| Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router |
 enlarge
|
Model: WRT54G
Brand: Linksys
Manufacturer: Linksys
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 1702
Platforms: Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows NT 3.5, Windows NT 4, Windows NT 5, Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows 2000 Server, Windows
Operating system: Windows XP Professional Edition
Form factor: External
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
|
|
|
| |
| Features: |
All-in-one Internet-sharing router, 4-port switch, and Wireless-G (802.11g) access point
Wireless data rates up to 54 Mbps--5 times faster than 802.11b
Shares a single Internet connection and other resources with Ethernet wired and Wireless-G clients
Interoperates with 802.11b clients at 11 Mbps
Advanced wireless security with 128-bit WEP encryption, MAC, or IP address filtering |
| |
| Description: |
| LINKSYS WRT54G - Wireless-G is the emerging 54 Mbps wireless networking standard that's almost five times faster than the widely deployed Wireless-B ( 802.11b ) products found in homes, businesses and public wireless hotspots around the country. The best part is, since they share the same 2.4GHz radio band, Wireless-G devices talk to existing 11 Mbps Wireless-B equipment. Operates as a DHCP Server NAT technology to protect against Internet intruders Supports VPN pass-through Easy configuration with web browser based configuration utility |
| |
| User Reviews (1702 total): |
|
Excellent speed but cordless phone will interfere, February 7, 2007
By J. Michel (Nashville, TN)
This is an excellent wireless router. We have it connected to our desktop and it works great with our Nintendo Wii. It also works great with notebooks with wireless adapters. It's password protected so the neighbors can't steal your bandwidth. The only problem with it is that it cuts out sometimes, not often, for no apparent reason, but I found that if I talk on the cordless phone (2.4 GHz) near it or walk around using the phone, it will sometimes cut out so maybe that's the reason. When this happens I just turn it off and back on again and it resets.
|
Great Router, February 7, 2007
By Wigjiggy (North Carolina)
Easy installation and great signal strength. I get a 54 Mbps signal all over my house, even down stairs. Phone support is great too.
|
Excellent device!!!, February 7, 2007
By Reinaldo Vilorio (Dominican Republic)
This is my first time using a router. The set up was a little difficult, but thanks to the Linksys great support provided by phone I was able to use it.
|
Good router--but not for Macintosh, February 6, 2007
By mn (Los Angeles)
The router works fine, but the enclosed CD is only for PCs, and there is absolutely no way to set it up without calling customer support. The setup takes 15-30 minutes, and requires being walked through a number of private web screens until you are finally set up with your WEP protection, etc.
I've had to call twice. The tech support based in the Phillipines was excellent. The tech support based in India was pretty awful.
|
not for average user, February 6, 2007
By tmlwin
I just wanted a wireless router that works, with security that's easy to set up. This is a wrong choice. It took me a while to get through the mumbo-jumbo in the documentation and finally get everything set up, although I know more about networking than an average user. The CD doesn't work with my Mac. Then it just stopped working after a day. I went through the whole set up again. And it broke again. Calling the tech support didn't help. After about 5 times through the cycle, I really want to throw this unit agaist the wall, but I remembered I payed $70 for this. I HATE this product. I also have friends and neighbors who have similar stories and gave up on linksys. Don't get linksys. I used to have Netgear that worked so much better. I will never by linksys again.
|
COMPUSA warned me I'd need tech support.., February 6, 2007
By Ronald Hinton
I had to pay $150.00 to have the tech guy come over and do his thang. Otherwise, be a wiz kid before you think about installing this yourself. It works though.
|
Excelent router, February 6, 2007
By Helder Martins (Caracas, VE)
This is the best router I ever had. It is so wonderful because I can do whatever I want with it installing it community's firmware and I don't have to use the one from Cisco that restrics its use. I've had it for a long time working with more signal that it gives from factory and it has been working great!
|
great, February 5, 2007
By Corporate Monkey (Bay Area, CA)
one of the best routers i've ever bought. Set up was a breeze and this thing is hackable which is also nice.
|
Model with less memory than its predecesors, February 1, 2007
By a balbas (Guatemala, GT)
This model has less memory than the previous models and its firmware can NOT be easily changed to one based in linux. If you want to change the firmware you are better off buying the WRT54GL.
|
Decent product, lousy support, January 31, 2007
By Chris Adams (San Diego, CA USA)
The router worked fine until Linksys shipped a buggy firmware update which prevented Macs from using the router. They shipped a fix somewhat later but the firmware update left my router in an unusable state. I reported the problem to Linksys: two weeks, a buggy website and several unanswered emails later I finally received an RMA - and found out that Linksys expects me to pay for shipping to fix their problem.
|
|
|
All around GREAT, January 31, 2007
By acousticangel (NC)
I replaced a router that had to be rebooted frequently. At first once a month, till 2 or 3 times a DAY. I have NEVER had to reboot this item. I went wireless for one computer in my house was too far away. Their customer service is free and very helpful. I recently bought a laptop, again, customer service helped me download the latest firmware, and configure it to work on my own network. CS is 5 star, and the router has great range for my needs and is very reliable. Hope this helps.
|
No problems with router but tricky install, January 30, 2007
By D. R. Fernandez (Sandia Park, NM USA)
Router has worked flawlessly after install on Windows XP desktop with cable modem internet access. Easy set with CD wizard provided. Setting up home network was a little harder than advertised. Directions were not totally clear when it came to setting up all security settings and working around multiple firewall programs on computers on network, specially McAfee Firewall, but once I figured it out, working great, Linksys web site was helpful throughout process. Outstanding range, I have not had to reset or reboot in over 3 months of use. Router had no negative impact on my primary computer, overall good speed for most work on laptop, although noticeably slower on video downloads. Would recommend and buy again.
|
Caveman compatible.., January 30, 2007
By jtz105
This is my first router and it could not have been easier to setup... Linksys gives you a disk with step by step instructions and the next thing you know,your wireless is up and running. One note of interest,it was easier to set up the encryption keys (security) on the XP Pro machines than the Win.2000.
|
Defective by design, January 28, 2007
By Bill Clay (Somerville, NJ USA)
Since "upgrading" from a Linksys wireless-B router, I've had to consistently power-cycle this piece of junk. Sometimes I lose my connection for 5-10 minutes and it will return without intervention. Other times, the connection goes down hard - and the only way to fix it is to power down the router completely, wait a few seconds, and plug it back in. I have to do this at least three times a week, sometimes multiple times in a day. All this on a device that doesn't even have an on-off switch.
PING 192.168.2.1 (192.168.2.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
From 192.168.2.101 icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.2.101 icmp_seq=2 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.2.101 icmp_seq=3 Destination Host Unreachable
--- 192.168.2.1 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 0 received, +3 errors, 100% packet loss, time 2012ms , pipe 3
Am I just unlucky? Is my network misconfigured? Was my router built by a disgruntled employee late on a Friday afternoon? Here's what Wikipedia has to say about this device:
"Known issues
As shipped, the Linksys firmware crashes under heavy peer-to-peer network traffic, such as BitTorrent. The reason for this crash is that Linux's connection tracking by default keeps track of old connections for five days. This five day limit quickly overwhelms the router when there are a high number of network connections, such as with BitTorrent, and can only be resolved by power cycling the router. For a detailed tutorial on how to permanently fix this issue on a pre-v5 router see the uTorrent FAQ[15]. Briefly, it involves installing a 3rd party firmware."
End quote. And there's not enough memory in this thing to install a full version of DD-WRT (3rd party firmware) so you're essentially SOL. What can I say. I think this product is a lemon. By design.
Update: I purchased a Buffalo WHR-G54S to replace this hunk of garbage. The Buffalo has been ROCK SOLID for more than a week - no intervention, no power cycling, no lost connections, nothing. It's like a dream come true. I will never buy another Linksys product.
|
Excellent Product, January 26, 2007
By Michael T. Pitts (Ohio)
I highly recommend this router. The only problem i had with it was an installation problem but a few minutes on the phone with tech and it was all ready to go. Haven't had any problems since then WORTH THE MONEY!!
|
Excellent Product--and YES, MAC Friendly, January 25, 2007
By artemis2854 (Upstate NY)
I run Linux, Mac plus I have an old laptop with Win2K...set this up thru a wired router as an additional network/access point. Setup is a breeze. My iMac picked up the connection right out of the box, but of course, that was an open access, I wanted encryption. It can be configured from within mac by using the web-based utility...I wouldn't use Safari...I went with Firefox. Again, a breeze. One Mac caveat...if you used WEP, when the dialog box asks you for the "password" to join the network, this is the 26-character hex key that's generated from within the setup utility, but make sure you choose "WEP/40-128HEX" from the drop-down menu!!! In less than 5 min, I was up and running on all computers. After all, Linksys is a div. of Cisco, so I am not surprised.
|
Excellent Router- setup Can be a bit confusing to the uninitiated, January 25, 2007
By R. Brist (Lafayette, IN United States)
I bought this router for my daughter's apartment. Easy to hookup but I did NOT use the CD that came with the router. I went to the Linksys website and downloaded the EasyLink Advisor program (22mb) that walks you through everything and more or less automates the process. I liked the router so well I replaced my standard wired router with this one after I bought a Wii so I could use the wireless feature. The setup for me was as easy as it was with my daughter's router. Signal strength has been excellent and I have no complaints. Your mileage may vary.
|
WHAT A PIECE OF JUNK !!!, January 25, 2007
By Mike d
I have been a huge Linksys fan in the past. But I have had 14 months of intermittent problems from Hell. Many hours of phone calls to Linksys says all is fine and Comcast says it is the wireless router. I figured it was my very old owned modem and bought a new one for $80 bucks. Same problem!!! Disconnected WRT54G and dusted off an old wireless B router and all was great. With all the phone calls to Linksys, they wont exchange it (under warranty) until I reconnect it and go through troubleshooting it on the phone yet another time with them. I just spent 30 minutes on the phone with 2 people, on hold once for 10 minutes because the guy was telling me it was a 1 year warranty and I was saying it was 3 years. OH, NOW he tells me this v5 and the v6 have known issues, never mentioned before. Just forget it. My time is worth more than this garbage.
|
Great Product, January 25, 2007
By ToddOhio (Tipp City, OH USA)
I bought this product for my network. I have 2 PCs connected all the time on it and then frequently connect a Apple iBook with no problem. The set-up a breeze with the PCs. But, setting up the iBook was a little confusing. After trying a number of things and then finally just calling the help line the problem was easily solved by just placing a dollar sign ($) before the WEP password. It connected perfectly and has ever since! Definately recommend this product to anyone, especially those who have both PCs and MACs.
|
Wireless satisfaction, January 24, 2007
By AMV (Costa Rica)
I am very pleased to tell you that this product has been working great since that I got it and I have a very good signal range all over my place even using an internal wireless adapter on my notebook.
|
|
|
| Copyright 2001-2007 WiFiReview.com |
|