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Cisco-Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router
 
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Cisco-Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router

by Cisco
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,828 customer reviews)

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13 new from $49.95 33 used from $27.99 1 refurbished from $27.99
There is a newer model of this item:
Cisco-Linksys WRT54G2 Wireless-G Broadband Router Cisco-Linksys WRT54G2 Wireless-G Broadband Router 3.8 out of 5 stars (835)
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Customers buy this item with Cisco-Linksys WUSB54GC Compact Wireless-G USB AdapterClick to see price 

Cisco-Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router + Cisco-Linksys WUSB54GC Compact Wireless-G USB Adapter
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Technical Details

  • 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
  See more technical details

Product Details

Product Manual [1.20mb PDF]
  • Product Dimensions: 3.8 x 1.1 x 4.4 inches ; 3.9 pounds
  • Shipping Weight: 4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
  • ASIN: B00007KDVI
  • Item model number: WRT54G
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,828 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank
    #23 in  Electronics > Computers & Accessories > Networking Products > Routers
  • Date first available at Amazon.com: November 15, 2001

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description 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:

access point vs. router

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.

Which 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

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

Wireless-G broadband router

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Cisco-Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router
$60.59
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Customer Reviews

Average Customer Rating
3.6 out of 5 stars (1,828 customer reviews)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
248 of 256 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Versions 1 - 4 were great but version 5 is a different story, November 20, 2005
By SoCalReviews (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Cisco-Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router (Electronics)
The 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 for the SpeedBoost software enhancement (including a different version of Linux based firmware) they are essentially the same as older WRT54G v4.0 routers.

CONS: The latest version 5 has less Flash and System RAM and uses a buggy non-Linux based firmware. There is no rumor of this yet but in the near future Cisco might also release a newer WRT54GS router non-Linux based router (WRT54GS v5.0 ???)

CONCLUSION: With all the changes to the memory and the firmware this latest G model is really a very different product and Cisco should have changed the model number altogether. Neverless, I hope that Cisco works out the bugs in their current version so that the G version can at least partially return to its glory days. There are rumors that a still newer model popular Linux based router might be re-released with the model name of WRT54GL but until that happens we can still purchase a very good WRT54GS v4.0 Speedbooster model.

THE BOTTOM LINE: I give five stars to the older WRT54G models and five stars to the latest WRT54GS model. But I give only one star for the newest WRT54G version 5 which averages the score to only 2.5 stars (rounded down to 2 stars since v5.0 is the newest and most abundant WRT54G model that you can find in the stores).
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179 of 190 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great product!, October 23, 2003
By Yvo van Doorn (Renton, WA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Cisco-Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router (Electronics)
Note: I don't know if any of these "reviewers" have even checked for the updated firmware on Linksys' website. The new firmware version (currently 1.41) fixes a lot of the reported issues mentioned on this website. Linksys does not ship its routers with the updated firmware as it costs too much to recall every single router in all the stores just to flash to the newest version.

Anyways this product has a great range. I currently have two 802.11b adapters and a 802.11g adapter and they perform excellent in my environment. Quite amazing because my house is literred with 2.4ghz phones. Also I have 3 computers using the "wired" ports. All devices seemlessy interact with each other. Of course transfers are a little slower to any of the wireless devices (excluding the 802.11g device). I have had no connection drops and the unit is a lot colder than my previous router (the BEFSR41W). My old router used to warm up a lot but this one doesn't suffer from that issue.

I definitely recommend this product to anyone looking to buy an excellent router backed with excellent support. Unlike many other companies Linksys updates their firmware quite often with new features.

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110 of 115 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Very Fast and esy to get going, January 25, 2003
By Jack (NJ, United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Cisco-Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router (Electronics)
After being a happy owner of linksys router for several years, I order this router and one g card the day it's available.

I got it to work within 10 minutes using all the defaults and the quick installation guides on my VAIO running XP. Well prior experience sure helps here in getting the router configured via the web interface.

It takes another couple hours to get my self familar with the technology, i.e., RTFM. Here are a couple things you definitely need to do to lock it down unless you want to be an ISP for your neighbors :)

(1) First it is wide open using the default. Change the SSID to something else other than linksys and turn off the broadcasting of SSID.

(2) Enable 128 bit WEP fast.

(3) Lock down the mac address so only your g (or b...) cards can talk to the router.

(4) While at it, you may as well change the channel.

Other than these, I am very happy with it.

Have fun surfing....

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