Linksys Compact Wireless-G Broadband Router WRT54GC

Other products by Linksys

Product Details

Product Manual [1.93mb PDF]

• Item Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0007MGG2M
• Item model number: WRT54GC
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (186 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank

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  Electronics > Computers & Accessories > Networking Products > Routers

• Date first available at Amazon.com: January 20, 2005

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The Linksys compact wireless-G broadband router is an all-in-one Internet-sharing router, four-port switch, and 54 Mbps wireless-G access point. Almost five times faster than 802.11b, it can also interoperate with any 802.11b device (at 11 Mbps).

The Linksys compact wireless-G broadband router is really three devices in one small box. There's the wireless access point, which lets you connect both screamingly fast wireless-G (802.11g at 54 Mbps) and wireless-B (802.11b at 11 Mbps) devices to yout network. There's also a built-in four-port full-duplex 10/100 switch to connect your wired-Ethernet devices together. Connect four PCs directly, or attach 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.

Connect up to four wired PCs and share Internet, printers, digital music and pictures, document files, and multiplayer or online games.

Once your computers are connected to the router and the Internet, they can communicate with each other, too, sharing a printer, digital music, picture and document files, and multiplayer or online games. To protect your data and privacy, the wireless-G broadband router can encode all wireless transmissions with WEP or industrial-strength WPA personal encryption. The router can serve as a DHCP server, has a powerful SPI firewall to protect your PCs against intruders and most known Internet attacks, and supports VPN pass-through. Configuration is a snap with the Web browser-based configuration utility. And the tiny form factor fits any home or desktop. Features All-in-one Internet-sharing router, four-port switch, and wireless-G (802.11g) access point Shares a single Internet connection and other resources with Ethernet wired, wireless-G, and wireless-B devices Compact form fits anywhere--use the internal antenna, or add an optional external antenna for more range High security: Wi-Fi protected access (WPA/WPA2 personal), wireless MAC address filtering, powerful SPI firewall

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 of the home, wireless networking is available in hotspots at coffee shops, businesses, airports -- great when you're on the road and need to get some work done. For convenience, wireless networking is the answer. What Wireless Standard is Right for Me? Now that you've decided to create a wireless network, the next step is to figure out which wireless standard to use. 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. For wireless networking, there are three standards to choose from at this time: 802.11b 802.11a 802.11g 802.11a/g To learn about the differences between the standards and select the right one for your network, click here for an easy-to-understand chart.

Product Description

Compact all-in-one Internet-sharing Router, 4-port Switch, and 54Mbps Wireless-G Access Point. Almost 5 times faster than 802.11b, but can also interoperate with any 802.11b device (at 11Mbps).The Linksys Compact Wireless-G Broadband Router is really three devices in one small box. There's the Wireless Access Point, which lets you connect both screaming fast Wireless-G (802.11g at 54Mbps) and Wireless-B (802.11b at 11Mbps) devices to the network. There's also a built-in 4-port full-duplex 10/100 Switch to connect your wired-Ethernet devices together. Connect four PCs directly, or attach 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.Once your computers are connected to the Router and the Internet, they can communicate with each other too, sharing a printer, digital music, picture and document files, and multi-player or on-line games.To protect your data and privacy, the Wireless-G Broadband Router can encode all wireless transmissions with WEP or industrial-strength WPA Personal encryption. The Router can serve as a DHCP Server, has a powerful SPI firewall to protect your PCs against intruders and most known Internet attacks, and supports VPN pass-through. Configuration is a snap with the web browser-based configuration utility. And the tiny form factor fits any home or desktop.With the Linksys Compact 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 the flexibility, speed, and security you need!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

86 of 94 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for Mac users too!, July 26, 2005

By	Navarro L. Parker "Motion Graphics Dude" (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was thinking of purchasing an Airport Express module, but purchased this instead. It has a lower price, similar size, and a built-in 4-port switch which won me over. It was easy to configure using Safari and it's built-in setup wizard (no software needs to be installed). I got a strong signal on my Powerbook (4 bars on the Airport signal).

It offers WEP, WPA, and WPA2 security. Plus you can define specific times of day the WiFi is active as well as specific computers which can access your network (handy when you are at work and want to make sure no one is piggybacking your WiFi signal). I also connected my PS2 and Vonage VoIP module and everything works flawlessly. I'm a typical Mac user who is used to easy setup and good looking equipment and I'm pleasantly surprised at this Linysys product!

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent router both functionally and aesthetically, August 14, 2005

By	The Grumpy Hacker (Milwaukee - Top 5000 Reviewer!) - See all my reviews

While it's really nothing more than an ordinary 11g (54Mbps) router with 4-port 100Mbps switch, its lack of any whiz-bang features doesn't detract from its sexiness. It doesn't claim to be a "travel" router although at less than four inches square and less than an inch thick it certainly could be used as such--even its power adapter is fairly small and light. With all the features of a typical home network router you can conveniently unplug it when you leave home and essentially never have to switch access points, plus you can network with non-wireless PCs which travel routers typically don't accommodate.

Linksys has set the bar high on industrial design with this unit, in my opinion, having included a few nice touches. First is the little swinging door over the reset button that acts as a foot for standing the router on its side--which actually gives me better signal coverage in my two-story home (I've found the internal antenna to be entirely adequate but I'm happy about the external antenna accommodation, should I want to buy one separately). Second is the inclusion of four little pads on the bottom to keep from marring delicate surfaces like finished wood and also to keep heat from transferring (although I've had it running 24x7 for a couple weeks now and if not for the LEDs you wouldn't know it was plugged in). Third is the inclusion of eyelets for the unit to be hung on screws in a wall.

I found the user interface for setup and configuration to be clean and easy to navigate, but being used to Netgear and Belkin it did take a minute to get used to. I used the included CD for the initial configuration with my cable modem, which went very smoothly, but was not necessary to use. All the typical options are there like WEP, WPA, DHCP, MAC filtering, firewall, etc.; as well as some more advanced wireless and networking settings if you want them. The only thing I wasn't really happy with was how MAC filtering is done: using a list of MACs without any other identifier to remember which is which, plus you have to manually copy and paste MACs from the wireless client list to the filter list instead of simply checking a box or button to add it. There's also no way to log out of the management interface.

All in all this product is very attractive--perhaps the most attractive piece of home networking gear I've ever seen--and very compact, significantly smaller than Netgear's current b/g routers' form factor of about 5x7. The web interface is also very polished. If you don't care what your router looks like or how big it is, there's probably no reason for you to buy this one. As for me, it suits my purposes functionally and aesthetically it has no equal. I love it.

47 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Early Review of WRT54GC - Nothing Notable to Say, February 28, 2005

By	Robert Salita "Software Developer" (CHI PAR PHX SYD PDX CLD NKC) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I simply can't think of anything notable to say. The WRT54GC looks and works as advertised. I had no problem installing. There is nothing noteworthy about its performance. Haven't found any bugs. Internal antenna seems to have same wireless range as my full-size SMC Barricade router which has an external antenna. Power adapter is external, smallish and does 110-240v.

I recommend it for road warriors who need a wireless router with a builtin 4 port hub. Linksys will soon release a travel router with an internal power adapter and 1 LAN port. Apple has the similar Apple Express router which has a builtin USB print server port but zero LAN ports. It's great for wireless only purposes. I have the Apple, I can highly recommend it too.

I hope Linksys releases source code as they have done with the rest of their WRT54 product line. That way the geniuses can hack more features into it. (...)
Update: 22 August 2005 - There are no hacker projects that enhance this unit. Source code has never been released. I continue to be satisfied with this unit but would prefer an open source router. Be sure to check out the Linksys WTR54GS which is a wireless router with one ethernet port and no wall wart. Perfect for travelers with VoIP boxes.