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Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Routerby Linksys
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Features
- Interoperates with 802.11b clients at 11 Mbps
- Advanced wireless security with 128-bit WEP encryption, MAC, or IP address filtering
- 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
Amazon.com Product Description
Early Adopters Pick: January 2003. The first high-speed wireless networking router to use the 802.11g standard, which is four times faster than the current standard (802.11b) and backwards compatible.The Linksys Wireless-G broadband router is really three devices in one box. First, it's a wireless access point, which lets you connect Wireless-G or Wireless-B devices to the network. There's also a built-in four-port full-duplex 10/100 switch to connect your wired-Ethernet devices. Connect four PCs directly, or daisy-chain out to more hubs and switches to create as big a network as you need. Finally, the router function ties it all together and lets your whole network share a high-speed cable or DSL Internet connection.
To protect your data and privacy, the Wireless-G broadband router can encrypt all wireless transmissions, and it supports the industrial-strength wireless security of 802.1x authentication and authorization. The router can serve as a DHCP server, has NAT technology to protect against Internet intruders, supports VPN pass-through, and can be configured to filter internal users' access to the Internet. Configuration is a snap with the Web browser-based configuration utility.
With the Linksys Wireless-G broadband router at the center of your home or office network, you can share a high-speed Internet connection, files, printers, and multiplayer games with the flexibility, speed, and security you need!
Wireless-G is the 54 Mbps wireless networking standard that's more than four times faster than the widely deployed Wireless-B (802.11b) products found in homes, businesses, and public wireless hotspots around the country. But since they share the same 2.4 GHz radio band, Wireless-G devices can also interoperate with existing 11 Mbps Wireless-B equipment.
Because both standards are built-in, you can protect your investment in existing 802.11b infrastructure, and migrate to the new screaming-fast Wireless-G standard as your needs grow.
For more information on the differences between an access point and a router with access point, see the following table:
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See a comparison diagram of the different wireless technologies. | Wireless networks are rapidly becoming more popular and coming down in price. Since they don't require cables, you can use the devices anywhere in an office or home, even out on the patio. There's no need to roll out an Ethernet network cable to each room of a house; you can network anywhere--without wires. Outside the home, wireless networking is available in hotspots at coffee shops, businesses, and airports--great when you're on the road and need to get some work done. For convenience, wireless networking is the answer. Basically, a standard is a set of specifications for a device. All devices that follow a specific standard share operating characteristics, such as the radio frequency used and maximum data transfer speed.
To learn about the differences between the standards and select the right one for your network, click here for an easy-to-understand chart. |
Reviews
Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G RouterSeem's to be doing a fine job, but i'm no expert...
"Easy Setup" Not!!It's probably a fine router, but I found the install wizard to be of poor quality.
If you have good networking knowledge, you'll abandon the wizard, use the 100-page online manual, and be fine.
I know more about networking than 70% of the consumers out there, so I was able to puzzle my way through it, but only by second guessing the documentation at various stages.
The Wizard is particularly sinister. It just tells you to start disconnecting and attaching cables without any input as to whether your current setup includes a pre-existing router (mine does), without any clarity as to whether you should be running the wizard on a hard-wired PC or a wireless equipped PC. After asking for a password (Is it asking me to set a password or am I supposed to know from page 20 of the manual that the factory set password is "admin"?) it refused to go past step 8. These are just some of the pathetic examples.
They provide no printed manual. I had downloaded the 112 page manual from the Linksys Website. Stupid me. It turns out to be copyright 2002 and much inferior to the 2005 manual included on the CD. But can you decide to access the CD manual once you have started the Wizard? No, of course not. You have to completely exit the Wizard and re-start the CD in order to find the "User Guide" tab which loads the manual.
The box proudly displays "SecureEasySetup (TM)" "Wireless Made Simple" "One Touch Setup Button" "Easy Start" "Easy Security" "Easy Everyday"
Apparently Linksys/Cisco knows that ease of setup is crucial. It just doesn't follow through in any consumer-tested way.
I don't know if Netgear, D-Link, etc are any better.
"Easy Setup" was a COMPLETE DISASTERAs a frequent network user, I have set up four different brands of WiFi routers on a dozen platforms (various ISPs using DSL, cable, corporate networks, even dial-up) in four states and two countries (US and Korea). I have never seen an install wizard as completely useless as this one.
I followed the directions, used the set-up CD and followed its steps one-by-one. It was very simply with idiot-proof diagrams throughout. However, at the very end of the process I chose the manual set-up in order to disable the security to have an "open" network. Everything looked really straight forward until an error message popped up during the very final step saying that my settings had failed. There was no way to proceed that didn't generate the same error and my network was not working at all. So I called tech support.
I spoke with tech support (who had a very heavy foreign accent and was difficult to understand) for 30 minutes. After determining that I knew how to plug everything in properly, they gave me the device's IP address so I could configure it manually and walked me through that. It turned out to have already taken most of my settings, despite the error messages. However, the wireless still did not work properly. I could see the wireless network from my laptop's network window, but the network name had been mangled (several letters were incorrect) and I could not connect to it. After many attempts to fix this, including updating the firmware from Linksys's website, refreshing the factory settings and following the Easy Set-up again, it still did not work properly.
I plan to return this Linksys WRT54G WiFi router immediately and continue to use by SMC Barricade WiFi router (which is also somewhat disappointing in performance, but at least functions). Maybe I'll go buy an Apple WiFi box instead. The first two WiFi routers I owned were Linksys and those worked well for many years (one still does). It's a shame that Linksys's quality and tech support have deteriorated so much under Cisco.
"Press the reset key for 60 seconds, then power on"Set-up is easy. I got it connected to Comcast broadband cable in 5 minutes. Novices will want to spend some time in the Settings sections, as there are several variables such as Hidden SSID and WEP which should be set.
Operation with 1-4 computers is usually fine, except the desktop occasionally gets a Not Available message, even when there are no other computers online.
Operation at 802.11g is fine with a LinkSys card. Several 802.11b non-LinkSys PC cards also connected fine.
LinkSys support is better than average. Answer time less than 15 minutes and an English-as-a-first-language speaker who was a pleasure to work with when the little Diag light came on. The long and the short of the solution, which has six steps, is "Press the reset key for 60 seconds, then power on".
Unfortunately, even with the latest ROM software download, the wireless router fails about once a week and requires the six-step reset. My spouse cannot cope with the complexities, and I'm not pleased that the software cannot handle the modest traffic it gets.
So, you pays your money and takes your chances...If I had [$$$] (with PC card) to spend again, I'd look eleswhere first.
...wish I'd paid extra for Airport...I have not had a great deal of success with this product as a wireless station. It works wells as a router, but I puchased it specifically to operate as a wireless hub. In order to activate the wireless connection, I have to unplug the router, only then will my laptop pick up the signal. After approx 10-15 minutes, the signal is lost and I have to unplug and router again.........what a pain! I sorely regret not buying an Airport Hub, especially now that they have that handy little Express one! I feel the Linksys was a waste of money - anyone want to buy a used Router?
0 Stars Wouldn't Be Low Enough for LinksysBefore anybody comes to the defense of Linksys, they should read some of the horror stories. My Linksys router would not function properly on either of my PCs, both produced by different manufacturers. The customer support was non-existent. In fact, attempts to contact customer support were ignored.
Only after I purchased a New Gear router did I learn what reliable wireless Internet was all about.
I agree with the reviewer who compared his Linksys router to ET for the Atari 2600. Pure trash. Even the design is poor. My Net Gear router is less than half the size.
If you buy Linksys, be sure you know where the reset button is on their router. Also be sure you know how to reset your Internet connection. If you have a Linksys and it works, you are lucky. I assure you that if you ever had to contact their tech support, you would sing a very unhappy tune.
2 Day delivery and it works great. Bravo to ...For an item that is not even available in Best Buy and the other major stores when I went to buy it, the fact that ... has these in and out of stock, and that I received it in only a couple of days is knowledge enough to make this a winning situation.
What about hookup and use? Another 5 star performance. Having never hooked up a wireless network before, I took the advice of the quick start guide that came with the unit, and used their included CD. They strongly recommended that you use the CD rather than manually configure, and they were right. Having seen the problems that some others were having with setup, only to be resolved (some of them) by exactly following the directions, I decided to do it that way right out of the box. I'm glad I did. This setup using the CD was about as easy as learning how to open a refrigerator door for the first time. Shutting off what they tell you to shut off, and turning on what and when they tell you to turn things on, resulted in a delightful install. Not even one glitch. The CD determined my internet connection, determined my system configuration, asked me a few questions, and bingo I was up and running.
I bought the PC Card for laptops as well, and that was just as easy to install. Within 10 minutes I was surfing the web from all over the house. No Wires !
Pertaining to the speed issue: I got 54Mps while I was in the same room. When I went into the living room, it went to very good instead of excellent, and gave me 37Mbps. Let's get a perspective here. A standard modem works at 56K tops. This router works at 54Mbps that's megabyte not kilobyte. Their are 1000 kilobytes in every megabyte. So 54 Megabytes per second is about a thousand times faster than a standard modem. I hooked the Linksys wireless router up to a broadband connection which is running at a maximum of 700 plus Kilobytes on the download end, and 100 to 150 upload speed. I know I am getting specific, but the point I am making is that it does not matter what the connection speed you are running at any given moment, based on how close the base unit is to the PC card. What is important is that your internet connection will never even approach the speed capabilities of this router, so don't hassle yourself with any concerns over varying connect speeds of the wireless network.
Broadband hooked up to this wireless setup flies. As soon as you click on a site, it appears on the screen.
Anyhow, just for reference, I am using a Dell Inspiron Notebook, hooked up to the broadband cable modem that was supplied by Comcast. The operating system is Windows XP. Installation was as near automatic as can be. They do supply instructions when using Windows ME, 98 etc, that includes one more step than XP.
All in all this is a 5 star piece of equipment. Follow the directions exactly. It is easy. Hope this helps.
2 minutes to get it working!It took me two minutes to connect WRT54G to BEFW11S4, assign IP, change mode from Gateway to Router, set encription. This is it! Now I have two wireless points for the both sides of my house. Great device! I love it!
I have laptops with Wireless B which easily detected and connected to the new wireless access point.
4 hours later... it is still not workingWhile I am not a complete computer geek, I do have some experience working on/fixing computers. However, the WRT54G Wireless router has just about been the death to me.
Yesterday, I received my new Gateway 4500 with a built in wireless network card... the whole thing was going to be "Plug-and-play" I would turn on my comuter and it would automatically find my Linksys router... awesome... or so I thought. After 4 frustrating hours on the phone with my internet provider, Gateway, and Linksys - I stll do not have the dumb thing working! Apparently, Linksys routers are known to be tricky in configuring to a wireless network - Gateway even provided SPECIAL instructions for this particular router (they didn't work... of course).
Also, while the technical service response was friendly - Linksys should hire native speakers to help their American clients. Our inability to communicate doubled a 45 minute phone call into 90 minutes - I literraly spent half of my time saying "could you reapeat that". More frustating is the fact that it wasn't one person at the help desk - both people I talked to had horrible English.
To sum it all up - 4 hours of wasted time - still no internet access- My suggestion - unless you are truly a computer expert (or plan to hire one) do not buy this product.
4 Stars for Version 4 and 2 Stars for Version 5I ordered this modem and got a v5. My DSL connection slowed down 30% (wired connection) no matter what MTU setting or any setting I tried. v5 cannot use third party firmware. I returned it, went to a local store and made sure I got a v4 and my DSL runs fast again. Since v4 is based on Linux, you can use third party firmware to unlock more advance features if you so desire. With either version my wireless laptop had a decent signal (3 to 5 bars) no matter where I went on my property (about 70 feet away max) even with 4 or 5 walls in the way. If you can find a version 4 or lower grab one, it works great for me.
