| Linksys WRT54GS Wireless-G Broadband Router with SpeedBooster |
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Model: WRT54GS
Brand: Linksys
Manufacturer: Linksys
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 433
Operating system: Microsoft Windows 98SE/2000/ME/XP
Form factor: External
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
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| Features: |
Internet-sharing Router, 4-port Switch, and Wireless-G (802.11g) Access Point
Protects all wireless transmissions with 128-bit encryption
New SpeedBooster technology increases wireless network performance by up to 35 percent
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and 802.1x
Shares Internet connection and other resources with Ethernet wired, 802.11g, 802.11b, and SpeedBooster devices |
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| Description: |
| LINKSYS WRT54GS -- The Wireless-G Broadband Router with SpeedBooster is really three devices in one box. First, there's the Wireless Access Point, which lets you connect Wireless-G, Wireless-B, and other performance-enhanced SpeedBooster devices to the network. There's also a built-in 4-port full-duplex 10/100 Switch to connect your wired-Ethernet devices together. Finally, the Router function ties it all together and lets your whole network share a high-speed cable or DSL Internet connection. Easy configuration with web browser based configuration utility Linksys Parental Control Service (free trial included) keeps your family safe on the Internet, setting profiles for time-of-day and day-of-week access restrictions, and controlling which of 16 content categories each family member is allowed to see Also includes email & instant messaging filters |
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| User Reviews (433 total): |
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Very poor wireless work, February 7, 2006
By J. Flegg
The wireless drops regularly, and the technical support to resolve it (to get a replacement) is very very very poor. I would not purchase another linksys product: I have had many similar bad experiences.
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Its Awesome router, February 1, 2006
By Yazan A. K. Mhamed
Its Awesome router
I had the older ver of this router the one without the SpeedBooster and it was giving me lots of probs, I had it installed at the first floor, and wen I take my laptop downstairs which is less then 20 meters away the signal gets really week and indicates " Low" and the internet get slow as well, I though of buying this router, I did , I have it installed at the same place where I had the old one installed, and I didn't believe it I take my laptop anywhere in the house and the signal is good, I recommend it to yo guy to use it specially its affordable. Thank you
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version Differences and DO YOU CARE??..., February 1, 2006
By M. Bendall (potomac, MD)
[previous reviewer]- you are absolutely correct that the new version (5) of this router is downgraded compared to others. the "original" router shipped with 32mb ram and 8mb flash, and version 5 shipped with 16mb ram, 2mb flash. you should also take note that you implied that v.4 was a fully featured product; it only has 16mb of ram and a 4mb flash (a downgrade from v.3). but you are correct, the most crippling thing that linksys did to this router was switch the operating system from the open source linux to VxWorks.
So i guess the real question is: DO I CARE?
for most people the answer is no. if you hook this router into your network, it will run smoothly, no problems for the average consumer. the reason so many people are criticizing the router and its new release is because the old wrt54g and wrt54gs were big items in hacker communities, and they afforded people who wanted to modify their router's firmware great flexibility to do so. the added ram fueled the power and speed that people were able to gain from their router.
so if you are !NOT! looking to modify this router, i would give it five stars.
if you !ARE! looking to modify this router, i would give it -1 stars, just because the old product was so good compared to the new one.
/*if you are deciding between the wrt54g and the wrt54gs, you need to have speed booster adapters to gain speed. those adapters will cost 20 bucks over the price of the regular ones (can get pricey if you have many computers) the older versions (1.0-4.0) of the wrt54g can be enabled for speed booster, but you won't have the hardware advantages provided by the wrt54gs.*/
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Works Gr8!!!, January 29, 2006
By Divya Ranganathan (Basking Ridge, NJ USA)
I have absolutely no issues wid wireless connection now. Installation n setup was easy too. Signal Strength is excellent n dere r no reboots / diconnects, ne more! Its juz workin fine wid me.
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Latest v5 is inferior!, January 24, 2006
By Vincent (Atlanta, GA USA)
DO NOT BUY THE CURRENT VERSION OF THIS *FORMERLY* EXCELLENT PRODUCT!
Linksys WRT54GS v1 through v4 were terrific products and the reason for the reviews with so many stars prior to this one.
Recently Cisco/Linksys changed internals completely, cut flash memory to 2 megs and switched OS to something called VxWorks. I don't understand why they did this. Or at least could have called it by new model number? To know if you have the dreaded v5 unit you can look on the box for serial number CGN7. Easy to do in a retail store, but you cannot do this by mail-order can you? So you will probably get the new one.
As it is the old customer reviews for this product do not reflect the current product which looks same externally. But new GS v5 unit does not work nearly as well if you try to do BitTorrent or anything beyond basic usage. Also complaints of connection speeds being way slow unless you upgrade firmware. Is Joe Consumer now expected to upgrade firmware on a device just to get it basically working? How did this get out of the factory with so many bugs?
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No complaints, January 23, 2006
By I. Hwang (Neah Bay, WA)
I was using a D-Link DI-614 with other 802.11b hardware with my DSL in a rural location with no other wi-fi in the neighborhood and was getting spotty coverage on the other side of my small house (50feet, 3 walls), so I decided to upgrade. I had a WPC54GS card on my laptop from a year ago, when SpeedBooster first came out, so I decided to go with the WRT54GS, to avoid having to upgrade everything. I got a decent deal on a new one on eBay for $48 shipped. Installation was straightforward. I'm a little better than a novice, having installed a Netgear system in the past in my home and for my dad, as well as my previous D-link. The Linksys software is as straightforward or more so than the previously mentioned. The WPA encryption set up without a problem. Connection strength has been fine, able to use my DSL bandwidth of 1.5Mbps without problems. I decided to go with a WUSB54GS to network my wife's desktop, also without problems. I intentionally have an older 900Mhz cordless and 5.8Ghz cordless to avoid interference with 802.11g and have not experienced any problems. I know Speedbooster is no longer state of the art, but it has worked out just fine for me.
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Very satisfied-- works great!, January 22, 2006
By Eric Pi (New Jersey, USA)
I've had a few wireless access points in the past, and they were never easy to set up. The WRT54GS, however, works extremely well. Their setup utility was very friendly & automatically detected that my modem needed PPPoE. I love the security of having WPA & AES encryption.
The only issue was that I originally chose a WPA passphrase that had spaces in it. This seemed to confuse the router, such that nothing could see it. Removing the spaces from the password got everything working.
All in all, I'm very satisfied.
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DO NOT BUY! JUNK!, January 19, 2006
By Luiga (Davis, CA USA)
Latest versions of this product are junk!
Linksys had great product, WRT54GS, for years running Linux.
Very stable. Very good. Community of 3rd-party firmware developers.
In latest v5 version, Linksys threw away their advantages. Started over with new board, using new OS called VxWorks. Well, it doesn't actually WORK all that well but that's what they call it.
So it is now a completely new and BAD piece of product unfortunately hiding in same piece of plastic as old product. So existing customer reviews of v4 and earlier should be ignored.
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Not useable for aftermarket firmware any more., January 19, 2006
By NateHoy (Maine)
For the vast majority of users, this will not be an issue. However, for those of you who use aftermarket firmware like DD-WRT and HyperWRT to take full advantage of the excellent hardware in these devices (and to overcome P2P and other issues in the default Linksys firmware) - BE WARNED.
The WRT54GS has now joined its cousin, the once-excellent WRT54G, in using the closed-source VXWORKS operating system instead of Linux. The new hardware, dubbed "WRT54GS V5", is now in stores and sporadic reports of encountering them are coming into Linksys enthusiast sites.
If you want to load third party firmware, that is only guaranteed now in the WRT54GL, Linksys's last remaining model in this series that is not VXWORKS based.
If you have no interest in third party firmware, this router will probably still make a decent consumer router. The WRT54G had quite a few growing pains when it went to VXWORKS, though, so expect to have to load new Linksys firmware in the near future to fix the inevitable "introductory issues" on this new hardware/software platform.
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Excellent broadband router, January 10, 2006
By Frederick F. Weamer
This Linksys Wireless-G Broadband router with speedbooster is an excellent product. However, the instuctions are very vague. I had to call Linksys and be on hold for over an hour to reach tech support. However, once I got a tech guy on the phone he told me to a web page and following the instruction on the page was so easy and I got my items working just fine.
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Works well, but......., January 9, 2006
By JoeW (Pittsburgh, Pa)
setting it up can be frustrating. Tech support, though pleasant and readily available, proved to be clueless. After 4 hours of on-line support I spent another 1.5 hours on the phone. The first 1/2 hour of my phone call was me saying "I'm sorry. Could you repeat that?" After that, I became familiar enough with the thick accent to understand the person at the other end.
Tech support talked me through every possible security option - including turning off all security and firewall(s). Nothing. Eventually they had me return it to the store and get another. Same problem - no connection to internet. The router would not issue an IP address. Before returning the 2nd router I decided to try setting up the remote computer with a static IP.
The documentation is vague. And as near as I could tell, the static IP settup was only required with certain ISPs, but not mine. I had nothing to lose, so I gave it a go. It connected right away and has worked fine ever since.
I have no idea why tech support did not suggest this in my 5.5 frustrating hours with them.
For some people this item works well, straight out of the box. If you are not one of those people and need to contact tech support, I recommend a heavy sedative and an interpretter.
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Great so far, January 9, 2006
By Sathia (USA)
This has been a great router so far. I upgraded from my Netgear MR814v2 (802.11b). The boost in speed was worth it (B -> G) - I was able to stream DVD movies from my PC (hardwired) to my laptop with no problems (certainly not possible, and jittery on the previous router). I was also pleasantly surprised by support for WPA2-PSK.
The WPA2-PSK was a HUGE addition over WEP-128 that my old Netgear had (I had to install a support patch for winxp to enable it). It didnt cause visible throughput differences when enabled.
With my previous router, I also had to stick to static NAT IPs and turn off router DHCP for security reasons (to make up for poor WEP security). This also meant using the "alternate ip configuration" on my laptop (I had to keep the primary config at DHCP for work purposes) - but also a 30-45 sec delay before my laptop could be assigned the static IP. I no longer had to do this on the linksys due to improved security it provided (I also turned off SSID broadcasting).
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excellent product, east setup ..., January 3, 2006
By dv (Missouri, USA)
Am using it with Win 98 Desktop via ethernet cable, and Win XP notebook via WiFi. It has the WPA (Wireless Protected Access) that makes your wireless network inaccessible to outsiders unless they punch in the network key code.
Installing the router was easy. The included setup CD made all the task easy with step by step instructions. Installed it on my desktop first via dedicated network cable. some minor problems that were sorted by:
1. power down of modem, router and my desktop. and restarting - modem then router then desktop.
2. wait of 5 minutes after the router was configured for WPA during the installation process.
3. my mistake: i noted incorrectly the network key code for WPA during installation process. and wasn't able to access the internet via WiFi. then i had to use my desktop, open my IE and type http://192.168.1.1 to access the router setup. I got the correct WPA key number and got going from there.
entire process took about 45 minutes.
(Note: i got the version 4 of the router. you can not find the Version number from outside. You have to open the box and look on underside of router. on searching the internet, i found that Ver 1 of this router is best. but i couldn't find it.)
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To speed or not to speed..., December 24, 2005
By lucid_green (Orem, UT)
I think probably the most important thing you need to understand about wireless router/access points is that they split a signal and work very much like hubs rather than switches, meaning that the signal is sent and received at every receiving point available. That is why wireless is less secure than guided media.
Also, when you're thinking about getting an 802.11g router/AP, you should consider the capabilities of your existing hardware. Is it an 802.11b? If it's a b device, you will not see the coveted 54Gb ever on any machine sharing the frequency because they router automatically selects the lowest speed available. The same thing can be said about the speed booster features.
I'm not sure if the speed boost option is a proprietary technology or not. If it is, all the computers sharing your network will need to have a compatible wireless card -- ie, the WPC54GS -- in order to use the speed boost. If all wireless routers/APs share the same technology, meaning it is standard for all products, then it wouldn't be a problem.
Most likely, it's a proprietary technology. So upgrading to speed boost would mean a complete upgrade to your entire network and everyone you share it with. Good for Linksys, maybe not so good for you and your pocketbook, or your friends' pocketbooks, if you're sharing with everyone else in the apartment or building or however you're doing it.
My recommendation, since Linksys makes such wonderful products, is to simple save yourself the extra doe, and settle for the WRT54G, then everyone can share the network and it won't slow anyone down, as long as they have an 802.11g card in their laptop or desktop or whatever. Especially since most laptops today come with their own built-in cards that come with their own settings and such. It is very unlikely that they will be compatible with a speed boost configured router or access point.
It will also depend on whether you're using a cable internet connection instead of DSL. Cable is a shared network which will allow the same near-advertised speed depending on total metropolitan network demand for all the computers on the network regardless of how they are connected. DSL is a dedicated connection, meaning that there is one speed going through the router (probably 1.5Mbps) and all the computers using the network will have to split the speed between eachother.
One of my favorite features in the WRT54G is the "g-only" setting. This means that only those using an 802.11g card can access your network. Pretty snazzy and makes sure that you never get slowed down by those with outdated b-cards.
Lastly, WEP is very easy to break. There was a demonstration done by the FBI, can't remember where, but they demonstrated that the 64-bit WEP only took a few minutes to break using what was then the current code breaking software that is available for download on the internet. 128-bit took only 3 minutes for their demonstration and that was with dummy signals that were given off to try and confuse the software they used. I would suggest you use WPA for your network since, while it isn't fool-proof, it is much more complicated to break. The only drawback is that it requires other cards to be compatible with the WPA standard, which is fairly new. WPA2 is even newer and would require the same compatabilities.
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works well for me, December 14, 2005
By docdaved (Georgia)
I am by no means a sophisticated computer user, and I often have problems with installations etc. Nevertheless I found the setup of this router to be fairly straightforward (although I admit I've set up one of these once before, so I do have some experience). The enclosed instructions are not very helpful, but the Linksys website is pretty good for assistance. As far as the SpeedBooster thing goes, I really can't tell any difference (the last router I used was a similar Linksys w/out this feature), however mostly all I use it for is web-surfing so I can't speak to data transfer between network computers etc. I am very satisfied with the overall performance however, and the range is very good. The few problems I've had with installation and operation have been minor issues that were easily fixed (I tend to blame most of these on Windows rather than the router itself, and I may be mistaken in that). There may be better or easier to set up routers available, but I don't know of any.
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Once confirgured, it works fine, December 5, 2005
By Wade A. Hathaway (New York City)
I bought the router along with a usb adapter. My main computer is hard wired to the router and the adapter is on the kids computer in another room. On the hard wired computer there is no appreciable reduction in internet speed. On the remote computer, internet access is a little slower, but still much much faster than the old dial up connection and the kids are more than happy! I am also impressed with the strength of the signal. We live in a high rise with cement walls and have had no problems with signal strength.
Buyer Beware: Unless you have a fairly sophisticated knowledge of computers, IP addresses and networking, you will probably not be able to set up the system without calling tech support. The included setup instructions are pretty much useless. I consider myself at least in the high intermediate category for knowing computers and I was stumped. Tech service guided me through the setup in about 10 minutes. Also the security features advertised do not appear to be that functional, something about firmware changes (i am using v.4). So you might want to keep you computer based firewall and parental protections in place, not relying on the router.
In general I am happy with the performance of this unit.
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URL blocking does not work!, November 28, 2005
By S. Zhang (New Jersey, United States)
I bought a WRT54GS v4 wireless router on 10/30/2005. It does not work by just following CD setup instructions. After talking to Linksys technique support, I manually configured the router in router configuration pages. The problem was both Verizon DSL modem router and Linksys router use the same default IP address.
After got DSL working, I found that my PC is always talking to buydomains.com which slows down every command I entered for at least 20 seconds. I need block this URL in Linksys router. I did configuration, but the blocking URL does not work. The router can't block any URL by its name, nor by any keyword. Even disable HTTP service do not stop internet access. I spent three hours with the first level and his senior supports, updated the latest firmware and reconfigured Wireless router. But it still does not work. Then I was told that the hardware is defected and needs be replaced.
I exchanged a new one from CircurtCity. But blocking URL does not work. After talking to three technicians and reached the 2nd level support, he admitted it was the problem of the the firmware because he experienced the some problem. I can either wait a newer firmware to fix this problem, or exchange to a old version of the hardware v3. All WRT54GS routers at Circurtcity are v4 hardware.
Two days later, I found the Secure Easy Setup does not work on this new router. After few hours talking to three technicians, reload the latest firmware, and did reconfigurations, I was told that it is hardware defect.
I got the third router, but it is same as the first one. None of the Blocking URLs, nor disable HTTP service work. I can't do nothing, but waiting another updated firmware to fix those problems.
I don't think Linksys QA missed testing. It is whole page of settings, and none of them works. Linksys technique supports also have many problems. The first level and their senior supports have no hardware to test. I was very disappointed by this product.
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Great value and flexibility, November 23, 2005
By Dave (Redmond, WA)
This wireless router bests the competition for numerous reasons including: price, support, and flexibility. For non-power users you just plug it in, configure your security and you're good to go. Power users can tweak all kinds of configuration options to tune your network, security, and features quickly and easily. Part of the benefit of owning this particular devices is the huge user community and various alternate firmwares that can be used to enable many types of advanced scenarios. Out of the box the router did not have sticky DHCP adresses which caused problems with my firewall forwarding when an IP adress was renewed. Third-party firmwares easily fixed this problem and helped improve my Vonage quality as well. If you plan to upgrade you will want to make sure you do not have the latest hardware version or you will have less memory. Linksys will be coming out with a Linux-based hobbiest targeted router as well soon.
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Limited expandability for wirelss networking, November 22, 2005
By D. Mahoney
The features for the WRT54GS are impressive, but it still cannot provide the necessary functions for real networking solutions. If you want to have a wireless network with multiple routers in different rooms the connection has to be "hard wired" according to Rachelle (13384) at Linksys. The two wireless routers cannot bridge the gap and thus I will be looking at other options.
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Do NOT buy this router if you're wanting to use parental controls, November 19, 2005
By J. Hill
After 2 hours on the phone with Linksys (some of the worst customer service I have EVER experienced) I find out that they've removed Netopia router-based parental controls from v4 of this device without telling ANYONE. Even their web site still talks about its advantages. I know that it is a great router with lots of hackability, but I'm going back to Netgear.
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