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: Hardware is good; software -- not so much
Summary: 5 Stars
The vendor-supplied software wasn't as functional as I'd like; limited use of the available storage space, reduced configuration and so on.
The ease of installing the dd-wrt software was ridiculously easy. The only problem relates to the design of the 'reset' button. The third-party software installation requires extended (90 seconds!) pressing-time on the reset button -- two or three times during the process. The button is difficult to hold for that length of time.
But that's probably a good thing, because it means the settings don't easily get wiped by accident.
The other problem I had was with one of the antenna mounts -- the post the antenna screws-down on, that exits the body of the device: One was loose, and not affixed well. It floated in a way that didn't make me comfortable. A drop or two of cyanoacrylate glue ('Super Glue') easily fixed it, but that's not something I think I would need to do right-out-of-the-box. Points off for that.
One design suggestion: I'd like to see mounting holes on the bottom so one could easily wall-mount this device. As it is, the footprint takes up usable space on my desk.
Good wireless router, though. I like it.
Customer Review: Worked out of the box!
Summary: 5 Stars
I initially tried a Net*gear router and had to return it because it would not work without a broadband connection, and we only have dial up where we live in the country. I had called Linksys and they said theirs would work without broadband. You see, all I wanted to do was allow my laptop to access my desktop's printer wirelessly. I hooked up the Linksys router to my desktop and loaded the software effortlessly. And my laptop quickly connected to the router's wirelessly. But I still couldn't find the printer. So I installed the printer's drivers (it's an old HP laserjet) onto the laptop and all by itself, it found the printer and works great since. This router is a lot heavier than the Net*gear so I know it is better made. Also, if we ever do get broadband in our area, I am confident this would be easy to set up. I even set up the encryption and it works easily. And I had no prior networking experience, besides reading the instruction manual for both routers thoroughly. I would recommend researching file and print sharing on the Net if you need to set that up on your computer. Also, I should qualify my computer experience since I have worked with them for twenty five years, just no networking experience.Customer Review: Works great w/ Tomato firmware
Summary: 5 Stars
I hooked this router up and only used the Linksys firmware long enough to flash Tomato 1.21. Configured Tomato and have been up over 10 days w/o a problem. Tomato's best features are stability, more configuration options, the bandwidth monitors and graphs. I'm also getting better reception throughout my house than with my old D-Link DI-624.
While I hope that Time Warner never imposes bandwidths caps, if they do the WRT54GL w/Tomato will enable me to track my daily/weekly/monthly usage.
A great product - I'm just not sure why it carries a premium price over other Linksys G routers since they don't have to support the box for everyone who loads Tomato, DD-WRT, or one of the other 3rd party firmwares.
BTW, you really don't need the install CD, especially if you are going to install 3rd party firmware. I didn't even take it out of the CD sleeve. Just hook a wired port on a router to your PC, start your browser, and use http://192.168.1.1 as the URL and you'll be right into the Linksys firmware. From there you can configure the Linksys firmware or just use it to install Tomato or DD-WRT.
Update: As of Oct. 7th, I have been running continuously for over 30 days. No reboots, no hassles.
Customer Review: Solid and reliable as a blue brick
Summary: 5 Stars
My 802.11g Netgear router of 6 years starting having issues with its power supply and heating causing it to have to be recycled several times a week and so it was time to replace it. Since I have two laptops with 802.11n capability I thought of upgrading to a wireless N router even though my cable modem download speed does not exceed 802.11g speeds (I get anywhere from 10Mb/s to 16Mb/s download speeds from my cable modem). I picked up a Netgear wireless N router and had problems all that night I installed it with dropped and slow connections so I returned it and started some deep research into something reliable and found the Linksys WRT54GL.
I am a Linux developer by profession so I am not sure why I never looked for a Linux based router before. As soon as I got the router, I installed the latest version of the Tomato firmware. I spent five days testing the router using two laptops, a desktop, Apple iPod Touch, and Nintendo WII. I use a VPN almost every day to access servers at work and I stressed this connection for days with gigabyte downloads and simultaneous use from the other devices. Not a single hiccup or dropped connection with respectable speed. I love this little blue brick!
Customer Review: Good Basic Router
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been using this router about a month now in residential application.
Router provides 4 wired Ethernet connections along with wireless. My system consists of one PC running wired, the rest wireless using a DSL modem for internet. All my machines are dual-boot with Linux and Win XP.
Router has never dropped a connection or needed a reboot.
Router comes back on line after a power loss without any interaction.
I get a strong 5-bar wireless signal all over my house, although my house is relatively small and single level.
Antennas supplied are detachable with SMA connectors so you can connect an outdoor or directional antenna if desired.
Frequency of operation is switchable between several channels in the 2.4 GHz band during setup. Unfortunately firmware supplied does not include any "site survey" mode to help find least occupied channel, I was disappointed by that.
I am using Linksys supplied firmware although there is free open source firmware available on the web to expand its application.
So far a good reliable piece of equipment, does what I need so gets 5 stars.