with a Zyxel 645 Series DSL Modem by default, and it provides little if any security. Simply adding a router such as this one to your broadband connection will greatly increase your online security primarily by masking the presence of your PC on the Internet. Anyway, after making a few adjustments to the DSL modem configuration (should be set to bridging mode) per the Sprint DSL support website, I was able to connect my WRT54G Router without problems.My advice is to throw away the software installation CD that comes with the Router. The CD does nothing that you can't do yourself with great ease. Accepting the default settings will get you connected first time. I did not need Linksys support, but I did use their website to download the latest firmware. The process was very easy to execute, and it went off without a hitch. All my PCs are running Windows XP Professional, but don't worry if you have an older operating system... the setup is the same.
The Router itself is a pleasant blue on black color and has a built-in 4-port switch as well as wireless capability. The switch works flawlessly providing 100MBit connectivity to the other PCs on my LAN. Wireless functionality works well too. I use a mixed-mode wireless setup since I am not yet 100% wireless-G. No problems here... security is good, and I can connect from all over the house and way out into the yard. My best estimate for range is 100 feet inside (I have a lot of walls) and about 200 feet outside the house.
I am very pleased with this product. The price is right, and I encountered no surprises during setup. For anyone experiencing interference, remember that you can set the Router to broadcast wirelessly on any one of 12 channels. If you need better signal, try one of the other 12 channels as you would with a cordless phone. I found channel 1, 2, and 3 to be quite erratic. Channel 6 gave best inside range; Channel 7 gave best outside range. In the end, I settled for Channel 6.
The Router's web interface is excellent. It's very straight-forward and clear. Each setting has a help button so you don't have to refer back to the manual each time (since it's a PDF file). Start to finish, the setup took me about an hour. That's because I did things manually, deliberately, and activated a moderate level of security features.
Everything about this router operates as advertised. For the purposes of this review, my model was version 2.0 you can find this on a label on the underside of the Router next to the Serial Number. I would highly recommend the Linksys WRT54G to anyone. Even if you only want to go with the 4-port switch wired functionality, and upgrade to wireless later... the wireless feature can be disabled to consume less power and to turn off wireless transmissions. This one gets 5 stars!
Customer Review: 2 Day delivery and it works great. Bravo to ...
Summary: 5 Stars
For an item that is not even available in Best Buy and the other major stores when I went to buy it, the fact that ... has these in and out of stock, and that I received it in only a couple of days is knowledge enough to make this a winning situation. What about hookup and use? Another 5 star performance. Having never hooked up a wireless network before, I took the advice of the quick start guide that came with the unit, and used their included CD. They strongly recommended that you use the CD rather than manually configure, and they were right. Having seen the problems that some others were having with setup, only to be resolved (some of them) by exactly following the directions, I decided to do it that way right out of the box. I'm glad I did. This setup using the CD was about as easy as learning how to open a refrigerator door for the first time. Shutting off what they tell you to shut off, and turning on what and when they tell you to turn things on, resulted in a delightful install. Not even one glitch. The CD determined my internet connection, determined my system configuration, asked me a few questions, and bingo I was up and running.
I bought the PC Card for laptops as well, and that was just as easy to install. Within 10 minutes I was surfing the web from all over the house. No Wires !
Pertaining to the speed issue: I got 54Mps while I was in the same room. When I went into the living room, it went to very good instead of excellent, and gave me 37Mbps. Let's get a perspective here. A standard modem works at 56K tops. This router works at 54Mbps that's megabyte not kilobyte. Their are 1000 kilobytes in every megabyte. So 54 Megabytes per second is about a thousand times faster than a standard modem. I hooked the Linksys wireless router up to a broadband connection which is running at a maximum of 700 plus Kilobytes on the download end, and 100 to 150 upload speed. I know I am getting specific, but the point I am making is that it does not matter what the connection speed you are running at any given moment, based on how close the base unit is to the PC card. What is important is that your internet connection will never even approach the speed capabilities of this router, so don't hassle yourself with any concerns over varying connect speeds of the wireless network.
Broadband hooked up to this wireless setup flies. As soon as you click on a site, it appears on the screen.
Anyhow, just for reference, I am using a Dell Inspiron Notebook, hooked up to the broadband cable modem that was supplied by Comcast. The operating system is Windows XP. Installation was as near automatic as can be. They do supply instructions when using Windows ME, 98 etc, that includes one more step than XP.
All in all this is a 5 star piece of equipment. Follow the directions exactly. It is easy. Hope this helps.
Customer Review: WRT54G v1.1 is much better then v1.0!
Summary: 5 Stars
First thing I did was updating the firmware. It has very good router features as well as wireless security features. Setting up the newest WPA is easy. Go to the cnet.com to read about the wireless security issue you will know that WEP is not secure and WPA is so much better and will become the new standard. I was very pleased that the newest version of the firmware includes WPA. The phone support is 24/7 and you will get a real tech support person online which is very rare these days. And believe me you could use a lot of them if you are new to wireless or like to try out different settings (like me). Also their WebChat works pretty responsive as well.
My Panasonic 2.4GHz cordless phone kills the connection every time. Changing the channels on the WRT54G and the clients won't help because the phone changes its channel automatically. I had a hell of time to get the wireless to work when I was talking to Linksys tech rep using my 2.4GHz phone. I was so discouraged I was ready to return the whole thing until I talked to another tech rep and he asked me right away if I was using a 2.4GHz phone. Once I switched to a 900MHz phone we were fine. I guess if my nerghbors start to use 2.4GHz cordless phone I will be in trouble.
Now the only but nevertheless not so small problem is the short range. I read the reviews here and on cnet.com about its short range. I was hoping the newest firmware would fix the problem but it didn't. There is an interesting thing though: When I was registering the WRT54G online with Linksys, it asked me to choose if mine was WRT54G v1.0 or WRT54G v1.1 which indicates there are two versions of the box. When I chatted with the Linksys support, he claimed there were only firmware differences. If anyone knows there is an actual newer hardware version of it, please let me know, I can still exchange it.
Note: On 9/16/2003, Linksys' web site has changed WRT54G's product description (you have to go the product tab->wireless router to see the new WRT54G) which added WPA feature. ...which shows different pictures of v1.0 and v1.1. Base on that picture one can easily conclude that there are hardware changes, at least the front panel LEDs are all different, besides added Cisco logo. Well, I have to hope the new hardwere solves the range problem. If that's the case, I will change my rating to 5 stars!
10/4/03: I got the newer v1.1 which has the Cisco logo and different LEDs. It not just has longer range, it also stays connected much better even with my 2.4Ghz cordless phone on. With the older verion, the Linksys WPC54G worked OK but I was having frequent connection dropped problem with my Gigafast WF721-AEX 802.11b card. Once I switched to v1.1, the Gigafast stays up like a rock. I am changing my rating from 3 stars to 5 stars.
Note: The UPC codes of the both versions are the same.