Cisco-Linksys WRT54GL Wireless-G Broadband Router
by Linksys
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Category: CE
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Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: LinksysAudio: English (Original Language)
Format: CD
Platform: Linux
Model: WRT54GL
Color: Blue / Black
Product features:
- Linux-based Internet-sharing Router with built-in 4-port Switch and Wireless-G Access Point
- Shares a single Internet connection and other resources with Ethernet wired and Wireless-G and -B devices
- Includes four Fast Ethernet ports for your wired computers and devices
- Wireless signals are protected by industrial-strength WPA2 encryption, and your network is protected from most known Internet attacks by a powerful SPI firewall
- Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010 (Disc Version)
- Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 (Win/Mac) [OLD VERSION]
- Verbatim MediaShare 1 TB Home Network Storage 97159 (Silver)
- Microsoft Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade [Home Premium to Professional]
- AmazonBasics RJ45 Cat5e Ethernet Patch Cable (14 Feet/4.2 Meters)
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Cisco-Linksys WRT54GL Wireless-G Broadband Router
Customer Review: All your wireless, wired, and switch dreams come true with one device
Summary: 5 Stars
I think I have reached intermediate experience levels with this router and have a sweet secure and optimized network for home use.
I first bought just one WRT54GL to see what all the fuss was about only after my best friend told me how he could flash his router with GPL linux firmware as others have done before so please other reviews.
Reality was all I really needed was a wireless PCI card for a computer I had at the other side of the house and needed to access my already present hot-spot in order to browse on. I instead felt spending the extra $20 and purchased my first WRT54GL (got a little frisky).
I did the all the research first and determined that the newer WRT54G is not so sweet w/third party firmware e.g version 5.x plus and that this WRT54GL is like the best of the breed for firmware upgrades (voids your Linksys warranty, just sidebar warning mind you).
I wanted complete control over my options in case something came up that could be solved through Linksys firmware. I also determined DD-WRT was the choice for firmware, I played with Linksys' latest upgrade and Tomato but liked the cleaner and more novice (end user friendly) like UI DD-WRT provided plus it has like 10-fold many more options. I first created a simple client bridge to my D-LINK DSL router/gateway from Q-WEST. The only big road black was to figure out the ip's from original D-LINK routers are 192.168.0.1 ip/netmask and the WRT54GL defaults to 192.168.1.1. Once I changed the IP of the WRT54GL to 192.160.0.30 for example I was cooking with gas (getting the WRT54GL on the same netmask)! I read that the DHCP should come from the main D-LINK router so set the WRT54GL to not provide this DHCP and get it's ip from wireless connection via D-LINK. I was surfing with no wires.
I read so much about how folks used two of these WRT54GL in order to WDS two routers (google it) to create bridges so I bought an other WRT54GL. I played with WDS and it worked but like I said I am just an intermediate level so far and never really got what WDS could do for my network plan (what was the advantage after all it half's your bandwidth). What I discovered was a simple bridge repeater and a virtual hot-spot from the remote WRT54GL once it was bridged and in repeater mode (gave the virtual hot-spot a different name, but could have used same name). I fixed that and added WPA/TKIP security between D-LINK (the best D-LINK 6.0 firmware has) and used the remote hot-spot on the WRT54GL for the Wii (which actually supports higher security and so does the WRT54GL running DD-WRT BTW once Wii is upgraded). I ran my cable from WLAN connection switch from WRT54GL which is an option (so you don't waste the four LAN ports for such things) to the machine I wanted to become wireless in order to browse and viola the other side of the house was good to go. I MAC authenticate and AP isolation that side of the house for security reason, my neighbor is cool but works for Q-WEST (who can you trust these days)!
So what did I do with the second WRT54GL I bought? I used it to hook directly to the D-LINK via wired RJ-45 cable to LAN port and made it a DHCP forwarder (which appears wired from D-LINKED logs yet is wireless also yes it is wired). I set the power to 1mw and AP isolated and made it have a wireless hot-spot with WEP 128-bit. Why break-it in 2 minute :30 second WEP way when WPA or better takes longer for the bad guys?
I only use it for my DS lite's access point, the DS only can only manage WEP 128! I lowered the wattage to 1wm and still works in all spots throughout the house BTW...played with ACK setting and TCP,UDP timeouts. What do I mean by those terms? Still confused? or not maybe you haven't found these settings on your router firmware then you get the point.
If you can think of a network, be it wired or wireless, this deal called the WRT54GL can do it for you. BTW the thing is also a switch for your wired computers has four of them so I got rid of my switch to make a cleaner workspace.
One last thing to think about are the antennas for the WRT54GL can easily be directional with tin foil and two tall tin cans (Monster cans of course you nerds)! I could bump the transmitter to 251mW though that may exceed FCC laws for 2.4 G (100mW is limit I think depending on your antenna gain e.g. 16gb for that output). One can also overclock from 200Mhz to 250Mhz. I leave these parameters stock or lower. The load is so low on both WRT54GL's they are not needed. I built a tin foil antenna and gained 5% more signal strength in minutes with a tin cutter. The hyper settings will cause heating issues for sure, you may need a muffin fan to cooler off the device. Also tried screen mess antenna take a look at free antenna.org for the template of shape.
The very last thing...WDS from what I read will allow you to set up a mesh network. It uses MAC exchanges of the WIRELESS macs between your WRT54GLs. Imagine a house full of these boxes just sitting alone plugged into the wall, no computers needed for wireless and then you could roam your farm and always have Wi-Fi access!!!
I am not done exploring the full feature set of this device but so far very happy discovering. I feel liberated having bought this device and now have any option out there for my home network needs. MUST HAVE for all Wi-Fi, wired, and switch dreamers. Ohhhh....Yeah make sure you flash router with the mini DD-WRT first then reset to factory defaults then flash to DD-WRT generic and reset to factory defaults, change the administration password account before playing further. BTW got a third one now for my neighbor's hot-spot...just set it up at bridge repeater and added antennas aimed it and created virtual hot-spot w/WPA and now can surf any signal I can find from in my house via the connection. Some folks in close knit hoods do this to set up free wireless for those less experienced and less in cash, I am not sure how legal it is so BEWARE.
Description of Cisco-Linksys WRT54GL Wireless-G Broadband Router
The Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router is really three devices in one box. First, theres the Wireless Access Point, which lets you connect both screaming fast Wireless-G (802.11g at 54Mbps) and Wireless-B (802.11b at 11Mbps) devices to the network. Theres also a built-in 4-port full-duplex 10/100 Switch to connect your wired-Ethernet devices together. Connect four PCs directly, or attach more hubs and switches to create as big a network as you need. Finally, the Router function ties it all together and lets your whole network share a high-speed cable or DSL Internet connection. Once your computers are connected to the Router and the Internet, they can communicate with each other too, sharing resources and files. All your computers can print on a shared printer connected anywhere in the house.Digital Cameras & Photo Categories
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