| 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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Problems, July 20, 2004
By unknown
I bought this router a few months ago and have had a host of problems with it. First, it frequently drops the radio connection. This is apparently a common problem - I've seen quite a few people discussing it on various message boards. Second, the VPN pass-through just stopped working. The customer support people were not particularly helpful (I agree with an earlier post that the people at the call center in India are very difficult to understand), but they did arrange to have a new unit sent out to me. Overall, I wonder if a different brand would have been a better bet for me.
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Overall quite good but VPN support is flaky, July 19, 2004
By unknown
I just purchased this along with the PC and notebook cards. Installation of all three was very smooth (PC = WinXP, notebook = Win2k), and wireless performance seems to be good. I have the PC in a room immediately below the router and signal strength through the ceiling shows 'Very Good'. If you are just using for the Internet, I'd give it a 5. My main issue: VPN software support (???). According to Linksys technical support (quite terrible, btw), the router should only work as a pass-though device which requires that you forward port 500 (for IPSec traffic) or 1723 (for pptp). Note this is in the "Applications and Gaming" tab of the admin GUI. Linksys told me that in this configuration I would only be able to access sites on the intranet (aka no external web sites) while connected with VPN. However, I do seem to be able to do both when connected via TCP or UDP transparent tunneling. I just cannot get to anything on my local network (no ping, no sharing, etc.) until I disconnect VPN (which is Cisco VPN Client 3.5). Note: I also power cycled the router after everything was running and it did not reconnect to the internet even upon refreshing...I eventually had to temporarily connect to it using a wired connection to get it back online. (3.5 stars)
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Easy to install; flawless operation, July 19, 2004
By John Wong (Salinas, CA)
I am using this router with a DSL connected modem. The router is connected to my computer using an ethernet connection (4 are provided) and is wirelessly connected to my wifes' machine located about 75 feet away. Her machine uses a Netgear PC adapter. I was concerned about the signal strength due to the distance, a concern which proved to be correct. Ours is a single level home. The signal was okay but marginally. I solved the problem by installing a magnetic mount 5 db gain omnidirectional vertical antenna on her machine. The 5 db antenna is magnetically anchored to her table by sitting on a "recycled" tuna can top and this raised the signal to full strength as shown by the Netgear signal meter. The 5 db gain antenna is usually available on the Ebay site and sells for about $15.
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Easy, July 17, 2004
By phmariof (Durham, CT USA)
No problems setting up my wireless network. it took me only 10 minutes.
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Great product, July 17, 2004
By software engineer (Melbourne, FL USA)
After a bad experience with a Netgear 802.11b router that died after a few hours, I splurged on this router because most of the people I work with had this model or a similar one. I had all the machines up and the router configured with WEP and locked to the MAC address of my iBook in just a few minutes. The configuration software is great, so I *highly* recommend this unit.
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Awesome coverage and trouble free install, July 17, 2004
By happy-img (New York, NY United States)
This is the BEST router out there. Fast, trouble free, easy to install and use -doest interfere with anything else in the house including the VOIP phone. Have recommended it to atleast 10 other people and they all love it. MUST BUY if you are looking for a fast reliable and hassle free router.
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If the router doesn't work, you are out of luck, July 13, 2004
By unknown
I bought this router in October 2003, and still have not gotten it to work wirelessly. The box did not include the installation CD, and I was told by Linksys that I could BUY one if I wanted. I have emailed, faxed, wrote, and of course called, with no help. I have asked for an RMA, and was told "I think that has something to do with returning the product". Linksys tech support is terrible. Buy at your own risk.
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very slow for gaming and poor support, July 8, 2004
By unknown
Bought this and the matching G USB port, but the G is so slow that Inet Gaming is impossible with this box. I called tech support and was connected to someone in India, who could not speak English well-enough to communicate... so returned it.
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Works Well- Minor Problems-Great Tech Support, July 6, 2004
By unknown
The router works wonderfully with some exceptions. In the beginning, the router would continue to "drop" the internet connection. Tech support was very polite and helpful. After 3 calls I figured out the solutions were always the same so now I can just fix the problem myself. Also, I have a feeling my firewall, ZoneAlarm Pro,was preventing my router from accessing the net via the router. Since I've updated to ZoneAlarm Suite I haven't had any problems.
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Painfully simple to install, July 6, 2004
By wing948 (Napa, CA)
Had this thing hooked up with my cable modem in less than 10 minutes, and 10 minutes later (including a necessary reboot) I had my Thinkpad in the next room on the network.
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Beats competition, hands down!, June 29, 2004
By Ig (Brooklyn, NY United States)
Purchased this router a few months back, NO PROBLEMS whatsoever. In fact, it supports the new WPA encryption standard, which is WAY better than WEP. Works perfectly with my netgear wireless PCMCIA. Feature wise, its a lot better than the dlink and netgear routers out there.
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Great Router, June 28, 2004
By Chris C. (Los Angeles, CA)
I use this router for a wireless network in my 2 bedroom apmt. The router is in the office, but I still get a signal in my living room. I use a Linksys and SMC Notebook Cards and always get a strong signal. Another great thing about buying from linksys is their 24 hr customer service. I am so satisfied with this product that I reccomend it to a family member.
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Simple and Easy way to go wieless, June 27, 2004
By John (Fairport, NY USA)
Since I have Road Runner hig-speed Internet I already had the Linksys Router for my wired network. When I bought an Apple iBook with wirless capability I wanted to be able to operate the iBook anywhere in the house so I bought the Linksys WRT54G. Within ten minutes I had opened the box, made the connections and done the setup using the web based setup interface using one of my wired computers. Then I switched on my Apple iBook - its Airport Networking found the signal, displayed the network as available and I was wireless! I have subsequently bought a Linksys USB wireless adapter so that anyone who is visiting with a computer can just plug in the USB adapter and be online wirelessly in less time than it takes to type this. My son used this wireless adapter after he had built his latest computer to then download some software updates and regirster the computer without the need of getting to one of the wired sections of the house. The Router has performed flawlessly and is fast enough for Video Chatting over the Internet to my sister in France. I would recommend the range of Linksys products to anyone.
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Made from used pinball machine parts., June 26, 2004
By monkeyman4444 (Richmond, VA)
I picked up this router as a replacement for my Linksys BEFW11S4 expecting an increase in speed to my laptop. No such luck. There were multiple issues with this wireless router right from the start. First off, my desktop would not pick up an IP. Tried replacing the network card, changing setting, etc., etc. to no avail. My laptop was able to get online but only to select websites. While I could access certain websites, others would either take forever to load or not load at all. When I switched back to my original router everything worked fine again.Returning this item tomorrow. I'll stick with my slower router until Linksys gets their act together.
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No problems at all with Mac OSX, June 26, 2004
By mariomicheli73 (Providence, RI)
It took me no time to set up the wireless router with my Mac Powerbook G4. I just connected the router to the modem and to the power supply, swithced it on and voila!!!, my Powerbook detected the wireless network a few seconds later, and I was browsing the internet alredy, wirelessly. No need to install any software! Changing password/security settings was pretty immediate too. Yes, documentation is rather poor, but you won't really need it if you have some (very basic) computer/networking knowledge. But I guess life is just easier if you own a Mac :)
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Excellent product and support, June 24, 2004
By unknown
I suddenly lost my connection and I was unable to determine whether the router or modem was at fault. I was concerned that if I called the wrong manufacturer, I would just get the run-around. That did not happen. Linksys customer service jumped right in and resolved the issue. It took a while, but the customer support representative was as patient as he was knowledgeable. I was not shunted up the escalation ladder. The first person knew enough to fix the problem. Good product. Good experience.
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Easy setup, upgrades, works great, June 22, 2004
By unknown
I set this up within about 15 minutes just to get the basics up and running. I spent a bit longer customizing some of it, but it was very simple. I also upgraded the firmware, as there are a lot of fixes in that. It worked fine both before and after the firmware upgrade. The upgrade was trivial.I've used it in 2 different buildings now, one a 3 story wood house, and the other a large brick condo building with a lot of interference. In both places it has worked flawlessly and has never gone down or disconnected in about 3 months now. For the price, I strongly recommend it.
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Working Great so far, June 21, 2004
By J. A. Flanagan (NY, NY United States)
I've had this working now for about 5 days. Things are runnning smoothly so far. No signal dropouts, and the laptops work all over the house. The configuration interface is easy to use, and clear enough. I had some trouble at first configuing the router with my PPPoE DSL, but that was my fault for charging forward without understanding what I was doing. Then I found the reset button on the router, and all was well. Since then, it's been flawless. I'd give one more star, but we haven't seen what the future holds yet. I'm not worried about it though.
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Keep the BOX!, June 16, 2004
By unknown
When you unpack this puppy make sure you keep the box. As you can see from these reviews, when it works it works well and when it doesn't, well, it just doesn't. Maybe you will be one of the lucky ones. Maybe. The key with this product is - you are on your own. If it works great, great, if it doesn't, tough. I have been running into problems since day 3. Tech support has had me (amongst a whole bunch of time consuming things I won't bore you with): 1) remove ALL security including WEP and MAC & 2)remove the firewall - Basically they told me that I could not have the security and use their router. Today they told me that it cannot be their router as "it is performing perfectly" (ok - so the tech gut is in India, the router is in Hawaii and he knows "it is performing perfectly?"). The key is that this router that I paid for does not function - I lose connection on both wireless AND wired systems. The incredibly stupid thing is I THREW AWAY THE BOX - I have had such success with all things technological that I set up the router, it worked, and I tossed the box. Big mistake. Tonight the tech guy told me it has to be my brand new Sony Vaio (skillfuly avoiding the fact that the VAIO has been working wireless for several days). Well at least I kept that box!
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Great Product / Easy to Install and Configure, June 14, 2004
By D. Flores (Sacramento USA)
It's difficult to objectively take positive and negative comments about any product, and this router is no exception. Since I needed to replace my 2 year old D-Link Wireless router due to numerous "drops" of the wireless network, I chose this Linksys router mainly due to the ability to disable the broadcast of SSID. (note: Network Snuffer was not able to detect my wireless network after disabling SSID. Very happy with this!)Setting up this router is truly a piece of cake. The quick installation guide that came with the product was right on. My old router D-LINK 713p was difficult to install and configure with my DSL, but Linksys communicated with my laptops with no problem after setup! Since I'm leveraging my current investment of 802.11b network cards (D-Link), the Linksys router recognizes my cards w/o any problems, and I'm truly getting better reception in my house. I've enabled WEP key 128b encryption, MAC Filtering and disabling of SSID. Haven't attempted to upgrade the router's firmware, but within the 1st 24 hours after installing this router, I have had *0* network drops. Overall, great product in my experience!!!
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