This router is nothing short of amazing! I needed to upgrade our house system from an older Ethernet router to a router that would offer both hardwired Ethernet ports (for the legacy Ethernet devices in our house, including my desktop PC) and also WiFi, but the catch was that I was hoping to get WiFi range up to over 100 feet in radius, and I knew in advance that this range is often not achieved in under-$100 WiFi routers.
However, after a bit of online research into WiFi routers, my gut sense told me to pick this router, which was priced under $50. It arrived a few days ago, and I set it up almost immediately. The setup on my Windows 7 desktop PC was quite straightforward, but I do note that the Setup Wizard ground to a halt and failed after the installation of the all-important drivers, and I was not even able to close the program and its window until I used Task Manager to unload the application. I then tested the router, and it worked fine, even though the Setup Wizard had not yet completed. I note that several other reviewers of this product have also noted that the Setup Wizard had also failed/frozen up on them while they were installing the router.
I then tested the router performance a bit, and even though I used rather lengthy (12 foot long) cheaper older Ethernet cables to connect the router to the cable modem (we have very fast Comcast cable modem service, and a very fast Motorola cable modem) and to connect the router to my PC, I noticed immediately that the speed/bandwidth, via Ethernet cable, and also via WiFi, was obviously considerably faster than had been the case my older router, which had always offered very adequate speed/bandwidth.
I then tested the WiFi range indoors. Our house is an older wooden house which has a footprint of only about 1600 square feet (including an enclosed porch), and, while walking around with my laptop, I noticed that WiFi coverage was great throught both floors of the house, and also on the enclosed porch, and also in the unfinished basement.
I then decided to test the WiFi range outdoors, using only my cheap laptop and its admittedly-limited-range built-in factory-equipped WiFi antenna/WiFi module, because we live on a heavily-wooded lot (no lawn, only forested mountainside) I was also hoping that the WiFi signal might possibly reach my workshop, which is located about 125 feet from the modem's 2ndfloor locaiton in the house, and I was also hoping that the WiFi signal might also reach two enclosed meditation gazebos, which are located, respectively, about 130 feet and 160 feet from the house, with numerous intervening large trees, and also bushes, between each of these three structures and the house.
To my amazement, the WiFi signal strength in each of these three outdoor structures was very good; this was particularly surprising in the case of my workshop, which has wooden walls and roof that are heavily lined with foil/bubble/foil insulation, and there were also a dozen CFL lamps (which are known to emit RF inferference (aka RFI) which can interfere with WiFi signals) burning brightly the workshop at the time of my test.
I then decided to try to push the limits of the modem's WiFi range, and started walking further into the forest beyond each of the three structures that I mentioned above. To my amazment, I discovered that the build-in WiFi antenna/circuitry inside my inexpensive 3-year old laptop was able to receive the WiFi signal (and still at a very impressive speed/bandwidth) out to a distance of at least 390 feet from the house (I did not try to go further, because I was tired of tramping up the mountainside in the snow), despite the fact that there were many dozens of large trees (and also bushes) in the signal path between the house and my varied test locations in the forest.
I then ran some additional coverage range tests in other directions (since all of the above-mentioned tests had been confined within the same 90 degree slice of the 360 degree coverage radius), all of them heavily forested, and these further tests confirmed that the signal reached to at least the same distance in every direction as had been found earlier, with the sole exception of one direction, where an intervening steeply-rising hillside/mountainside completely occluded the line-of sight path about 100 feet from the house; this limited the WiFi range in this direction to a bit less than 300 feet from the house.
In conclusion, I can say that this WiFi router vastly exceeded all of my expectations! It's performance continues to amaze me today, about 6 days after the router was first installed. And to realize that I paid less than $50 for this router at Amazon Marketplace. . . it is quite amazing!
My next step, since I have also noticed that the WiFi signal reaches the henhouse with very good strength, is to install one of my old laptops in the henhouse so that our chickens and ducks can surf the web whenever they wish.
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This item: Linksys Open Source WiFi Wireless-G Broadband Router, Speeds up to (AC1200) 1.2Gbps - WRT54GL
$119.97
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This Item  Linksys Open Source WiFi Wireless-G Broadband Router, Speeds up to (AC1200) 1.2Gbps - WRT54GL | Recommendations  | |  |  |  | |
| Price | $119.97 | -56% $79.99 List: $179.99 | -50% $99.99 List: $199.99 | $99.99 | -10% $179.99 List: $199.99 | -30% $195.99 List: $279.99 |
| Delivery | — | Get it as soon as Thursday, Oct 17 | Get it as soon as Thursday, Oct 17 | Get it as soon as Thursday, Oct 17 | Get it as soon as Thursday, Oct 17 | Get it as soon as Thursday, Oct 17 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||||
| Sold By | Delta_Distribution | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Connected Home Store | Amazon.com | Amazon.com |
| connectivity tech | Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi, Ethernet | Wi-Fi, Ethernet | Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi,USB,WAN,LAN | Wi-Fi |
| number of ports | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| data transfer rate | 54 megabits per second | 3 gigabits per second | 5400 megabits per second | 5400 megabits per second | 5400 megabits per second | 6600 megabits per second |
| wireless standard | 802 11 BG | 802 11 AX, 802 11 AC, 802 11 N | 802 11 AX, 802 11 AC, 802 11 N | 802 11 AX, 802 11 AC | 802 11 AX | 802 11 AX |
| frequency band class | quad band | dual band | dual band | tri band | tri band | tri band |
| lan port bandwidth | 10/100 megabits per second | 10/100 megabits per second | 1000 Mbps | 1000 Mbps | 1000 Mbps | 1000 Mbps |
| max upstream rate | 54 megabits per second | — | — | — | 5400 megabits per second | 6600 megabits per second |
| security protocol | WPA2-PSK | WPA2-PSK | WPA2, WPA3 | WPA2 | WPA3, WPA2, WPA2-Enterprise | WPA2 |
| frequency | 2.4 GHz | 5 GHz | 160 MHz | 6 GHz | — | 6 GHz |
| operating system | Windows XP , Windows Vista 32/64 | RouterOS | RouterOS | — | — | RouterOS |
| antenna type | — | retractable | retractable | fixed | fixed | retractable |
Videos
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Its Time to Go Wireless
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Why You Want a Wireless Network in Your Home
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Choose the Linksys by Cisco Router That is Right for You
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Very old model sent. Software issues but basically works.
I received the router and realized its a much older model. I added a photo of the requirements which are : Internet Explorer 6, Firefox 2, Windows XP, Vista, or Vista 64 bit. Yikes.The disc that came with it kept erroring out and telling me it could not find the router though it was indeed hooked up. I went to the official site and download a newer version of the software that they had listed. However when I checked the version after downloading its the SAME one that came on the disc with the router.However the router was connected and working despite not being able to use the disc. I couldn't get to settings though and had to use the online method described in the pdf manual to set my password and make is secure.I'm going to keep it as it is working but I'm going to email the company also. When I buy a brand new product I except it to be the current version not an old one. Unless they've never updated them... which I seriously doubt.
Top reviews from other countries
Lin Nix
Easy to set up device, though signal could be stronger. Works well with Pi Hole
Reviewed in Canada on May 17, 2021
