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 $22.00 (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: Great WAP - Non-functional as a Router
Summary: 1 Stars
It's unfortunate that I have to post a negative review on this product as I have used many other Linksys products in the past, and they have all been great.
However this particular router, which I purchased about 1 month ago, appears to be a major exception. My router was a version 5 router, and was delivered with version 1.00.0 firmware. As a former electrical engineer, with 20+ years in the PC industry I know it is never a good thing to get the first version of anything. Nevertheless I pressed on.
Installation is supposed be done using their super installation CD, (which I dislike intensely, as I like to know what the "experts" are doing to my system). Nevertheless, I tried the CD. It is supposed to help the wireless neophyte install a secure system. As expected, it bombed halfway through the install. I cleaned my system, downloaded the real user manual from the Lynksys website, and proceeded to install the router.
It worked great! Range was fantastic and all was well. The security was easy to set up if you knew what you were doing. (Several internet sites will describe this process step by step, and it seems that even the most elementary security will be better than what most people use as I found 2 unsecured wireless networks from my own living room).
However, after about a day, and then almost every day or two the router would lose its connection with my broadband cable network. FWIW, I'm on Optonline, have a stable PC running XP-Pro and use a Motorola Surfboard SB4100 as a cable modem. As 4 other PC's were also connected to the network, I would find out pretty fast when the connection was dropped. The only solution was a hardware reset.
I spoke with India 3 times in pursuit of a solution. They tried everything including a firmware upgrade, and a disabling of most protocols that had worked for 5+ years with my old dependable Linksys BEFSR41 Router. (One even suggested that I might have been better off if I could find a Version 4 router) I finally got through to a Cisco technical support rep in NY who suggested another bios update and then closed my "issue".
The connection would now go for a few days before dropping, when I finally took the advice of a friend, (with a Netgear wireless router with similar problems), and converted the router to a Wireless Access Point, WAP. I reinstalled my old trusty BEFSR41 as the main router for the cable modem, and disabled DHCP in the WRT54G - You will need to set up a static IP address for the wireless router that's different from the normal 192.168.1.1 and change where the DHCP starts to number the dynamic addresses.
It's been running without a glitch for 2 weeks now. As I bought it from Amazon, and had already processed a rebate claim, I thought it would be better to do this than try for a swap and return. Prospective buyers should check the latest bios and beware.
Customer Review: Worst router ever.
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought this router in addition to a Linksys wireless laptop range extender PCI Card and a wireless PCI adapter for my desktop.
I received this router in new condition, opened it up and was able to plug and play into my PC laptop for the most part. The only immediate problem I encountered was getting wireless settings set up for my Mac on wireless, but that wasn't too much of a problem.
Shortly after however, while using my Mac I started in with a regular routine of getting ready to play some online games and watch videos on YouTube... I was stumped to find that my connection had stopped, I tried manually reconnecting via software and no dice. So I went up checked the hard connection to the PC and still nothing, so I power cycled the router and was up and running again.
This was the first sign of bad news because I've had problems with broadband providers and their supplied routers doing a similar thing, which is why I opted to buy one on my own. So my connection came back to both computers, fine, went back and loaded the Mac up again only to take a break shortly after which left my Mac to go into sleep mode. When I came back, sure enough the connection was dead again, so I went through the same steps and eventually got it to come back up.
At this point I went on to check firmware which was a minor update behind, so I set that up and updated the router. That didn't change anything at all. So I called customer service who was initially helpful in the sense of calling me back on my cell phone since my "land line" is through Vonage and I can't very well talk on it while resetting routers. So the CS Rep talked me through all the work I had just done to update firmware and change the router settings, which is fine. Then he wanted me to go to my Mac and try doing things from there, I went downstairs and lost my cell reception and he didn't call back.
I was pretty sure at this point that he wasn't going to provide anything that I couldn't do myself so, whatever.
I tried to use the DD-WRT firmware update, but something went wrong along the flashing of the router after uploading the firmware file and I ended up with a blue-black brick sitting on my desk. I'm in the process of sending it back to Amazon for a refund, since it was clearly defective and did not meet my quality standards for a product. Hopefully I'll find a comparable product, I'm considering still the WRT54GL or perhaps another brand altogether.
Before this incident I was a Linksys fan, having never encountered problems with them or their hardware before. Now however I think I may change my mind especially after the lengthy review on here by the man who detailed his attempts to go through the hierarchy of Linksys CS, who offered him routers while routinely dismissing the problem inherent in the product, only to be lied to and hung up on...
Wish I had read it first...
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.