Cisco-Linksys WRT54GL Wireless-G Broadband Router
by Linksys
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List Price: Our Price: $54.95 You Save: $25.04 (31%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $30.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Cisco-Linksys WRT54GL Wireless-G Broadband Router
Customer Review: Best option for tinkerers
Summary: 5 Stars
First off, as to the out of the box directions or to those without any networking knowledge, have a friend help you. If you like to tinker, have at least an entry level knowledge of what a router is and how networks work, this is by far one of the best options out there. I've setup half a dozen of these (and older WRT54G v1-4) routers running on Tomato for friends and family. It's not that great on it's own, what it is great for is being able to use the 3rd party firmware of your choice, which offer far greater features than pretty much any out of the box router. It is worth noting that this router does not have N support, for that I use a standalone Wireless N access point in conjunction with this router.
Second, No router out there has the community base of support that this router (and the prior series) has had. It isn't the best looking option, but it is by far the most functional single-purpose device you can get. For years, I and others have hoped for a proper successor to this series, and even the WRT160NL falls short of that promise. This is, at the moment the single best option, if you want to own your hardware, vs. having your hardware own you. As others have mentioned consumer level support from Cisco/Linksys falls short, fortunately this is a great product on its' own merit.
For 3rd party firmware, search for Tomato, DD-WRT or OpenWRT, there are other options out there. My preference is for Tomato for the best front end application.
Customer Review: Stable and reliable
Summary: 5 Stars
I got this router to replace my D-Link 624 router that came with my Verizon FIOS connection a couple years ago.
The D-Link had been pestering us for a long time by dropping connections and not working functionality (time restrictions/unreliable NTP client). Time had come to finally get it replaced with something more robust.
I've done my research and came out to the Linksys WRT54GL as wordy replacement for a very nice price.
I've been running the WRT54GL for a couple weeks as it came out of the box. All works great and is indeed very stable and reliable. No connection drops and good reception throughout the house.
The router is serving 5 wireless laptops and 1 wired server without any problems.
The firmware that it ships with has a few limitations though that I'm after to better control my network and when my children can access the internet. Its DHCP server can not deliver static IP addresses and has no time restriction functionality.
I decided to switch the router to the open DD-WRT firmware (which was very easy to set up) and I now have all the functionality I need and a very reliable/stable network.
This is a great router that has been serving my family well for a couple of months now!
The router comes with a Windows CD and seems to have very little support for Linux.
My home network is fully Linux though and as it turned out, I didn't need the Windows CD at all for anything :-)
Customer Review: Its a cheap router with equality to expensive ones
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the WRT320N Dual-Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router by linksis and have had better results with this one. It says on the box of this router that its not really intended for multiple computers or devices to be used, not really for multiple gaming, downloading music fast, and states that the ethernet hookups are not as fast as the WRT320N. I ran my own speed tests using the internet one hooked up through the ethernet and another test using wi-fi. I ran the test multiple times using both routers and didn't really see a difference in speed. I then ran my laptop, desktop and two xbox gaming systems together all on the router at once and it handled all four with no lag. I don't understand how the box says its not really intended for multiple uses because I only have one xbox plugged into the ethernet cable area and the other three are wireless. With the WRT320 I also had to reset it every day almost and have not had to do so with this one.
Finally, I would have to say this router will give you a very reliable source to connect your computers and/or gaming system too. Don't go by what the box says or the speed test because it will vary. Use it personally first for a bit and you will love it. It costs half of the WRT320N and its better. Based on my personal use of the product. Don't use the disk either because it sucks setting it up this way its better to do it manually. Google it!!
Customer Review: my first wireless experience
Summary: 5 Stars
I've always wanted to go wireless. I just recently got a decent high-speed connection; much faster than DSL, which meant enough bandwidth to actually make wireless really worth it (at least for me). The main reason was that I had an old sony vaio with a dial-up modem only (i know... sad), and I wanted to use my "old friend".
I have no experience with networking, or wireless networking for that matter. After reading up, found out about this router and just had to have it. After setting up my network using the linksys firmware (very easy), I decided to use the 3rd-party firmware dd-wrt. Its almost the same interface as linksys but WAY more features. Of course most of these features us newbies won't use at first, but if your like me you'll learn quickly.
There is a lot of helpful information on this router online (simple Google search) because its so popular; much more helpful than Linksys support from what I've read. Even if your internet connection doesn't take full advantage of wireless-G now (mine only uses about 25% of what it can actually do - around 27 mbps), it should eventually as ISP's are getting faster and cheaper.
All in all, my first experience with wireless networking was awesome, and the WRT54GL is worth every penny, even if the sorry people at linksys are pawning an old version off as new.
Customer Review: Great Router for the price
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this router to replace an older Lynksys router. The older one, a WRT54G2 all of a sudden kept disconnecting from the network several times a day. I read the reviews on the 54GL and most people seemed satisfied with it. But like most said, there are no written instructions. So I loaded the CD and assumed that would work. It didn't. It kept telling me it wasn't connected, when in fact it was but the CD wouldn't let me go any farther. So I picked up the phone and called their support. I got a gentleman who was easy to understand and he had me up and running in about 15 minutes. He was remarkable. He took control of my PC and had it going quickly. He had all of my computers (3) working flawlessly. I connected the printers myself since they have their own setups.
I've now had this unit for about a month and not only have I had no network problems but everything runs faster. I would recommend this unit highly. But if you buy one, save yourself some time and just contact their support group first.
As usual, Amazon did what they do best. We had some really foul weather with many roads being closed because of snow. My unit was delivered a day late but Amazon notified me by email of that. I can't say anything bad about Amazon. I've purchased many things through them and never had a glitch. My hat's off to them