Linksys-Cisco WRT54GL Wireless-G Broadband Router (Compatible with Linux)

Linksys-Cisco WRT54GL Wireless-G Broadband Router (Compatible with Linux) | A good router capable of greatness

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Linksys-Cisco WRT5...

	Linksys-Cisco WRT54GL Wireless-G Broadband Router (Compatible with Linux) Linksys Linksys average customer review:based on 316 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Linksys WRT54GL Wireless-G Broadband Router combines the functionalities of three devices into a single device, a wireless access point, a four-port full-duplex 10/100 Mbps switch and a router. The wireless access point lets you connect Wireless-G or Wireless-B devices to the network while the switch connects your wired-Ethernet devices together. The router function ties it all together by letting your whole network share a high-speed cable or DSL Internet connection. The push button setup feature makes it easy to configure your wireless devices. The router serves as a DHCP server, includes an SPI firewall to protect against Internet intruders and also supports VPN pass-through. The WRT54GL even features TKIP and AES to protect your data and privacy with up to 128-bit encryption. 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 multi-player games with flexibility, speed, security and simplicity. Status Indicators - Port status, link activity Compliant Standards - FCC IEEE 802.3, IEEE 802.3U, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g Data Link Protocol - Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g Interfaces - 1x network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX - RJ-45 ( WAN / DMZ ), 4 x network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX - RJ-45, 1 x network - Radio-Ethernet Dimensions - Height 4.8 cm x Depth 20 cm x Width 18.6 cm Weight - 0.5 kg

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All your wireless, wired, and switch dreams come true with one device

I think I have reached intermediate experience levels with this router and have a sweet secure and optimized network for home use.

I first bought one just WRT54GL to see what all the fuss was about after a friend told me how he could flash his router with GPL linux firmware and other reviews.

All I really needed was a wireless PCI card for a computer I had at the other side of the house I wanted to browse on. I instead felt spending the extra $20 and purchased my first WRT54GL.

I did the research first and determined that the newer WRT54G is not so sweet w/third party firmware and that this WRT54GL is like the best of the breed for firmware upgrades (voids your Linksys warranty) thing.

I wanted all my options open in case something came up that could be solved through firmware. I also determined DD-WRT was the choice for firmware, I played with Linksys latest upgrade and Tomato but liked the cleaner and more novice like UI DD-WRT provided plus the many more options. I first created a simple client bridge to my D-LINK DSL router/gateway from Q-WEST. The only big brick wall was to figure out the ip's from D-LINK are 192.168.0.1 and the WRT54GL defaults to 192.168.1.1. Once I changed the IP of the WRT54GL to 192.160.0.30 for example I was cooking with gas! I read that the DHCP should come from the main D-LINK router so set the WRT54GL to not provide this and get it's ip from wireless connection via D-LINK. I was surfing with no wires.

I read so much about how folks used two of these WRT54GL in order to WDS (google it) to create bridges so I bought an other WRT54GL. I played with WDS and it worked but like I said I am just an intermediate level so far and never really got what WDS could do for my network plan. What I really wanted was a simple bridge repeater and a virtual hotspot from the remote WRT54GL once it was bridged (gave the virtual hotspot a different name). I fixed that and added WPA/TKIP security between D-LINK (the best D-LINK 6.0 firmware has) and used the remote hotspot on the WRT54GL for the Wii (which actually supports higher security and so does the WRT54GL running DD-WRT). I ran my cable from WLAN connection switch from WRT54FL which is an option (so you don't waste the four LAN ports for such things) to the machine I wanted to become wireless in order to browse and viola that side of the house was good to go. I MAC authenticate and AP isolation that side of the house for security reason, my neighbor is cool but works for Q-WEST!

So what did I do with the second WRT54GL I bought? I used it to hook directly to the D-LINK via wired RJ-45 cable to LAN port and made it a DHCP forwarder (which appears wired from D-LINKED logs yet is wireless). I set the power to 1mw and AP isolated and made it have a wireless hotspot with WEP 128-bit. Why break-it in 2 minute :30 second WEP way?

I only use it for my DS lite's access point, the DS only can only manage WEP 128! I lowered the wattage to 1wm and still works in all spots throughout the house BTW...played with ACK setting and TCP,UDP timeouts. What do I mean by those terms? Still confused? or not maybe you haven't found these settings on your router firmware then you get the point.

If you can think of a network, be it wired or wireless, this deal called the WRT54GL can do it for you. BTW the thing is also a switch for your wired computers has four of them so I got rid of my switch to make a cleaner workspace.

One last thing to think about are the antennas for the WRT54GL can easily be directional with tin foil and two tall tin cans (Monster cans of course you nerds)! I could bump the transmitter to 251mW though that may exceed FCC laws for 2.4 G (100mW is limit I think depending on your antenna gain e.g. 16gb for that output). One can also overclock from 200Mhz to 250Mhz. I leave these parameters stock or lower. The load is so low on both WRT54GL's they are not needed. I built a tin foil antenna and gained 5% more signal strength in minutes with a tin cutter. The hyper settings will cause heating issues for sure, you may need a muffin fan to cooler off the device.

The very last thing...WDS from what I read will allow you to set up a mesh network. It uses MAC exchanges of the WIRELESS macs between your WRT54GLs. Imagine a house full of these boxes just sitting alone plugged into the wall, no computers needed for wireless and then you could roam your farm and always have Wi-Fi access!!!

I am not done exploring the full feature set of this device but so far very happy discovering. I feel liberated having bought this device and now have any option out there for my home network needs. MUST HAVE for all Wi-Fi, wired, and switch dreamers. Ohhhh....Yeah make sure you flash router with the mini DD-WRT first then reset to factory defaults then flash to DD-WRT generic and reset to factory defaults, change the administration password account before playing further.

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A good router capable of greatness

The Linksys WRT54GL router is a very capable router out of the box. I cannot attest to Linksys Firmwares operation or stability. I can, however, confidently state that this router, coupled with the Tomato Firmware is by far the best SOHO router I have ever worked with. I received the Version 1.1 of this router and loaded it with Tomato immediately. Be aware that doing this most assuredly voids your warranty, but it is well worth it. I am running Tomato 1.19 but he is up to version 1.20 though as of this writing. I have experience with numerous routers from several manufacturers. Nothing compares to the Linksys WRT54GL and Tomato.

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Great router with low price tag

I bought this because I wanted to customize the feature set more than the stock firmware allowed. Adding dd-wrt was a piece of cake and now I can use it as a repeater or client bridge. Even without dd-wrt the router includes a "foolproof" CD for setup that allows even a newbie to set security functions on wireless. Great product.

Linksys-Cisco WRT54GL Wireless-G Broadband Router

Excellent router and firmware can be Linux. Set up a VPN with Linux firmware downloaded off of the web. Highly recommend this router even if you just use firmware supplied.

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