| 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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VXWorks Junk, December 29, 2005
By Skunkwerx
VXWorks Junk, September 8, 2006
Reviewer: Bryan Garrett "skunkwerx" - See all my reviews
Do NOT purchase this unit thinking you will be able to upgrade the firmware. This is NOTHING like the old versions of the WRT54G and GS routers that would allow opensource firmware with lots of flexibility. This is the "new" version has 1/4th the memory and very buggy firmware that is NOT upgradable to customized versions. The WRT54GL is still upgradable but since Linksys failed to inform customers of these "features" I distrust their motives as a company. No surprise really since Cisco bought Linksys things have gone downhill. Cisco probably does not want a $50 router having the same capabilities as a $1000 enterprise appliance. I would like to urge you the consumer to vote with your hard earned money - send Linksys the message that we do NOT want proprietary router operating systems. I am not a Linux fanboy but I do believe that consumers should be given a choice. My message to Linksys "You took a very good product and then broke it - shame on you! It is further insulting that you kept the same model name when this is a completely different product than the old WRT54G (and GSs). This is dishonest and deceiving to your customers."
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After firmware update very nice router, December 28, 2005
By ravman4 (Monaca, PA United States)
If you get the latest version 5, then be sure to update to the latest firmware 1.00.4 (previous versions were buggy and caused slow downs). This is my second Linksys router and I am very pleased with its performance for Wireless G and wired. While some here are complaining that the new version doesn't run on Linux, this isn't an issue unless you plan to run third party firmware. The router is very good, especially at this low price point.
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Please do not purchase this product, December 28, 2005
By Kyle (Columbus, OH)
Linksys released a new version of this product in the October/November 2005 timeframe, which is version 5. Versions 4 and earlier were well-tested and rock solid. However, the new version 5 has many issues. The difference between version 4 and 5 is that Linksys changed the OS from Linux to VxWorks, however it is impossible to tell this by looking at the box, or by ordering online. By doing this, they took a product that was tested and debugged for a couple of years, which made it very stable, and changed it to one that was rushed out the door and is poorly designed. Please ignore any comments that were made before the November/December 2005 timeframe for this product. Those comments are for a product that was completely different at the time.
Out of the box, the router does not function well at all. It cannot access many websites and the graphics do not load on many others. Download speeds were very slow. Also, many online games and gaming systems such as the PSP and the X-Box do not work well with this product. Linksys did release a new firmware version on December 9, 2005. This new version is 1.00.4. It fixes some issues, but still has many more. If you want to download the new firmware version, go to www.linksys.com. Go to "Downloads" which is at the very top of the page. From there choose the product "WRT54G V5.0 - Wireless-G Broadband Router". Go to the Firmware link and then download the firmware. Save the file to your computer. It is a zipped file so you will need to unzip it before you can update the firmware. From the configuration page of the router, there is a "Firmware Upgrade" page under the Administration page. Go there and choose the unzipped file on you computer. This should upgrade and then reset your Linksys router.
The 1.00.4 version actually does perform much better than the default version that was shipped with the router. The download speeds are much better, and the accessing of most sites has been fixed, along with some of the online games. However, there are still some sites that do not load properly and several online games do not function properly. A couple sites that I still cannot access are:
www.2kgames.com
www.mbtrading.com
Some more sites that are somewhat slow loading and I've heard of other people having problems accessing are:
www.tmobile.com
www.ebgames.com
www.nvidia.com
www.gogamer.com
www.costco.com
www.realtor.com
One online game my wife and I play frequently is Disney's Toontown (www.toontown.com). This game still does not function properly with the 1.00.4 version of firmware for the WRT54G V5.0.
I do not recommend this product at all. Versions 4 and lower of the WRT54G are very stable and perform very well, the reason why some of the comments are very positive for this product. The Version 5 does not work well at all. Please do not purchase this product. If you are still thinking about possibly buying the Linksys WRT54G, I urge you to go to www.google.com and search for WRT54G version 5. You will get many web sites and messages boards detailing the problems others are having with this product. From what I have read, the WRT54GL is the same as the WRT54G version 4, where the L stands for Linux. If I were you, I would go ahead and purchase the WRT54GL product instead, or go with another manufacturer such as Netgear. I do not want anyone else to have the headaches I have had with the WRT54G version 5.
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great product, December 27, 2005
By George S. Kythreotis (Whitestone, NY USA)
does evrything that it says it does and well too
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Very limited., December 24, 2005
By Anonymous Amazon Reviewer (USA)
Does not allow port forwarding unless the target computer has statically assigned IP. Here is the exact text from the setup page: Any PC whose port is being forwarded must have its DHCP client function disabled and must have a new static IP address assigned to it because its IP address may change when using the DHCP function. That alone is a huge -ve.
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Great WIFI Router Once You Get it Setup, December 24, 2005
By Alex (New York, NY)
I've had this router for about a year and it's worked really well for me. The range is reasonably good and it doesn't require frequent re-boots like some of the others on the market. I had a bit of difficulty with setup, and have since had occasional problems opening ports to play games, share pictures, files, etc... I also live in an apartment and have found that so many people have this router that the signals often conflict. Changing the WIFI channel through the administrator page seems to solve this problem, but it's a bit difficult to find.
I'd also highly recommend some software called Network Magic (www.networkmagic.com) that helped solve a lot of the setup and management problems. I came across it while using AOL and I've found it to be really helpful for router setup, management, and for sharing files and printers across home PCs. It also allows you to share pictures over the web. You can get a 14-day trial of the software on their site (www.networkmagic.com).
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Poor hardware, poor help desk, poor service, December 21, 2005
By Tex
Six calls, 10 hours on line with help desk located overseas (hard to understand). Still could not get router configured to work. They sent replacement that was an earlier version. Left it in the box and bought a Netgear router. Ten minutes, worked perfectly.
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WRT54G is a decent unit, despite..., December 21, 2005
By j.k. (Washington State)
I have owned the WRT54G from Linksys for several years and have operated on their 1.4.2 version firmware. It has performed admirably until now. It started to drop the internet connection and not let me ping or surf into the admin web interface in the unit. I flashed the firmware and upgraded to version 4 which is stable and works great. You get more features and you can configure this unit manually in many ways.
That being said, despite the fact that other users are giving it a bad review, it IS a consumer model, and NOT a PRO-sumer or professional piece of equipment. If you want extreme flexibility in a router or switch or Wi-Fi AP, then get a Cisco router or other pro-level piece of gear. People have too high of expectations for cheaper equipment. Its not the way it works folks. You get what you pay for and this unit goes from $50-100 bucks. A professional piece of gear goes for in the $thousands of dollars range. This unit offers great price and flexibility given the price.
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Bait and Switch by Linksys, December 20, 2005
By Keithdizzle (Seattle)
Recently, Linksys silently switched the operating system on this router to VxWorks from Linux. In the process, they have taken a rock-solid router and turned it into total crap. The new "upgraded" version 5 being sold off in stores is awful. Every few hours this piece of garbage will crash and force you to power cycle it. Watch out for the settings page, 50% of the changes you make will freeze it and require a power a cycle. Also, the VPN capabilities don't work correctly. Overall, anyone who has used this router in the past is going to feel very, very cheated with the new version.
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Version 5 is horrible, December 20, 2005
By Brad
Beware of the version 5 of this router, they have taken a great product and turned it into garbage by dumbing it down hardware wise and switching the OS. This product was release very premature and has many issues. They just now finally released a firmware that allowed more than 256k to flow through the router, the changelog for the firmware update states "Resolves issues with slow downstream speeds". It seems that Linksys no longer cares about their reputation and only cares about producing their product for as cheap as possible and screwing their customers.
Very bad move by Linksys.
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Would Not Buy any LInksys Product, December 19, 2005
By Harry D (Santa Cruz, California)
I have had the WRT54G and a Linksys wirelass adapter for a year or so. I would not advise buying any Linksys product because the technical support is awful.
Unless you are an expert, you will probably need help from tech support sooner or later. My experiences with tech support have been uniformly bad.
I have a simple system, two Win XP computers, a router, and a wireless adapter.
Yet, the support people seem unable to solve common problems. When they can't, the blame your ISP, modem, Windows, or whatever. There is no way to get connected to a higher level person.
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Not For Static IPs or Hosting, December 16, 2005
By SEO Specialist (Chicago, IL)
First off, the router works fine for normal consumer use. It was easy to install and was as simple as any other Linksys product I have purchased and setup (I have owned the BEFW11S4 for nearly 4 years, I have version 1). The range and speed are great.
HOWEVER!!!!!!!
If you wish to use this router with static IP addresses (or static PPOE) it is impossible. There are forums after forums complaining about the same thing I will tell you below.
I recently bought a Dell PowerEdge 2850 for an online music lyrics website I am starting and purchased the WRT54G as well. The BEFW11S4 simply doesn't offer any type of UPNP setup which is required for remote assistance.
Shortly after setting up the WRT54G I realized that there are no adjustable WAN settings. Supposedly it "automatically" configures to your WAN. Well that is probably all hunky dorey if you are a normal consumer however when you are trying to set a specific IP address for the WRT54G to use to connect to the internet, it creates a problem.
Furthermore, the router is not user friendly regarding the opening of ports that are necessary for setting up a web server (i.e. port 80 for HTTP, Port 21 for FTP, Port 3389 for Remote Assistance, etc.). It allows you to DMZ however doing that simply opens up an entire can of security worms that no one wants to mess with.
So what do I recommend instead? The D-Link DI-624 router. Why? Because not only does it allow you to manually set just about anything you can think of, it even gives examples of how to setup a web server and which set of settings you will need to do so. It is EXTREMELY easy. Don't worry it also offers the "Wizard" to help the normal consumer.
I was a very very very loyal Linksys fan, but this D-Link has me changing my mind.
Hope the review was helpful for all you folks trying to setup your own site.
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Linksys router + open source firmware is a great solution!, December 15, 2005
By Science Experiments (California, USA)
I've been trying to solve some networking problems with my neighbor for a while (we share a DSL line). I've been using a Linksys WRT54g for some time, but recently I installed some open source firmware on it: DD-WRT
This lets me configure the device in much greater detail and it adds many new features to this device. I don't recommend doing this unless you have some knowledge of networking, but this upgrade has made me love this router! For the price, you can't beat this solution.
There are several open source firmware upgrades available - dd-wrt is the best one I found (it is recommended by experts on the web). I'm now hoping more manufacturers will release their firmware so that the community can upgrade lots of products in this way! But for now at least I have a wrt-54g and dd-wrt. A great combination.
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problems until i returned it, December 14, 2005
By jpx (edmonton)
just wanted to add my voice to the chorus of people having problems with this router. from the start i was not able get it to connect one of my two laptops, even though that laptop connects fine to other wireless networks. the second laptop (iBook) was OK at first but then twice the linksys router dropped the connection and stopped serving a wireless connection. it was like it disappeared, as far as the wireless iBook could tell. the router still connected computers to the internet by a cabled connection, but not wireless. no amount of resetting or calling tech support fixed this. they eventually said i should return it to them but i don't want such an unreliable router. i'll return it, but i'm buying a router from a different manufacturer.
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Find older version, December 13, 2005
By Christopher Bahr (Houston, TX)
The newest version of this router is v.5 What they did was cut the ram in half and cut the flash memory in half, then they replaced their linux OS with VxWorks. This has caused the problems you'll read about in other reviews here. Look for an older version on ebay or go to best buy or frys and look at serial numbers on the bottom. Version 4's serial number starts with CDFA. The crappy version 5 starts with CDFB.
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Don't buy this router, December 11, 2005
By E. Drew
People are having tons of problems with the WRT54G Version 5, just try googling "WRT54G Version 5". For some reason this version does not play well with DSL. I installed it and it cut my connection speed by 2/3. Tech support was absolutely no help and it took a full hour of wrangling to get them to issue an RMA. Not sure what they will replace this one with -- probably just another of the same that also won't work.
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Works like a champ!!, December 9, 2005
By Slick Nick (California)
I recently bought the WRT54G V5 router along with the WUSB54G adapter to replace my ancient and slooooow Intel AnyPoint phoneline network. After a couple hours of trying to get the router to work, the LinkSys tech support and I came to the conclusion that it had a power problem that couldn't be fixed. No problem. I sent it back postage paid and got a replacement a week later. This one worked like a champ. I didn't bother with the CD-ROM setup and just went right into the browser-based setup utility to set the router up. In about 15 minutes I had the security and everything else set up. I plugged the WUSB54G adapter into my client computer, spent a few minutes setting it up and, PRESTO, I have a superfast wireless network with both computers able to use my ADSL broadband connection. The signal and link strength at the adapter is almost 90% and I can transfer files between the computers at a consistent 50+ Mbps. I'm a happy camper now! I highly recommend this router and other LinkSys products. I suspect that most of the people giving this router a bad review are not following the user friendly and easy to understand setup procedure instructions and are setting it up wrong. Then they blame the router because it won't work! The only reason I gave 4 stars is because the first router was defective. Otherwise, it would have been 5 big stars!
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decent router, December 9, 2005
By techguru
The first time i set this up, it reset it self the next day and i had to set it up all over again, but since then it has been perfect. The range sucks...it works inside my house but the second you step outside it starts to die. However, since im not trying to set up a wi-fi zone, it is good enough and worth the money.
**note: make sure the device is in a well ventilated area and not sitting on carpet, because the device will overheat and reset its self. That is why mine reset, but i have moved it to a better area now.
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Not worth all the trouble, December 8, 2005
By C. Schwartz
I, like so many others bought this router before I became aware of all the problems with version 5. I spent over 3 hours during a period of two days on the phone with tech support (in the Philippines) going through all sorts of completely useless changes to the configuration. I even received such ridiculous suggestions as "Just take it back and exchange it, not all of them are bad." Ooh, that was helpful. Finally, in a rage, I insisted on speaking to a tech in Irvine, CA where the company is based. In less than 15 minutes the very knowledgeable tech immediately recognized my problem even admitting that it shouldn't have taken so long for them to route my call to him. He emailed me a file containing a firmware upgrade (version 1.00.3 that has yet to be released to the public) helped me through the upgrade and the router has been working fine since. That's the only reason I gave it two stars instead of 1 since it actually works now. Probably better just to steer clear.
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Unhappy Customer, December 8, 2005
By Cobber (FL)
I purchased this router to replace a D-Link router that stopped working after 4 years of service. The WRT54G router actually slowed down my connection. The Linksys support link told me to take it back to the store which I did but the replacement was the same. Everytime that I called Linksys they would have me go through the same process and finally told me that it was my computer (which works fine without the Linksys router). This statement was followed up by the tech support hanging up on me. I don't believe this router is worth the trouble.
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