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
Wireless data rates up to 54 Mbps-5 times faster than 802.11b
Product Details
Product Manual
This review is from: Cisco-Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G RouterThe Linksys WRT54G and WRT54GS routers have been the number one most popular wireless router devices available for the past few years. So this begs the question why Cisco would snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by needlessly changing an almost perfect product. The fact is that versions 1 -4 of the G and the GS (with Speedboost) versions of this router were fantastic. Those earlier routers run a flexible and powerful Linux based firmware that has been perfected for the past few years a numerous updates and tweaks. However, the earlier WRT54G product has now been replaced with a less powerful wireless product (version 5) that has had its onboard flash RAM chopped in half from 4MB to 2MB and its system RAM cut from 16MB to 8MB. Instead of the flexible, reliable and powerful Linux firmware the new WRT54G version 5 routers run the licensed VxWorks firmware instead. There is nothing wrong with using VxWorks and over time Cisco will probably work out the bugs but for now the newest wireless routers are not reliable. Why would Cisco do this to its most popular Linksys brand of wireless routers ? Apparently it might be a case where the first four versions were too flexible for their own good. The open source Linux firmware with the large amount of flash and system memory was attractive to many third party independent software developers that were turning the WRT54G and GS routers into powerhouse micro Linux wireless computers with a functionality approaching and often surpassing the $600+ wireless routers that Cisco sells. There might also have been an excess number of product warranty returns for the WRT54G routers due to so many people flashing them with non-Linksys third party firmware that sometimes can "brick" a router or make it unusable.Your solution is to either look for a previous version of the "WRT54G" router before version 5 or purchase the "WRT54GS" (SpeedBooster) version 4 which as of the posting of this review is still available in the stores and it still uses the popular Linux firmware. You will pay $20 more for the GS model but compared to the version 5 of the G model it is worth the extra money. The GS models 1 - 4 are all good with GS version 3.0 and 3.1 reportedly being the most flexible of the bunch and GS 4.0 being the latest. If you want to use third party firmware you may want the GS versions 2.0 - 3.0/3.1 since they have the most flash RAM while still having newer Broadcom based processors. Finally, if you do plan to flash your WRT54G with third party firmware the ones before version 4 of the WRT54G wireless routers are supposed to be easier to work with. How do you find which version you are looking for? Look on the bottom of the box near the scan tag for the serial number of the router. For the WRT54G wireless routers look for CDFA or a CDF9 or lower (CDF8, CDF7, 6, etc.) Any serial number with CDF5 (v2.0) through CDF9 (v3.1) are the most flexible for use with third party firmware. Unless you want to use a more risky third party firmware I recommend that you read the manual instructions on how to carefully flash these older router models with a newer Linksys firmware which is designed for that specific router version. The latest official Linksys firmware for each specific version of router can be obtained from the Linksys support site. Completely avoid the WRT54G routers with the "CDFB" (v5.0) serial numbers since those are the buggy VxWorks versions. You could also simply purchase the WRT54GS (v4.0) routers that say Speedboost on the box. You will see the "CGN6" serial numbers on the box and as of this review these were still using Linux firmware with software based SpeedBoost enhancements but the RAM and hardware inside seems to be essentially the same as the older WRT54G (v4.0) version 4. The WRT54GS v2.0 (CGN3) through v3.0 (CGN5) are also good and will have more flash RAM available if you want use the wireless router with third party firmware. I would like to note that flashing the router with firmware other than an official Linksys releases obtained from the Linksys support web site will void the warranty and can result in a "bricked" or damaged router. PROS: The most popular, flexible, reliable and highly rated wireless router on the market before the WRT54G version 5. Previous versions could be flashed with powerful third party firmware. The latest WRT54GS v4.0 routers can still be purchased and except f...
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