Cisco-Linksys WRT54GS Wireless-G Broadband Router with SpeedBooster
by Linksys
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List Price: Our Price: $14.88 You Save: $85.11 (85%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Cisco-Linksys WRT54GS Wireless-G Broadband Router with SpeedBooster
Customer Review: Parental Control sevice is awesome
Summary: 5 Stars
First off, spend the extra few dollars to get the WRT54GS compared to just the "G". Another reviewer said that all you get is extra memory. What he doesn't say is that the extra memory allows you to use the Linksys Parental Control software-- the "G" unit cannot support the parental features.
I can go on an on about how good a wireless router this box is, but I want to focus on the overlooked, and incredibly powerful, Linksys Parental Control (LPC) system. The first thing you should know is that the Linksys Parental Control system is an optional for-pay service. You get to try it out for 30-days for free to see if it meets your needs. After which, I think it costs something like $30 a year. Let me tell you it is worth every penny if you have young kids or worse--a teenage boy in your house.
What separates this system from others I've used is that LPC is completely ROUTER based. You don't have to install any crapware on your individual PCs. This is really the way Parental Control software should be implemented. I had a horrible experience with one PC-based parental control vendor. To make a long story short, the software during one of it's online updates completely, and I do mean completely messed up the PC in my son's room. It was no longer able to access the Internet. After weeks of daily tech support with the vendor I had to format the hard drive to remove the crapware. So, take this lesson to heart--the only surefire way to stop a teenager from accessing the Internet in an unrestricted fashion is to secure the Internet via Parental Controls thru the router (Linksys).
You really have a tremendous amount of control over what you permit your children to access. There is an online database that is updated daily with content updates. So you don't have to configure your own "black lists" and "white lists" although the software allows you to override the defaults with your own permit and deny lists. Each member of the family can have their own profile. Another feature I like is that I can also administer the system from a remote location. I log onto the LPC website and I can view reports of past and current activity and I can change settings on the fly. So if your son calls you at work and says he needs to reach Acme.com for example, you can "white list" that site from work and it immediately downloads the update to my Linksys router at home.
The reporting function is very strong. For one of my sons I want to see every site he goes to or attempts to go to. The reports allow you to do this which is very important with teenagers. Anyway, I think you get the idea. This is the absolute best method for implementing Parental Controls at home. With this router-based system it doesn't matter if someone sneaks a laptop into your house-- there is no way they can talk through your router without first signing into the LPC system.
A few negatives to keep in mind. First, everyone in the family has to "log in" to access the Internet. (But this is configurable to some extent.) Also, if the Linksys PC website goes down you are not permitted to access the Internet. You can over-ride this by disabling the LPC on the router temporarily, but it can be an issue. I've been using this for about 3-4 months now and only once was the LPC website down so it's not like it happens frequently.
Bottom line: if safe web surfing and Internet use (email, chat) are important to your family, you really should buy this router and pay for the optional Parental Control service. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Customer Review: With Linux inside it is *amazing* what this router can do! - Get OpenWRT and you'll be amazed!
Summary: 5 Stars
This review is targeted to those geeks among us who like to color outside the lines. I have 2 WRT54G routers and now have this WRT54GS router. To be honest, the first thing I did when I received my GS router is boot it up and load the OpenWRT firmware on it. It's quite amazing what you can do using OpenWRT as a base. [...]
My favorite is the wireless remote control truck. I actually am using my oldest unit as a wireless web server. Here are two different sites running on it, one even running PHP:
I am actually using disk space shared from another server (NFS mounted, there are also other ways to mount disk for you non-Linux people).
People have turned them into wireless radios, vehicle tracking devices and more. You can wire up serial, USB, hard drives, sound, and more on these things. You can also hook up other antenna for other applications (outdoor directional, etc).
If you like to color outside the lines you might also use Linux as your primary desktop operating system (all my computers at home and at work run Linux exclusively). For those of you I would suggest this and for your laptop pick up a Linksys WPC55AG PCMCIA card. This card uses the Atheros chipset and works well with the Madwifi drivers (probably should do a review under the card). This is a great combo and for the most part nearly 100% driven by open source software on both the router and the card drivers.
NOTE: Nearly everything I have just discussed will void your warranty so continue at your own risk. I have been using these routers for a couple of years now and still haven't been able to render one unusable. At < $50 for the WRT54G and < $80 for the WRT54GS it might be something you want to risk.
Also, it is important to note that there are several versions of each of these routers and they all are a little different (internal switches are a different model, Broadcom MIPS processors are a little different, speed etc). There is even one version that comes with less RAM and a proprietary version of the firmware. I believe this is the Linksys WRT54GS v5. I wish the version number was listed as part of the model number so you know which one you are buying. The one I just received a couple of months ago was the WRT54GS v3 and it works GREAT with OpenWRT. I guess it's a roll of the dice which version you will get. If you get a v5 I would send it back. I believe they are also coming out with another model that will continue using the Linux firmware. It appears that this new version will be called the WRT54GL.
If you have a choice of versions get the v3, or wait for the WRT54GL to come out so you know what you are getting. I don't believe it even says anywhere on the box what version is inside. The only place you will find this version number is on the label on the bottom of the unit.
At any rate, you Linux experts/users and tinkerers go check out OpenWRT:
You'll find a nice Wiki and great Forums.
Void Main
Customer Review: Great Router
Summary: 5 Stars
I got this router nearly 2 months ago and I wrote a good review about the router and that isnt going to change but I had to add something so I deleted my original review so I can add this I had a router before this the D-Link DI-604 a great wired router and when I got this router I had tech support walk me through wiring the Wireless Linksys router into my older D-Link DI-604 wired router and I though it would save me alot of re-wiring and changing of settings and I was right for a few hours until I tried to play online video games on one of my computers that was wired into the Linksys router. There was something wrong with the wired D-Link DI-604 firewall and I couldnt adjust it correctly and it still doesnt make sense why after all the years of playing online games over it without problem it would suddenly just start causing me problems. So I called them back up, totally disconnected my D-Link router, wired all my other wired computers into it, set up my laptop to work with it through the router wireless and adjusted the routers settings and it worked. Now I can play video games on any computer thanks to the features on the router and I use my laptop from the basement and other areas that are fairly far from my router. My router being on my top floor. I can even use my PSP on it and its compatible with Xbox live. I also plan to use the WIFI feature even on more things when I get my Xbox 360 which uses WIFI. Anyway I never had a dropped signal or any other problem since I re-wired everything into the Linksys router. Signal loss was my biggest worry when I made the switch from wired to wireless since I had no experience with wireless routers before this one but thankfully this router hasnt let me down. The people that complain probably didn't have the router setup properly, had a defective router, a wireless card that sucked or was defective or due to the distance or materials of their house affected the signal to the point where they kept on getting dropped or had a weak signal or poor distance. But I seen these devices that your suppose to setup inbetween your router and laptop or other devices that extends the range of the router and those people might want to invest in those or those bigger antenna's since that might fix the problem. Anyway great product and in the future I will consider other Linksys products for my networking needs. Also I decided to get this router due to many good reviews found on this website since I review many things before buying them but I wish I got it from the website instead of Best Buy because the prices are better but the thing is I wanted the router right then and there so I could set it up as soon as I got my laptop home. If you consider buying anything this website is a great place for researching and buying the item.Customer Review: Great performance and a good price
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been running the WRT54GS for a few months and it has been fantastic.
My main objective was to run the WRT54GS as a centrally located stand alone unit - not hooked up to a computer. For installation it was necessary to hook up the WRT54GS to a computer via the provided Ethernet cable, but once up and running it is independent. After initial setup, setting changes can be done through the wireless network using a browser, and in case of a crash a laptop can be hooked up to redo the setup if necessary. We have had several severe thunderstorms and power spikes that are typical for our area. These have sometimes caused problems with other equipment (despite being on APC surge protectors or UPSs). The WRT54GS has only once needed to have the power unplugged and plugged in again to establish normal operations, and then with no loss of settings.
Our building has provided a great deal of interference for an ad-hoc network between computers. The WRT54GS equipped with a pair of Linksys high gain antennas solved the problem, and provided a single internet connection. I got a range expander for dead spots, but so far I have not needed to use it. Using the Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 Mini Card on Dell laptops we achieve 54 Mbps everywhere in the building, even where the signal is weakest. Reception is even good in the courtyard outside. We get similar performance using the Linksys WMP54GS in our desktop PCs. Our 10 Mbps cable modem link (to Brighthouse/Warner Cable) is the slowest part of the network. Other companies offer better speed and range performance with proprietary technology, but the WRT54GS gave us the same great performance no matter what wireless hardware we were using. It was also the best solution for the price.
Our initial installation of the WRT54GS was problematic, requiring a firmware update. However, a couple of calls to Linksys technical support was all it took. I received a tech person within a few minutes and after going through the settings step by step they answered all my questions. They log all tech calls so even a new tech on a different call is instantly aware of the history of any problem.
The setup software works well, but fails if there is no internet connection. Otherwise, it works great and makes installation easy. The default settings allow for a quick start even without the setup software, and the advanced features allow for sophisticated security and access solutions. The manual (on CD) is also excellent.
Customer Review: Solid Product. Great Signal Strength. Easy to Setup.
Summary: 5 Stars
I chose this router based on a few considerations:
1) Stability
2) Ease of Management/Flexibility
3) Price
So with the above in mind, I set out to replace an overly flaky previous router from DLink. My experience with the WRT54G routers of other makes (namely the non-L and non-gs) versions led me to go with Linksys due to a real-world stability. I've used a number of other wireless routers and have seen linksys models outperform other brands in terms of number of necessary reboots in a give period of time.
After stability, I wanted something that was easy to manage. And to be sure, Linksys has had some extremely clunky interfaces in models/revisions past, but this model was very easy to configure out of the box w/ no CD. The initial setup took less than 20 minutes - and I'm not a network expert, however I am versed in the ins/outs from previous experience. I was able to rename the SSID, setup new login credentials, Configure WPA2, configure PPOE and setup a new address range (changed from the standard 192.168.1.x range).
These configuration changes took no real time to get up and going and when plugged in to replace the dlink, it took one simple power-on for the WRT54GS to step in line and do the job w/ no issues. I'm currently sticking with the stock firmware (dated 11/07) but like the idea of being able to use the other open source firmwares if needed on this model (just like the L-series).
And finally - price. This model was actually less than the L-model at the time of purchase and features the same configurability/flexibility in terms of firmware.
So far, the router has been a major improvement over the DLink that was in service. Speed is noticeably faster as well. Both routers were set to G-only, so I can only infer that that the Linksys handles WPA more efficiently.
Overall, this is a solid wireless router. You can spend less money for a wireless router - but for the level of service this provides, the few extra dollars is certainly worth the increased performance. Many consider wireless routers to be a commodity - everyone has one and they must all be the same, right? Wrong. There are some subtle nuances that make or break a good router. This model from Linksys gets the details down right and in doing so shines in its role as the main wireless and wired router on my network.
Kudos to Linksys (Cisco) for producing a quality product.