| Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router |
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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
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| User Reviews (1702 total): |
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I HATE ROUTERS!!!!, June 16, 2006
By Crazy-Z (Los Angeles, CA USA)
THIS WIRELESS TRASH IS A LUXURY FOR NERDS. DON'T BUY IT UNLESS U KNOW ALOT ABOUT WIRELESS ROUTERS. YOU WILL HAVE A HARD TIME WITH THE INSTALLATION IF U DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT NETWORKS. THAT'S WHY I HATE ROUTERS. EPECIALLY THIS LINKSYS GARBAGE.
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Turns into a useless brick quite often, June 16, 2006
By K. Ambrose (San Francisco, CA United States)
This router has a big problem. It has internal (not in your computer) operating software that users are recommended to update (due to bugs in the product when you receive it). BUT, the updating process is failure prone, inconvenient, AND THE MACHINE WILL COMPLETELY DIE AND BE PERMANENTLY USELESS IF THE UPDATE HICCUPS FOR ANY REASON. AND THERE ARE A TON OF REASONS WHY IT CAN AND WILL HICCUP.
This propensity to die permanently from a failed update could have been easily avoided. All the manufacturer had to do was stick a copy of the original operating software on a chip in the router so that if an update failed, you could copy back the original and try again. BUT LINKSYS WAS TOO CHEAP TO DO THIS.
So, enough said. Avoid this product unless you are willing to forego any attempts to update the internal firmaware, OR are willing to pay for a useless hunk of plastic in the event an update hiccups (as they often do).
As an alternative, I recommend the SMC products...
p.s. I am a I.T. professional...
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Throw away the installation CD it comes with, June 16, 2006
By cindyc789 (Yardley, Pennsylvania United States)
I had nothing but trouble with the installation CD provided with the router. Accessing the setup wizard through the Linksys website made configuration and set up a breeze.
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Smooth and easy, June 14, 2006
By Jack (Northern California USA)
In my application, the WRT54G is connected to a Wildblue satellite modem. One computer is running hardwired to port 1, two computers are networked via the wireless port. The installation was extremely straightforward, everything worked right out of the box.
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Easy to install. Cannot reboot remotely., June 10, 2006
By redhill (London, UK)
Like a lot of other reviewers, product is easy to install and speed is fast.
It's a charm, but only when you're not making config changes.
My gripe to share is that I'm using it with a cable modem (Comcast) and LinkSys routers (this is my second LinkSys) need to reboot if i) I reboot the cable modem; or ii) I modify the IP settings of the router.
I did NOT have to do this rebooting with my D-Link and Netgear routers.
This rebooting itself is not such a big deal. However, the pain adds up because the LinkSys management utility (the one when I go to 192.168.1.1) doesn't let me reboot the router from the screen. That means I have to physically plug/unplug the unit each time I make configuration changes. This is inconvenient since I installed the router in another part of the house, while I work in another room. The management utilities from D-Link and NetGear allows me to reboot the router, even thru wireless.
Thus the reason I don't give this 5 stars.
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works fine seemlessly, June 9, 2006
By Mohammed Rafeeq (calirfornia)
I am using the versio 5. this particular version receivec many negative reviews. but i am using this since a week i was able to setup easily and it works fine. i was scared initially but this is a gud router.
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G-Force, June 8, 2006
By OverTheMoon (overthemoonreview@hotmail.com)
[Personally I paid a little extra to own the Linksys WRT54GS Wireless-G Broadband Router with SpeedBooster model] I used to be hard-line only. I had a very nice Belkin 4-Port Cable/DSL Router that was cheap and fully universally compliant as a 10/100BT Ethernet Router (even supported Australian Bigpond settings in the internal software). It was the backbone of my home network. I also kept in the back of my mind that it was quite possible to add a wireless AP (access point) later if I wanted to go wireless. Sunny days are the reason why I just had to get outdoors with my laptop. When that wireless time came I decided to go with Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router. I was hoping to have 2 network routers, but the research showed that this was not recommended and to go Router + Switches + AP instead. The bottom line here is that although I planned on keeping the Belkin, making the Linksys a wireless AP, the Linksys ended up replacing the Belkin which is now sitting back inside its box again. Having an all-in-one wireless router/switch means everything in one box serving your broadband to any wired or wireless machine on your network. The Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router does not make your network limited to wireless-only devices because the router is built with Ethernet Out connections at the back. Now before you consider buying this router you need to make sure that you have an ADSL modem which absolutely must have an Ethernet connection (sign of a good brand) with USB optional, or without USB. What you do not want is USB-only. If you end up with a USB-only ADSL modem, throw it out, or return it. Just get rid of it. Your ADSL modem with Ethernet out is connected to the WAN Ethernet port of the router. The router then shares your internet Ethernet out to devices on the network and wireless out to devices on the network. If the router is using all of its four Ethernet ports and you need more, then you need to also buy a switch with this router. So again if you are serving to more than four machines via Ethernet then you need a switch. For 8 Ethernet out you can buy an Linksys EZXS88W EtherFast 10/100 8-Port Workgroup Switch or for more ports, such as 16, the Linksys EZXS16W EtherFast 10/100 16-Port Workgroup Switch. The switch is basically an Ethernet port splitter. It uses one Ethernet port of the router and gives you more. For big internet cafes you can keep adding switches so that the network connection looks something like adsl line->adsl modem->router->switch->switch->switch etc. The installation of the Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router was a piece of cake. Before you install it you should get your internet up and running first of all by going directly from the ADSL modem to your PC. Use the information the ISP gave you and try to create a working DHCP type connection. If your ISP can use DHCP then a lot of things become automatic and very easy to setup. You might need information on primary and secondary DNS settings if your ISP has them, ask for them and write them down. Once you have established an internet connections from your ADSL modem to your PC, then it is time to install the router, not before. Never install a router on a system that does not have the modem setup first. You are just begging for problems. If you cant get a working modem with internet connectivity then you are just going to exacerbate the issue by adding in a router. The Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router has a straightforward installation program. When you open the box the device has stickers on it and warnings about what you should read first. The installation process involved starting up the CD first, unplugging the Ethernet connection from the ADSL modem to the PC and putting it into the WAN port of the router, completing some tasks on the CD Software, assigning DHCP (makes it very easy), setting up security, writing down and printing out a wireless 128-bit encryption key, running Ethernet out from the router to the PC ( or more than one PC), turning wireless on, plugging in the Router, having Internet on all wired machines working, turn on notebook, detect wireless router, use encryption key, change Workgroup name on notebook, full Internet plus file sharing on network. Sometimes you need update the driver of Wireless NIC on your PC if you want to use WPA2 wireless security. Next up is the big test. Could I actually use my internet outdoors? I took my notebook outside and down the end of the garden approximately 35 feet (10 meters) to a 2 foot concrete house wall and window where there is a room 12 feet (4 meters) to a door, panel walls, and another 12 feet (4 meters) to the router. During the day, depending on weather conditions, my signal will read very strong to low, but never gone. It is my understanding however that this router can not penetrate all types of barriers like lead or metal walls. So unless you have this router inside a vault, you are going to be pretty much not just serving your internet all around your home, but to other homes also and probably places where you didn't think you would be serving at all. This is where you need to think strongly about making sure you activate some form of encryption on setup (don't skip it) and also change the name of your router and password. Make sure to keep the password or else you are locked out of your own router. The big bonus is that you can turn off wireless and still have a wired router with internet. The router has all the standard software functions that come with most routers. If anything new appears, the router has an easy firmware update function. Now if you really want to just add this router as an AP on your network, and not a router, just connect the LAN of the wireless router to the LAN of the hardwired router and do not use the WAN of the wireless router. Disable DHCP on the wireless router and make sure that you set up a non-conflicting IP address for the router. This should turn the wireless router into a wireless access point. There are software settings in the router to help prevent various malicious attacks. I have never had any spam ads or anything like that from this router. It does have two little shortcomings though. The power cord is about 3 feet (1 meter), a little short, so you might need to buy another power adaptor. It also has no off switch. I do not think this is for security reasons. You can unplug it at the rear just as easily. Apart from these two little problems this is a very cool piece of equipment. I would highly recommend it. Celebrate your new Wireless 54 Mbs!
Some notes on security: Use WPA2 Encryption (either WPA2 personal or WPA2 enterprise). If you have trouble connecting to a WPA2 wireless network then you probably need to update your wireless network card drivers. For WPA ALGORITHMS use TKIP+AES. In setting use Wireless MAC filter - enable and permit only. Update MAC list for Wireless devices. For your wireless MAC address Windows users should open Command Prompt and type ipconfig -all and the MAC address is the physical address on the wireless network adaptor. After you do this make sure that Wireless SSID Broadcast is DISABLED.
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Very good, it is what you expect., June 7, 2006
By O. Y. Parra (Bogota, Colombia)
This router is great, easy to install, speed is fine. I like it.
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Amazingly simple, affordable and effective, June 6, 2006
By opgu (Chicago)
For anyone concerned about being able to set this up yourself, do not fear. It really couldn't be much easier. The included CD walks you through the steps easily, and in about 30 minutes I had my second computer setup with wirless internet access and I was able to print to one printer from either computer by the network printer the setup created.
The price is right, the speed is there, and it doesn't get much easier. Highly recommended.
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Wonderful, June 3, 2006
By D. Bentt (Kensington, MD USA)
This router works like a dream. Reasonably easy to configure, great signal strength and great compatibility with products made by other manufacturers.
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Avoid!! Never worked again after upgrading firmware, June 3, 2006
By Alejandro Au Ma
I used it for about 3 months, for sharing a broadband internet connection at home, with very frequent resets, connection losts, I sometimes had to turn it off and on to get my laptop's wirelessly connected because it sometimes refuse to give me an ip address. When an firmware upgrade was available (1.00.9) i though that upgrading would solve my problems. What a fool i was, now with firmware 1.00.9 it refuses to communicate with my broadband modem, and i end up with some expensive paperweight, avoid!!! look elsewhere!!
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My First Wireless Router, June 2, 2006
By John (Monroe Towsnhip, NJ USA)
And boy am I a happy person! After all this time I finally set up a wireless router at home so that I can use my work computer wirelessly in my home. This blue little toy works wonderfully.
Anywhere I go in my house, literally anywhere, get's full-bars of connectivity. I do not see a decrease in speed or functionality at all.
Installation was very easy, and I was up and running within 20 minutes. I can honestly say that this product is probably one of the most practical and useful purchases I have ever made.
I highly recommend it to all!
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0 Star review / horrible product., June 1, 2006
By B. Parker (Indiana)
I am writing reviews on the version V everywhere I can find an audience. I have chosen to make it my hobby to help people avoid this horrible waste of plastic and leds.
I call it that because that, and a paperweight, is all it is good for. I had a version 1 Wrt54g that worked flawlessly for 2+years. When it suddenly stopped working altogether one day I returned it to get a replacement. That is when I recieved the version 5. It's all downhill from here. I could not get it to save any of my settings, Outlook Express absolutely will not work with any of the ***2*** Version 5 routers that have been sent to me. I am on my second router in 3 weeks, can not get Tech support to deem this one defective even though it is doing (not doing) the same exact things that the one just deemed defective 1.5 weeks ago!I havespent way too many hours out of my life with Linksys tech support, I will never buy another product from them as long as I live.This firmware is defective and I'm convinced that they know it. I am currently shopping for a netgear or D-link router, and suggest anyone reading this do the same.
Brian P.
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great network starter, June 1, 2006
By elvexxx (ANTIOCH, TN United States)
this is a good starting point for a first home network. I love the auto-config button. I primarily bought to use with my PDA, but I screwed up and bought an access point before this, and was wondering why nothing worked.
I'll just slap that in an old sustem and use it as a NAT
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Important - The latest V5 version is a piece of poo, June 1, 2006
By flash wrangler (San Francisco)
Like many people, I have found the WRT54G V5 a non-functional piece of equipment. Don't buy it.
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Outstanding router for home, May 28, 2006
By BT (Boston, MA United States)
I have read some of the negative reviews on this product, but they didn't scare me off. I use Linksys products at many of the locations I support at work, so I was pretty sure I wanted Linksys when I set up a wireless LAN at home.
First the general interest stuff
The version I have has firmware version 1.00.6 There is an upgrade avaialable, but the router worked fine so I left it alone. I plugged it in, turned it on, answered a couple questions it asked, and I was in business. I have never had a router set up so easily.
I tested signal strength by taking my laptop on a stroll. By the time I was behind my neighbor's garage and I was still getting good signal, I declared victory and came back inside.
Now a little technical detail.
This router wants to be on subnet 192.168.1.0. If you let the router's built-in DHCP assign the IP address to your devices, that is your only choice. I had to change the IP address of my network printer to accommodate this. That would be unacceptable in a corporate environment, but okay at home.
This router supports all of the wireless security standards available short of WPA Enterprise. Be sure to implement one of these. 64 bit WEP is the least common denominator so every wireless device should at least support 64 bit WEP. I am using WPA because it is more secure. At least a half dozen of my neighbors are using no security at all.
Summary
This router was easy to set up, it has a strong signal, and it supports any security scheme you would want at home. If you are looking to set something up in a medium sized office, keep looking, otherwise I reccommend this router highly.
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Excellent Router!, May 26, 2006
By Henkel Garcia (Caracas)
I've never used a wireless router and installing this one was so easy. It's for dummies. Now, I have my wireless network at home which, by the way, works beautifully. Great product for the price!
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Needs a new installation disk, May 25, 2006
By big nick (Ormond Beach, FL USA)
I thought the installation went smoothly until I tried to run it. Then the fun sarted. It wanted a WEP (whatever that is). I reinstalled and put in a WEP code but where I entered 6 characters, it translated to its own code of about 25 characters. Tried to get running again but it would not accept the code. Imagine entering 25 characters then confirming the code by entering again only to be rejected. I called Customer Service but after holding for 25 minutes I gave up and tried their chat room assistance. After 20 minutes of going in circles with a technician I gave up and tried e-mail help. This time I got some definitive answers. First they recommended upgrading. (I just bought this thing 2 days ago for God's sake.) The process for upgrading was not a simple task so I read on. There were some 25 steps I had to go through after upgrading. I don't have time in my life for this. Obviously their setup disk is inadequate and they want me to do the heavy lifting. My solution: return it and buy one that can be easily installed. This one is obviously designed for geeks. It sould have occurred to Linksys that there might be a few of us who are new to wireless.
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Couldn't be Simpler, May 22, 2006
By Jocelyn Collins
I was a little worried about purchasing this item after reading other customer reviews since I have no previous experience with wireless networks, but after opening the package and following the simple instructions included on the Setup disc, my WAN was up and running. I have SBC Yahoo! DSL, and the only thing the Setup program prompted me to do was enter my e-mail and password. The entire process took 10, 15 minutes tops. Even making my wireless network security-enabled took less than 5 minutes. I highly recommend this router.
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Not good for non-geeks, May 22, 2006
By Sheila Johnson (Baltimore, Maryland)
After FINALLY switching from dialup to DSL in May, 2006 (I was too cheap to pay for cable access so I had to wait for our phone company Verizon to get around to providing service to our house), I was dying to network our laptop so that we could use high-speed internet on both of our computers and so that two family members could be on the web simultaneously.
I was a bit concerned about setting up a wireless network because of the number of rooms through which the signal would have to travel to get to where we like to use the laptop. But the DSL was SO easy to set up, and I'm pretty good at software stuff, so I figured - how hard can it be?
The Linksys wireless router was quite clear about first running the CD, and about how to connect the various cables. Everything checked out fine UNTIL it tried to find the internet connection. Darn router couldn't find it. I triple checked all my cables, reset and rebooted and redid everything multiple times. Did some swearing. Slept on the problem. Tried again. Finally found the user manual which described about six different types of internet connections. Since I had no clue which mine was because it was written in techiespeak, I tried all of them that might possibly apply. Still no luck. I swore some more. After reading numerous internet reviews, it seemed that many people had had to call tech support to get their initial setup done, and I think that the product should ship with intelligible instructions.
After a week or so of nursing my wounds, I decided I should try a different brand of router. Bought a Belkin. Incredibly easy setup directions. Done in a mere few minutes. It found my internet connection automatically, but if it hadn't, there was a lovely typed instruction sheet in the box listing LOTS of DSL providers, including mine, with details for how to configure things. I never needed it, but it was nice to know it was there.
So far the Belkin is working just fine and the signal goes where I want it to.
Tomorrow I return the Linksys in an attempt to use my paltry personal buying power to lobby for better instruction writing by the Linksys folks.
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