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: awsome ! performer ! beats all average gears.
Summary: 5 Stars
first i should mention that im using a wired router for the main
routing because 6band vdsl is serviced in my neighbor hood.
yes i think i m lucky to achieve 43megabits download performace
through wired direct connection.
thats where linksyswrt54g lacks,wired wan performance!
so i use a 100mbit rate wired router in the end.
and as an ap ((dhcp-off)) i use this beautiful wireless router
as simple ap.
uncompressed data download goes upto 29megabits/sec using
broadcom afterburner based pcmcia w-lan adapter(wli-cb-g54s)
and compressed data goes upto 24megabits /sec
(((cleared close
and not to mention the performance is based on wpa-aes 12letter
encryption.
i also have wusb54g for long range use . which i do not really
use out side much .because it's too hot out side.
one evening i tested wusb54g with my super heavy inspiron
wardrive in the front yard, it panetrates bricks like as if they
are wooden card boards. impressed i was! i think having 2
antena is a huge gain. surprising thing is antenas are only 2dbi
each if you dont need extra steroid speed or crazy pc to pc
sharing and only stable longrange(penatration) usable wi-fi router?
go for it. with the 6dbi antenas if you feel the need.
in long range mimo is greate but i dont want no one to
break their budget for simple purpose.
i recomand wrt54g with these....
wusb54gs
((4megabitsfaster_but expensive._notjustfor wrt54gs_performance.))
wusb54g
(( simply built for wrt54g in range_stabilty._))
buffalo or linksys 's afterburner(airforce) chipset based w-lan
adpters they are advertised as 125mbHighSpeed ...
among above w-lan adpters only wusb54g uses Ralink2500 chipset.
###please be aware atheros 108gchipset or abg chips are not
recomanded i personally had some wicked time using atheros with
broadcom chip based wl-routers . they just hate each other.###
if you have xp_sp2 donot install the utility just install the
driver let the wzc takecare of the rest.
Customer Review: Simple setup; Connects even to unusual devices (Nintendo DS)
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a review of the WRT54G v8, which as of July 2007 is what's sold in stores.
This is coming from someone who absolutely hates Linksys. The last Linksys I owned was over 5 years ago and I swore I'd never go back, so giving this router 5 stars is huge.
Setup was bogglingly easy. I didn't even really follow the directions - I put the CD in and just hooked things up while it spun up. Everything worked anyway. The first 5 or so steps are walking you through hooking a cable modem to the router, and your router to your PC, and... plugging it in. So I did that part quickly but if that's new to you the setup has you covered.
I was actually surprised to find one of the last steps automatically get me online, as I was expecting it to fail and require manual configuration like past routers - this one connected without my help. It then walked me through setting a custom password for the router, a critical step most routers let you skip. I was impressed with how simple changing the password was and its being part of the actual setup process, because a malicious web ad can make just one web request to login to your Router with the default password, and open your PC up to hackers and viruses. Few people realize how critical this is, and making it so convenient helps a lot.
What put this router to 5 stars is that within 10 minutes I had my Boot Camped MacBook/Windows XP laptop connected, and my Nintendo DS. Both over 128-bit WEP. The Nintendo DS doesn't do WPA (a more secure method) so I haven't tried it. As a tip, the Nintendo DS works best with 128-bit WEP (not 64) and on the DS you need to enter the HEX password generated for you by the Router, not the PassPhrase.
I've gone through an SMC Barricade (2804) and a NetGear RangeMax N, and both caused serious drama. The Barricade dropped Nintendo DS connections after 2 minutes and laptop wifi connections after an hour. The NetGear barely got my desktop online, wouldn't connect to my laptop, and wouldn't connect to my Nintendo DS.
I only considered this Linksys after having it recommended to me 4 times by people whose technical knowledge I respect. I'm actually shocked this thing works, let alone flawlessly. I hate to say it but if I had to recommend a router to someone in the future, I'd recommend this one. I'd make clear that it needs to be THIS one, as other Linksys routers really are crap.
Customer Review: My 2 cents on the Linksys WRT54G
Summary: 5 Stars
To summarize my overall experience with Linksys:1) Customer Support: Very inadequate. Their online FAQ page on the linksys website doesn't work. When I called Support, after the initial round of qualification that I had a genuine technical issue on hand, I told hiim I was in the service industry like him, and was computer-savvy. The person advised me to do all the following when I couldn't get my router with my Toshiba cable modem to work. :
a) Try with a different ethernet cable...which I did...
b) Try increasing the length of the ethernet cable from the router to the cablemodem(as long as 20 ft!!)
c) Try with a crossover cable... which I did..
He just gave up and said that it could be probably the modem, and Toshiba cable modems might not work. He asked me to check with my cable service provider and ask for a Motorola modem!!
Normally, internet service providers give you a hard time to switch your modem hardware, but I somehow managed to get a Toshiba PC 2200U in place of my Toshiba PC 1100 U(an older cable modem model)...and the router indeed worked like a charm..
Note that it was only through pure luck that I got this working..so on the technical support front, I rate this a "single star".
Product Performance: The service provider I have is Time Warner Cable, in North NJ. A colleague also bought the same router , and it works fine with his Optimumonline (Motorola modem) connection..
Lesson Learnt: If you think you have an older cable modem model such as the Toshiba PC 1100U, this router may not work for you.
Having used the router for close to a month now, I'm very happy with the performance of the modem, and so is my colleague. Both of us use Linksys WPC54G Wireless-G Notebook Adapters and have had no problems...
The firmware that ships is v1.1, and both of us took a risk buying this much against complaints heard from other office colleagues that their home office setups would not work when they tried connecting to the office's VPN through digital certificates....
I use a RSA securid Token, my colleague uses digital certificate authentication..and both of us have had no problems so far..
We took a big risk buying this product...but at the end of the day, uits definitely worth the "15% restocking fee" risk , even though technical support is inadequate/not knowledgeable....I would expect better support from a Cisco subsidiary!!!!
Customer Review: Easy Setup
Summary: 5 Stars
I read reviews on this product about how difficult it is to setup the Linksys router. My roommate also told me he bought one and returned it because he was not able to set it up. You may think I am fool but I bought it anyway. I am that type of person who likes to be challenged. I followed my instincts and bought it. I may say, I am religious too so God helped me. Initially I put the CD that came with the computer and followed the instructions to do the connections. Note: I did not complete the installation using the CD but to make sure I connected everything right. The wizard shows you how to connect the router to the modem. You don't even have to use the CD to do the connections. Throw it away and just look on the box that your router was in when you bought it, and you will know how to connect the router and the cable modem. When you do the connections right without installing the software, you still will be able to connect to the internet. Your next step is to make it is secure with a key/password so people don't use your internet for free and slow it down and to prevent hackers. If you are not able to go on the internet, call your Internet service provider, Comcast, for example, and tell them you want them to configure your service so that you can go on the internet wirelessly as well. They have to do it on their end so you don't have to stay on the phone for anything.
Next, Click internet explorer and on top at the address bar area, where you type a website address, type your default routers IP which is 192.168.1.1
You will be prompted to type in a username and password: The default is "admin" for both. You can change the password instead of using "admin" later when are in the settings area. This password is only to enter into internet explorer and change the settings any time you want. It will open your router's settings. Click on "wireless" and make sure it is enabled. Next, click on "wireless security" and select WEP, then select 128bit, then type any phrase in the "Passprase" area and click the Generate button. It will generate the Key that others will use to connect to your network. Make sure you write down the keys. There will be four set of keys. Any of them should work. Congratulations. Throw away the CD and spare yourself all the headache others went through.
Customer Review: Wired & Wireless Works With Macs Too
Summary: 5 Stars
A number of people have written reviews saying the Linksys WRT54G doesn't work with Macs. It does - both wired and wirelessly. When I first connected up wired to configure it, my Mac detected and asked if I wanted to join the wireless signal (still running fully open). I am writing this over the wireless link configured with 128 bit WEP with no SSID broadcast. It works great.
The fact is that configuring networking and especially secure wireless networking requires that the user know at least a little bit about what they are doing. Linksys includes software to automatically configure on Windows boxes but I didn't use it and can't comment other than to say there might be a way. But the user should understand what the different settings are just for their own security and to know the rouuter and their computer is configured properly.
A couple of negatives to mention, though. The help screens on the configuration pages have a few omissions and also refer to a few settings by names different than listed on the configuration pages (access is through a web browser). But a quick web search will either get you the definition of the setting or make it clear what they are referring to. I only saw a few of these omissions/naming changes.
This is my second Linksys router and the first with wireless. Both configure right up and allow you to do port forwarding, URL blocking, firewalling, etc. I just wanted to make sure that there was a very definite review that says this router works with Macs both wired and wirelessly. I do need to say I haven't done any of the things like video chat or stuff like that that might challenge a router but I have no reason to think that wouldn't work just as well.
Edit -- WEP has been compromised for a while now. I was running it with WEP to allow some old stuff to connect but switched over to WPA. It also works fine with Macs. With 128 bit WEP you have a little more security but not much. You can tickle the network to get encrypted packets and with enough of them you have the whole enchilada. Someone has to know what they are doing to crack your WEP encryption, but it isn't that tough. Just wanted to add the WEP warning and mention that WPA works great with Macs too. No problems connecting at all.